I am doing a workshop at The Dyslexia Show to show ways to encourage your child if they have dyslexia. The link below will take you to the information I will be sharing.
On Saturday I am speaking to educationalists on the subject of our film series which is free to download and use to promote the use of AT in the UK and beyond. Go to the website link and fill out a short form and within 24 hrs you will have the films. They are wonderful even though I say it myself!
As a follow on if you are a teacher or SENCO you might want to download the nasen miniguide that Julia Clouter and myself wrote this year. Great advice to share with your school or setting. A guide on how to do it.
One of the most important ways you can help your child is to encourage them to use the assistive technology that is available to them. In this short article there will be some resources you can use that may help that goal.
First of all – relax. I know it sounds trite but kids soon pick up the anxiety of their parents and it stresses them, which I know is the last thing you want. So be a good actor and convince them you know, you listen and you empathise. Kids want to fit it and anything that makes them different means they will stand out from the crowd, which may be the last thing they want to happen.
What Assistive Technology is out there to help?
For many children with dyslexia the main barrier is the words on the page. If they struggle to read them it makes life difficult in our text-rich schools. It’s everywhere from the text on the walls to the books in the school library. How can we make this less threatening?
Try different fonts – here are some suggestions and links:-
Claro Scan Pen –£9.99 on iTunes App Store –https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/claro-scanpen/id994933713 – I know mobile phones are not encouraged to be used in school but maybe an alternative such as iPad may be allowed. This tool can enable any printed or screen to be read back to them.
Scanning Pens £274 on Amazon gives an in-your-pocket solution that your carry around with you. Discreet and with a set of ear plugs totally personal.
Immersive Reader in Microsoft 365 this can really help a child to decode the text in a classroom setting. You can also put it on the Home toolbar to make more accessible as this video explains.
Lastly, for some children with Dysexia getting it down on paper is the issue. Having great ideas but just can’t get it spelt correctly and my handwriting is so messy. So the following may help
Google Voice Typing in Google Docs on the Tools menu can help – Free with a Google Account
Dictate on the Home Tab in Microsoft Word, and in Powerpoint and OneNote – part of Microsoft 365
Next week I have a fantastic opportunity to spread the word about our films and the mini-guide as well as the ” Teachers for AT” initiative. Here is a taster to show you what I will be talking about
Thirty minutes explaining why we did “The Power of Assistive Technology .” Book at the link above. It’s completely free . That’s happening tomorrow Thursday 14th March art 3:30 – 4.00pm
Grateful thanks to TechAbility for this little tip which puts Immersive Reader more visible and therefore more accessible to users. Just follow the link below to LinkedIn and watch the video following the clear steps to make it work for you.
I had to try and solve a problem where the Homepod Mini required a password to use AirPlay. On investigation it became clear that it wasn’t possible to use the Home app on my iphone to change it. So I thought it best to take the HomepOd Mini back to my home and work on it in the morning which I did.
After some research it wasn’t clear how you set it up. But I did find how to reset the device which involves holding down a press on the top of the device in the centre. This gives a factory reset and then releases the Homepod to be re-initalised with your iPhone or IPad device.
The Homepod mini now plays from the iPhone or IPad and appears to work as it should without passwords.
The above device is being discontinued. I presume to fit in line with digital devices that no longer need a landline. It’s due to finish at the end of February. I have a blind client who depends on this device to use her answerphone and access phonelines with auto answerting systems.
This raises the point. Does progress always have to involve changing the status quo? In disability accessbility this is a key question. Sudden and often inexplainable changes are foisted on the disability. Let me give you some recent examples .
smart speakers cannot access emails since 2015
TV guides no longer give information on local regional programmes
smart speakers don’t switch on TV’s , even though they can switch them off
smart speakers can no longer search for phone numbers and ring them
In the UK we have this thing called GDPR ( General Data Protection Regulation) which is there to protect individual rights. But when it actually blocks the rights of disabled person communication it becomes a barrier to access. At least I think some of the above changes are due to GDPR. All the above were once done on smart speakers.
Technicians love to change things. Again for disabled people change can mean the difference between access and non-access. Especially if you are blind and using a screenreader. I was helping someone this week who was blind and he was trying to navigate ChatGPT and there are broken and orphan links all over the site. The webpage looks visually fine but obviously changes have been made and not removed they remained and they are “visible” ( excuse the pun) to a screen reader! Making access to the site less navigable to a blind person.
If consideration is for all surely standard practise should be the inclusion of disabled people into the design process of any website or equipment to check whether it works for them. Apart from providing employment to disabled people it could give valuable inclusive practises that could be vital for the growing numbers of disabled people int the world.
BDA Technology Group – Assistive Technology Update
Myles Pilling, BDA Technology Group presented the following software update on current assistive technologies. This helpsheet will present the material he presented in a printed form. It will also be on his website at http://aas123.com.
Organisation
Trello – organisation tool for dyslexic learners to plan and keep a track of activities, projects, homework, coursework at no cost. Handles coloured labels dates, times, photos and emails
Google Keep – free and similar to Trello and you can add notes, using images, audio and locations. Organise into folders that enable better efficiency for pupils. Because it’s cloud-based you can access it on any machine
Word prediction /Completion
Lightkey – Artificial Intelligence word prediction tool with customised dictionaries. Free version and paid at https://www.lightkey.io/ Lightkey Pro – $49.00 1 year licence
NB. For dyslexic learners it may be more of a learning tool to use a drop down list of words or suggested corrections like Grammarly offer to enable the learning of spellings. But from the point of view of overcoming a barrier the above tools are really useful
Note-taking
Glean – records in real-time any talks and can provide a transcription
Text to Speech
Claro ScanPen – £9.99 take a photo of any typed document and have it read back to you.
Claro Scan Premium – £free – in app purchases – 10 scans before having to pay a subscription.
Editable PDFs
ABBY FineReaderPDF – £free trail – makes pdf’s editable for changing fonts , changing texts, making it accessible for screen readers. https://pdf.abbyy.com/finereader-pdf/
Latest AT software
Cantoo Scribe –£free to subscribe seen at BETT. Create notebooks with 30 assistive technology tools as part of the package https://app.cantoo.fr/
Dyslexia. Ai – £free – in-app purchases – subscription model £0.79 a month or £8.49 for first year then £17.99 per year – skill practise app for nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc Reading, Spelling and Phonics and Extra’s. Free to setup an account. A unique calibration feature to work out your level. https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/dyslexia-games-dyslexia-ai/id1564885095
Post-it £free – if you are a post-it note person then this could be for you! This electronic version makes post-it notes into mindmaps. Exports to the following:- Post it Board to share with other post-it users, Trello Board , Miro Board, PDF, PNG Image, PowerPoint, Excel, Text files/ Work visually then convert to text. https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/post-it/id920127738
Class Timetable – £free – organise a timetable into colour coded themes and set homework on coursework with due dates. It offers a 2-week timetable that most secondary schools operate. Simple, clear and easy to use. https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/class-timetable/id425121147
Remember the Milk – £free – simple to do list – sends out reminders via emails , syncs on all devices , integrates with gmail, google calendar, Evernote and more. Range of outputs to help prioritise your life.
Windows 11
Voice Access Control – you can control the laptop with your voice and navigate windows via the command show numbers and respond with the appropriate number. The biggest benefit is that it overcomes problems of lack of internet as it works without a wifi connection. So you can use it with Word and other applications. You switch it on in Accessibility. It is one of the best features of Windows 11
Typing suggestions – this is switched on if you go into settings and type in the search window – typing settings – you can then choose the option to make suggestions on a physical keyboard and that would allow word prediction to appear in any application as you type.
AccessAbility Solutions 