A/T Mtg set: how to convince class teacher to use Technology

Hmmm…. seems to me he could have a less restrictive environment if he were learning independent reading and study skills. I’d write out some IEP goals that inccludedd this, and perhaps encourage the school folks to consider how more efficiently they could use their eprsonnel with the equipment — and perhaps there is more than one student who would benefit from it.

Kathleen,
I am having a similar issue with my son and the school but the difference is that I’m an AT Specialist. We have an IEP meeting scheduled for next week. My son is in eighth grade and the way they handle the lengthier, more complex reading is to read it to him, which encourages dependence and I am so opposed to this approach. This is minimally effective since my son learns best when he is able to follow along with the text while it is being read to him, highlight key words, listen to their definitions, reread sections for comprehension as necessary, etc, etc. We have several text-to-speech programs at home that greatly benefit him - he prefers the natural voices. At school they have essentially nothing.
At our team meeting, I will insist that they remove the barriers to learning, success and independence by asking that they provide my son with digital text for his various academic subjects. Using digital text, my son can be independent. The personnel requirement is that they scan the texts and then save them in a format that he can use at home or at school.
I highly recommend the book, “Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age.” It is an OUTSTANDING resource for anyone who works with students with learning challenges and demonstrates the value of Universal Design for Learning. An aide reading to a student is not an example of Universal Design for Learning.
Part of the Reauthorization of IDEA of 1997 which requires that ALL students with disabilities on an IEP must be considered for Assistive Technology also requires that training MUST be provided if the IEP team includes AT as part of the IEP. Two excellent websites for your review, and your child’s teachers review are www.qiat.org and www.wati.org.
Good luck! My experience is that the students with vocal, tenacious parents are the ones who receive the appropriate AT.
(But don’t think that this should be in place of ongoing remediation. It should be done in conjunction.)
Karen

Kathleen,
One more thing. You wouldn’t need the color version of Kurzweil which is the price you quoted. The black and white version is about $1,000. But again, the school should purchase the full version, scan and read, because other students will also benefit from it.
If they purchase it, you will only need the Read version which is much less money.

Thank you both for your suggestons.

To KTJ
Which text to speech program are you happy with and how much difficulty did you son have in training the software to his voice (my son is younger than yours (11.5) and still has a child’s voice. I have read that Dragon Speak is better with diverse voices and that the professional version of Dragon Speak is much better.

Thanks for any addtional thoughts you all may have. The difficult part of this advocacy ifor me s that my son’s Special Ed teacher is an older woman who is quite a nurturing person; she has made the transition to middle school for my son a pleasant experience. I would hate to lose this teacher for him by pushing technology - and of course, he does benefit from working on the basics with her. A bit of a quandry - how hard to push. Thanks. Kathleen

I wouldn’t touch the voice recognition yet, given all the potential complications, if for no other reasons than you want somebody very technically competent to handle the computer issues that invariably come up.

I’d try & make the process as non-threatening as possible — perhaps focusing on appealing to the teacher’s nurturing side. I can see she’d think being read to woudl be much more nurturing and supportive — and probably doesn’t want reading to be reduced to a mechainical voice when gosh, it could be a real one… perhaps suggest that you want to have it there just start with some boring text reading where expression didn’t count as much — and again, let her see that her aides can be “nurturing” in so many other ways while your son is gaining independence. (She may also simply not really believe, deep down, that he’ll need this later — somehow all this nurturing is going to make the reading skill happen… hhmmmm… perhaps a bit of a guilt trip would be in order — does she want him to flounder simply because other teachers in the future will not be as wonderful as she is? )

I love it…an appeal to her nurturing side with a little guilt thrown in. I will definitely incorporate this idea. Thanks. Kathleen