In this article I am going to share some thoughts from the winners of my May Giveaway about how they feel that assistive technology could help their children.
You will remember in May I asked supporters of dyslexic learners to let me know how they felt that assistive technology could help their children as part of my May Giveaway. I was then going to select five entries and those entries would win a digital copy of the book Dyslexia and Success by Karen Cousins, a copy of ClaroRead Pro from Claro Software and each entry would also win a place on my online training course entitled “What is assistive technology and how can it help my child?”
Read on as I announce the winners and comment on their entries.
Liz Wilcox - Assitive technology will help to demonstrate exactly what a child is capable of.
“I’m supporting a learner with a diagnosis of autism and dyslexia with finding strategies for getting his ideas down on paper more easily. We have discovered that by using digital dictation, his work takes less time to complete and contains fewer spelling errors. More importantly, he can use whatever words he wants in his writing, including the more complex, multi-syllabic vocabulary that he uses in conversation but can’t spell/ get down on paper. This is exciting and liberating for him – he can now demonstrate exactly what he is capable of, improve his grades, his confidence and his self-esteem!”
I selected this entry because so often for a child with Special Educational Needs, the ‘one size fits all’ approach to teaching is not working. These children think differently. The problem is not that the way that they think is wrong, the problem is that so often they are not taught in a way that empowers them to work at their best. So assistive technology can so often bridge that gap and help the child to express their learning in a way that is more effective for them whilst also meeting the learning objectives of school thus boosting confidence and self-esteem. Well done Liz!
Helen Lyall - Practising planning and benefits for attainment at G.C.S.E level.
“The child I support in school would benefit from text-to-speech/speech-to-text software on his laptop. He is intelligent and reasonably verbally articulate but struggles to get his good ideas onto paper and to read fast enough in the time allowed. Practicing planning his work using a mindmap will reap rewards as he gets used to doing this, but the extra support from suitable software will benefit him as he goes through secondary school especially later when he reaches his GCSE years.”
I chose this entry from Helen because of how she is looking to set up a child with what they need so that they can gain attainment some years later when they do their G.C.S.E’s. The reality is, I believe, that schools so often make ‘reasonable adjustments to late in a child’s education. Schools should be making assistive technology available as early as possible in a child’s academic career so that by the time they reach exams, they can independently deliver upon what is required from them and unlock opportunities for the future. Well done Helen!
Christina Howard - Building independence and happiness whilst studying.
“It could reduce the load on my sons working memory for reading, writing and spelling. He can’t hold information for long. So Assistive technology could support this. It will give him independence and this will lead to him being happier.”
Christina’s entry was selected because it resonated so strongly with me. The cognitive load in school for a child with dyslexia is simply exhausting and does indeed affect working memory, writing and spelling. It may not always be obvious but children with dyslexia work at higher levels of stress and anxiety compared to their peers and that in itself will affect attainment before we even think about the challenges from dyslexia. Well done Christina!
Katie Towers - Enabling her child to study at the same level as their peers.
“It would enable my child to function on a par as everyone else in his class without being dependent on an adult. This means his well-being will be elevated and his independence supported. It will enable him to see how he will be successful once he leaves the safe environment of the school.”
I selected Katie’s entry because it reminded me of a project I conducted once with a school. I was trialling 10 copies of an assistive technology software that read out text. The aim was to replace the use of human readers in exams. Nine of the students preferred to use the software versus that of having a human reader. Those students preferred this because they didn’t have to rely on an adult to pass their exams. They could read out the text in their exams as many times as they needed without feeling like they were imposing on the adult sat with them. They didn’t need to worry about the adult and they could simply focus on the exam. Well done Katie!
Liz Lloyd-Williams - Assistive technology will boost confidence and attainment.
“At the age of 10 visible assistive technology seems to be a tricky thing, however it’s very clear in the home environment how it can unlock so much and boost confidence and attainment and therefore happiness! It’s rare in our house not to hear the words “Alexa how do you spell …..” said hourly (adults and children alike!). The first time we hit the transfer button in mindmaps sending a piece of work to Word blew Matthew’s mind. “Is that what I wrote”?!!!!! And dictation can make a blank, unconquerable page, fill with words that meet a teachers brief. Fantastic!”
Liz’s entry just simply sums up why our children should have access to assitive technology but it also shows how much we can use all technology to help with learning. In a recent webinar with Stuart Marsden from Claro Software, Stuart made the point that he didn’t like the term ‘assistive technology’ because all technology is assistive and he is right. We are all using smartphones, smart speakers etc to organise our lives, connect with others, learn about stuff in loads of different ways so having access to technology that helps with learning is essential. It may be tricky to manage in schools but the benefits outweigh the logistical issues. In Liz’s entry I love the comment “Is that what I wrote?”, whereby her son surprised himself by his output of work. Just by trying a different way of expressing learning, great things happen! In Liz’s words…FANTASTIC! Well done Liz!
And Finally!
I want to thank Karen Cousins for donating an electronic version of her book, Dyslexia and Success to the winners as well as also my thanks going to Claro Software for making an accessible version of the book and donating a copy of ClaroRead for each winner to be able to not only get the book read out, but also use with studying too!
I also can’t wait to hear how my assistive technology online course will help the winners too.
Support Karen Cousins so that every school, sixth form and young offender institute gets a copy of Dyslexia and Success.
Check out her GoFundMe campaign here.
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What are your thoughts?
Has this blog article been useful to you? Do you agree with what I have suggested? Do you disagree? I want to hear from you. The more we as parents talk about this the more we can work together to get the education system to provide our children with the support that they need to be the best version of themselves. Please pop a comment in the comments box below and if you want to join my Parenting Dyslexia community then click here.