I have a student who has below grade level skills, with an average IQ. She has processing issues in the areas of Visual, Language, and Auditory. She also has perceptual issues, auditory and visual dyslexia. Handwriting is adequate, but I’d like her to be able to reveal her knowledge more completely. Another words the time it takes to process information, write and spell interferes with her ability to fully express herself. Does anyone have any software suggestions? Also would like a program for reading textbooks, correcting spelling in written work and the like. Any ideas? Are there any programs out there that seem to assist in the students comprehension??
Thank You,
SuseyQ
Re: Need Assistive technology ideas
I am a big supporter of Kurzweil,too. While the free trial is definitely helpful, I was still wary of such a big expense until I was more confident that my son would use it. So, I went with Premiere Assistive Technology (reading made easy). They have many products with free trials. My son uses the Universal Reader. He also uses Dragon speech to text. I had someone come to the house to train him in its use and he has had good results. You might also look into Co-writer (Don Johnson) I think.
Re: Need Assistive technology ideas
Those are both great suggestions. I have just been exploring a Kurzweil Trial myself for my son to use - it is amazing software. What is also very very helpful for him …. lately I have been scribing and it is wonderful to be able to give him a voice …. is concept-mapping software - something like Inspiration or Smart Ideas, there are also many others. From experience, I also always caution ….. I have a twice exceptional child. What looks like an average child with an LD, is sometimes even more …. I hope you have a complete psychological assessment to aid you…. cheers
Need Assistive technology ideas
Way to go, SuseyQ. You should be applauded. It is wonderful to have a proactive teacher. Good luck getting that throug the school system.
Need Assistive technology ideas
Y can probably try an on-line dyslexia assisting speller at www.ghotit.com
Please, say what you think,
as I am one of the service developers.
Re: Need Assistive technology ideas
I would recommend TextHelp Read & Write Gold 8.1 for a screen reader. We have kurzweil also but it does not read PDF’s. Which most publishers are now offering. So you need to use Abbyy Fine Reader to reformat in MsWOrd. I would also recommend Dragon Naturally Speaking 9.0 for students to put their thoughts on paper without typing.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Shel
A great program that covers all those areas is Kurzweil 3000. You get word prediction, spell check, dictionary and thesaurus as well as the ability to scan in books/text books that the program can then read back. It also allows highlighting in 3 colors which can help with creating notes or outlines. http://www.kurzweiledu.com You can request a demo disk which is good for a 30 day trial. Its a pretty easy to learn program but is one that can follow a student all through school and into college.