TO USE OR NOT TO USE:

More and more schools are providing students with speech to text and text to speech programs in answer to the students’ learning challenges.  It seems a good idea as it can allow the student to keep up with peers and deal with overwhelm. 

However, it actually absolves the school of reaching the child and enabling them to learn in the way that they were born to learn.

We know that all children have a basic right to read and write, which is why we advocate Davis programs.  Once the child has taken a program and is able to read and write to an age appropriate level, we suggest technology can assist with what appears to be overload. We offer the following information on technology (thanks to Julie Brewer) that can allow them time to catch up, and cope with tasks which often involve far too much reading and writing.

Julie is the mother of a ‘corrected’ dyslexic son and is currently enjoying being able to use Davis Learning Strategies with her pre-school Montessori Class. She brings a wealth of knowledge that she has collected along her parental journey into learning challenges.

Do your research and ask other dyslexics what extra supports they use. Every dyslexic is different and has individual needs. It’s all about figuring out the best options for your child. No matter what school district your child is in, there should be a contact person with a title of/similar to: “Assistive and Educational Technology Inclusion Coach”.

I only discovered this person a year and a half after my son’s designation. No one told me about this resource, I had to discover it on my own through multiple calls to the school board office looking for help. Once I found this person, she was so incredibly helpful in setting up and using the in-class tech accommodations for my son and myself as we navigated through all the new technology noise. With her help we discovered and tried many useful tools.

I have listed our favourites below: 

Chromebook and Google Classroom, instead of paper and pen:

• this includes Google Docs, Sheets, Sites, Slides, Drive, Photos. All of these programs automatically save the created documents to your Google Drive, which means one less thing to remember to do.

• everything is accessible on any device with internet, which means if you forget your computer, you can still get your work done with someone else’s device, or even with your cellphone. Having everything in one place is important for someone with dyslexia. 

Read and Write extension for Goggle Chrome: 

• includes a more intuitive Speech to Text (STT) called Talk and Type feature than the built in accessibility STT feature on the Chromebook.

• Hover Speech, or Text to Speech (TTS) feature has the option to change the voices to find one that you can understand better. You can also change the speed in which the voice reads. If you don’t highlight the exact words you want it to read, it will read the whole page… url and ads and all. But if you highlight a starting sentence it will continue reading while highlighting the sentence as it goes, giving you a visual of where the words are on the page. You have the option to pause the reading at any time.

• includes a Picture Dictionary, and a Written Dictionary. The picture dictionary has been useful for K to create a quick visual of words he doesn’t recognize. There’s also an option to add words and meanings to an ongoing vocabulary list.

• Mask Screen feature allows you to see only a strip of the page, blacking out the rest. This minimizes distractions by blocking out most of the necessary images and words around what you’re reading.

• Simplify Page quickly feature removes all the distractions on the entire webpage. 

• Highlighter feature is helpful when you need to take notes or summarize what you’re reading. You highlight the words you want to remember as you go, and at the end select Collect Highlights. The feature puts all your highlights into a single document. 

• Discover feature is still in Beta testing, but it’s available to try by clicking on the Simplify feature. It simplifies the web page, you can choose the font, line spacing and text/background colours. It also highlights words that you might need to look up, hyperlinking the definition when you click on the word. TTS will read the definition for you with Hover speech. 

• Some webpages aren’t compatible with Read and Write. In this case you have to use the built in accessibility features on your computer. Most school districts have access to the subscription for Read and Write. Otherwise you can do a 30 day free trial to see if you like it. 

• Grammarly alerts the writer that something doesn’t make sense in a sentence. You simply click on the underlined word and it tells you what you should do to fix it. The suggestions don’t always make sense though, so the writer needs to double check. It’s a wonderful first proofread option. Most school districts supply the subscription access to this. 

• Kindle E-Reader for when reading print is required (without audio). We change the font to the Open Dyslexia typeface and increase the text size.

• School District assigned Digital Textbooks and novels are available on the ARC-BC program. The teachers have access and have to download and share the PDF books through Google drive. Teachers can also use school photocopiers to scan worksheets into digital format for students who need it. This makes the biggest difference for word problems and social studies comprehension. 

• Mindmap 2.0 extension is used to create mind maps of your thoughts. If you need to write a story, essay, paragraph etc, you can use the mind map to first get your ideas out in random order as they come to you. Often teachers will accept this map as a first draft. Then you can use it as prompts to create a paragraph in a Google doc using STT. We have found that drawing little sketches of ideas first makes the mind map even easier to create. 

• Audio stories help build vocabulary and foster a love of learning. There are so many options available for audio stories, for both fiction and non-fiction. Audible, Cloud Library, and RB Digital, Hoopla, and Libby Overdrive content is mostly recorded with real voices, where some other programs use more computer voice recordings. 

• Check with your regional library to see what platforms they use to offer their audio books. Your library will also have a help center to support navigating their digital content.

• CELA Library: Centre for Equitable Library Access HERE

  This is a public library service for Canadians with print disabilities. All you have to do is register, and send proof of a print disability (IEP, assessment, etc) to gain access to the CELA library collection. They also have a collection called Bookshare, which has a separate form to fill out. All you have to do to gain access to this collection is have your Davis Facilitator (or other reading specialist) sign the form to attest to the need for the service. These libraries have a great selection of audio books in multiple formats. You can download them or play them directly with a free app called Dolphin Easy Reader. The CELA team was very helpful in answering my questions and walking me through the system.

• Control Alt Achieve; I found this website very helpful for finding new extensions and apps to try. 

• Making Chromebooks work for people with disabilities: https://blog.google/products/chromebooks/whats-new-chrome-os/oct2020/ 

• Bulletmap Academy program teaches visual mind mapping. This technique can be used for brainstorming ideas, essay/story writing, note taking, and comprehension of written paragraphs. The program isn’t cheap, but you can sign up for the program on a monthly payment and complete one month or more. They give the option to start at a relevant level if you don’t want to work your way through it all from the beginning up. The one-on-one coaching is very helpful for accountability and motivation.  https://bulletmapacademy.com/

• SketchNotes – Deborah Le Frank of www.visuallifestories.com listens to a talk and sketches the main points. Check out her Visual Life Stories and Verbal to Visual. Learning to sketchnote would be a huge asset for anyone studying, taking notes, or trying to get their thoughts onto paper. When a child is basically looking at an ‘Imax theatre screen’ in their mind and someone is saying write what you see, its too much all in one go. A film doesn’t start in the top left hand corner, its not linear, it moves, there’s often sound. Getting small sketches of the main points onto paper and then numbering the sketches for order, and then writing from the numbered sequence will get creative writing underway.