I am a resource specialist. I have a 13 computer lab for the ld students at my elem. school. My district says that we should list items such as flashcards, highlighting and pencil grips on the at section of the IEP. I was also told by an LRE specialist that if I continue to write word processers and spell checkers, I would get a call from an administrator in the district tell ing me to present a justification for the use of PCs with LD kids. When I said that there was a large body of literature to back me up, she wasn’t convinced. I want to be ready for them. Which articles do you suggest I use to prove my case?
Re: at justification
Hi Yoletta-
A couple of additional places for information. Right in this site is an interesting
Chat transcript from-
Wednesday, February 23, 2000
TOPIC: Using Technology to improve the writing of students with learning disabilities
This was from Dr. Charles MacArthur a leading expert in the area of assistive technology.
Another place to check is www.frostig.org, if you go to the research section you will find papers done by Dr. Marshall Raskind, and Dr. Eleanor Higgins also well known in the area of assistive technology and LD that should also be interesting.
Good luck,
Steve
Re: at justification
LD Online has a number of articles about using technology to both accommodate and remediate LD studentss. If you go to “LD in Depth,” I’m sure you find quite a few.
Here’s one thing you could mention (you probably already have, but I thought I’d bring it up anyway). You could explain how much easier it often is for a dysgraphic student to produce a paper he and his teacher can be proud of, if he types it on a computer instead of writing it out in longhand. Not only is it much easier for him to produce a legible document because he doesn’t have to worry about forming the letters correctly, he can also use the spell-checker to assist him in spelling correctly. Also, just learning how to type is necessary in this day and age if one hopes to find employment in an office (and if he goes to college, he’ll probably be expected to type his papers, so he’ll have a valuable head start if he attains the skill now). Practice-typing on a computer will give students a much-needed marketable skill. (Of course, that doesn’t rule out daily remediation in learning to write legibly.)
Yours truly,
Kathy G.
Re: at justification
Check out some of the Council for Exceptional Children’s TAM journals. There is quite a bit of scholarly research supporting you. BTW, CEC is always a great place to check out what is happening in any area of special ed.
Kay The people there are quite helpful and their journals are worth looking into.
I know there was a study done regarding one of the products from L&H, I think the Kurzweil 3000. You may want to contact them to see if they could get you a copy of the study.
Maybe the folks at Don Johnston have some information as well.
Steve