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When remediation is not enough. textHELP! Read & Write: Adaptive Technology for Students with Learning Disabilities Mark Giddens, Adaptive Technologist Mike Walker, Learning Strategist Presented to P/J & J/I Special Education/Psychology Students December 2, 2002. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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When remediation is not enough . . .
textHELP! Read & Write: Adaptive Technology for Students with
Learning Disabilities
Mark Giddens, Adaptive TechnologistMike Walker, Learning Strategist
Presented toP/J & J/I Special Education/Psychology Students
December 2, 2002
General Learning Outcomes(Presentation Objectives)
identify our premise for using/promoting assistive technology
briefly define learning disabilities from a “psychological processes” or information processing perspective
introduce you to textHELP! Read & Write demonstrate this tool in actionincrease awareness of the technology
available to accommodate students with LDs
Premise
Our Desire - we want all of our students to be able to master the Three R’s and to develop “normally” physically, mentally and emotionally.
The Reality – approximately 9.4% of our elementary and secondary students are “exceptional” (MET, 1997).
The Result - many of our students will not read, write or perform other academic tasks efficiently, despite our best effort and intense remediation.
Consequently
In order for many of these exceptional students to be successful their skills must be remediated and/or learning either modified or accommodated
textHELP! Read & Write is one of many new technologies which may be used to accommodate students with LDs.
We purchased a site license for Read & Write and had it installed on your computers to help raise awareness of these new technologies.
Remediation
Should provide direct intervention and instruction build skills in areas of deficit teach strategies to cope in areas of deficit
But may involve withdrawal creating gaps in classroom learning constant repetition and extra work leading to
frustration and fatigue low-level material leading to low self-esteem stigmatization (retard room) leading to
behavioural issues
Modifications
Should change curriculum outcomes lessen expectations make work easier shorten assignments
But can lead to learned helplessness are ineligible for high school credits do not exist at college/university level
Accommodations
Should meet learning outcomes/objectives keep expectations at grade level allow for similar work allow for alternative presentation of info,
assignment completion, & test takingCan or Are
build self-esteem eligible for high school credits available at colleges and universities
Some Stats . . . learning disabilities impact the lives of
approximately 10% of the populationapproximately 4% of Ontario’s school
aged population is formally identified with LDs
of Ontario’s identified exceptional population approx. 48% of elementary students are LD approx. 54% of secondary students are LD
25 to 30% of those with LDs have AD/HD75 to 80% of those with AD/HD have LDs
Sources: Weber and Bennett, Special Education in Ontario Schools, Fourth Edition and LDAC National, Spring 2000
A brief overview . . .
What is a Learning Disability?
Ministry of Education definition
A learning disorder…
evident in both academic and social situations that involves one or more of the processes necessary for the proper use of spoken language or the symbols of communication, and that is characterized by a condition that:
a) is not primarily the result of: impairment of vision; impairment of hearing; physical disability; developmental disability; primary emotional disturbance; cultural difference; and
b) results in a significant discrepancy between academic achievement and assessed intellectual ability, with deficits in one or more of the following: receptive language (listening, reading); language processing (thinking,
conceptualizing, integrating); expressive language (talking, spelling,
writing); mathematical computations;
c) may be associated with one or more conditions diagnosed as: a perceptual handicap; a brain injury; minimal brain dysfunction; dyslexia; developmental aphasia.
What is a Learning Disability?
A new definition from the LDAO
In brief… "Learning Disabilities"
…refers to a variety of disorders that affect the acquisition, retention, understanding, organization or use of verbal and/or non-verbal information.
These disorders
…result from impairments in one or more psychological processes related to learning in combination with otherwise average abilities essential for thinking and reasoning.
These psychological processes are
phonological processing memory and attention processing speed language processing perceptual-motor processing visual-spatial processing executive functions (e.g., planning,
monitoring and metacognitive abilities)
Learning disabilities
…range in severity and invariably interfere with the acquisition and use of one or more of the following important skills:
These skills are
oral language (e.g., listening, speaking, understanding)
reading (e.g., decoding, comprehension) written language (e.g., spelling, written
expression) mathematics (e.g., computation, problem
solving)organizational skillssocial perceptionsocial interaction
What a LD is Not!
IT IS NOT:low intelligence/an intellectual disabilitymental illness/emotional disturbanceautismvisual or auditory acuity problemslaziness/lack of motivationa way to avoid other issuesa physical handicapthe result of a poor academic background
A Learning Disability is a Information Processing Impairment
It is like having too many bridges out as well as too many
overlapping pathways along the “information highways” of the brain.
Dale R. Jordan
U. of Arkansas
For you visual learners…
Diagnosing a learning disability?
What does an LD look like?
Traditional Aptitude vs. Achievement
Average Student
9590
103
9395
105100
105
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
Aptitude VIQ, PIQ, FSIQ Achievement
R RecogR CompM CalcM AppWriting
Traditional Aptitude vs. Achievement
Student with a LD
95
70
103
85
75
105100
105
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
Aptitude VIQ, PIQ, FSIQ Achievement
R RecogR CompM CalcM AppWriting
Aptitude, Achievement & Info Processing Visual (Dyslexia)
119
94
61 61
83
100108
97103
75
110116
89
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Aptitude (IQ) Achievement(R,S,M)
Info Process
GraphemePhonemeMemorySpeedVerbalVisual/SpFluid R
91
124
68
126
77
115
74 78
113106
72
8697
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Aptitude (IQ) Achievement(R,W,M)
Info Process
AuditoryVisualA-MemoryV-MemorySpeedVerb ReasonV/S Reason
Aptitude, Achievement & Info Processing Auditory (CAPD)
So how might an LD affect a Learner?
A Couple of Examples . . .
Can’t you read this?
Myle arn in gdisa bi LI tyma kesit dif Ficu ltform eto re Adi tslo wsm edo wnwh eniha veto re AdmYte xtbo Ok sbu twhe nius Eboo kso Nta peo rco mpu Teri zedsc ree nrea Din gsof twa Reto lis tent Om yte xtbo ok sith elp sal Ot.
Can’t you see this?
Can’t you see the _________?
Tough Facts from LDAC
35% of students identified with learning disabilities drop out of high school.
50% of adolescent suicides had previously been diagnosed as having learning problems.
Volumes of research have shown that 30% to 70% of young offenders have
experienced learning problems. Statistics on Learning Disabilities. LDAC, October 2001.
Source Online: http://www.ldac-taac.ca/english/indepth/bkground/stats01.h
tm
What About the Kids?3 Tales from the Trenches
Adam (grade 4) – reading disability (pre. board) reading at grade 1 level, highly frustrated &
resistant to learning resistant to resource, so accommodated in the
classroom up two levels, completed grade level work,
independent research project, class leader end of the year comment to John now in Grade 5 – back in resource, same phonics
workbooks, etc. – shut down teachers, perhaps afraid of technology, but have
also bought into the myth that if students learn differently, they won’t make it in the “real world”
What About the Kids?3 Tales from the Trenches
Eve (grade 4) – gifted with an LD worked very hard but no significant ability/achievement
discrepancy so parents paid for assessment performing just below grade level works harder than all of her classmates remediation every night thru Oxford L C principal won’t allow identification & IEP – “monitoring” recently caught cheating in spelling in French
“I wanted to get them right just once.” should she be allowed to experience success? strategy – Report Card – “accommodating her learning
disability according to the psychological assessment”
What About the Kids?3 Tales from the Trenches
Ruth (grade 4) – not yet diagnosed problems with math probably non-verbal LD – problems with drawing,
visual/spatial awareness, awkward, late reader goes to Kumon Math every night nightly math sheet (10 – 20 min) may take 2 hours
with parents help teacher warned not to rock the boat (not to ID) so teacher removed classroom accommodation;
resulting failure allowed teacher to contact parents; parents influential in community and parent council
letters flew – testing has begun – shook up resource team; 5 kids will now benefit from 1st math program
LD Specific Software
textHELP Read & Write v. 5.0(Read & Write v. 6.0 is now available)
www.texthelp.com
textHELP! Read & Writeoverview
Reading toolScreen Reader
for severe print disabilities
Text Reader reads e-text aids decoding
and comprehension
Writing tools Word Prediction ‘Dyslexic’ Spell
Checker Thesaurus Homonym
Checker Word Wizard – use
it to look up topics
R&W Reading Tools
Screen Reading reads the screen, icons & application menus
Text Readinghighlight to read e-text
tracks words in speech balloons or tracks highlighted text in TextReader
works in most Windows applications – word processors, email, web browsers
R&W Reading Tools
Reading featureschange reader’s
character voice speed & pitch highlighting colours & text size
find and listen to words and definitions in Spell Check, Thesaurus and Word Wizard
R&W Writing Tools
Listen to your writing listen as you type by
letterwordsentence or even speaks punctuation
listen to proofread a complete document
R&W Writing Tools
Word Prediction find a word “the word starts with an ele…” change prediction window size and colours use a hyphen “-” to extend the list expand vocabulary – learns as you type or
import spelling lists learns your writing style & predicts for you program phonetic replacements (fone,
filosofy)
R&W Writing Tools (editing)
Check spelling – as you type or after dyslexic (b p q d) and first letter errors - filosofy speaks back definition; gives examples in context by parts of speech – noun, verb, adjective, adverb keeps spelling log – errors and dates
Check homophones speaks back definition; gives examples in context
Use the Thesaurus – another word for big synonyms & antonyms
R&W Writing Tools
Word Wizard – expands vocabulary look for alternative or linking words
example – chip: part of speech; get a definition; do a search – “more things like…” or “different kinds of …”
for research – president
R&W targets skill deficits…
Directly:reading (e.g., decoding, comprehension) written language (spelling, written expression)
To a lesser degree:• oral language (listening, speaking,
understanding)
• organizational skills• social interaction
mathematics (e.g., computation, problem solving) social perception
R&W aids processing deficits…
Directly:phonological processinglanguage processingvisual-spatial processing
To a lesser degree:• memory and attention (engages students)
• perceptual-motor (keyboard/prediction)
• executive functions (planning, monitoring and metacognitive abilities) (elaborating, editing)
processing speed
textHelp - Helps!
Assists and motivatesAccommodates many reading and
writing deficitsHelps build reading and writing skills
including fluency, elaboration & risk taking
Although not the most sophisticated, Read & Write is probably the best all round LD tool for the money*
Want to practice?
We will put 3 copies of Cambrian College’s textHELP! Read & Write instructional manual on reserve in the library
and 7 copies in the Student Affairs Office (A201).
There are student disks with the package – please copy these disks to your computer and don’t overwrite the files on the floppy
Just released: Read & Write GOLD
Read & Write features plusscan & read featuresspeech input (speech to text – XP engine)research tools – gather, organize,
annotate info from the internetsimple & scientific talking calculatorTeacher Toolkit – manage spelling and
activity logs and student access
More Technology for Young Learners
WordQ (simpler tool similar to textHELP!) www.wordq.com
Kidspiration www.inspiration.com
IntelliTools Inc. (www.intellitools.com) IntelliTalk II IntelliMathics IntelliPics Studio MathPad Accessibility Tools (for physical disabilities)
Free Text Readerwww.readplease.com
• ReadPlease 2003• Text-to-speech
(no scanning feature)
• Developed in Canada
• Very simple to use• Use Oscar's Sound
Recorder (also free) to convert to .mp3 for portability
More Info . . .
On textHELP! products www.texthelp.com
On learning disabilities www.schwablearning.org www.ldonline.org www.ldpride.net www.ldao.on.ca www.ldrc.ca http://specialed.about.com/cs/learningdisabled
Mike’s Learning Resources site www.nipissingu.ca/faculty/mikew/resource
Questions?
. . . our thanks for this opportunity!