Does Tracing shapes help writing skills?

The writers at the American Dyslexia Association (ADA) believe so.

According to ADA;

 "Tracing is a very good exercise for dyslexic and dyscalculic children. Tracing trains attention, fine motor skills and visual and spatial perception."

To encourage you to try this they offer you a number of shapes to try.

"Today’s freebie offers a mini-book with different abstract forms to trace and to draw. First, children have to trace the form, then they have to draw the form into the box."

You can download the mini-book here.

This is an example of one of the shapes from the mini-book that you will be tracing. 

Let us know what you think about this idea. Do you believe it's an aid to help with writing?

Dyslexia: The Davis Method - NéoSanté article

NéoSanté, a Belgian magazine devote to Global Health, includes a detailed article about the Davis program in a recent issue.

The article, written in French, is titled La Méthode Davis: Un espoir pour les dyslexiques (translation: The Davis Method: Hope for Dyslexia)

The article is written by Davis Facilitator Betty Rossitto. There are now more than 50 licensed European facilitators who provide French language services.

A Gift of Dyslexia workshop is scheduled in Paris from May 3-6.

More information;

• Contents of NéoSanté Issue #18 
• More Information 
• Apprende Autrement web site

Dyslexia: BoyZone Shane Lynch speaks out

Shane Lynch has bravely revealed that when he left school at the age of 15 he couldn’t read or write.

As part of a new Channel 5 documentary called My Secret Past (due to air on Monday at 10pm), the Boyzone singer has admitted that his teachers thought he was a bad student and didn't realise he had a problem,

“I was kicked out of school at 15 for being lazy. I couldn’t read or write but I was too ashamed to ask for help,” Shane confesses.

The Boyzone singer was tested for dyslexia as part of the documentary and discovered that he is indeed dyslexic,

“The diagnosis makes my past more acceptable. I wasn’t lazy, I had a genuine problem,” he says.

Thanks to the help of expert tutors, Shane is now able to read to his two daughters Billie Rae, four and four-month-old Marley Mae.

Essential iPhone Apps for the Disabled?

More than 16 million people in America have a mental illness or a cognitive function problem while 3 million people have difficulty with speech communication, thus hindering them from learning independently. 

However, learning can be facilitated, even for people with disabilities, through the help of mobile devices like the iPhone.

If you’re a parent of a disabled child or a teacher for disabled students, you can make learning more interesting for them with the help of these apps!

ArtikPix

One of the best learning methods for children is the use of pictures and graphics, one thing that modern technology such as the iPhone can now offer for free.

ArtikPix is one of those free applications geared towards empowering special education teachers and students by providing great ways to interact while learning.

In a nutshell, it’s a flashcard activity app that allows students to practice speech.

The app is also helpful for teachers because it allows them to collect and keep track of data through Google Spreadsheets.

In My Dreams

If you don’t have an iPhone 5, you can always opt for apps that are great for older iPhone versions.

In My Dreams is a great app that works on all iOS 2.2.1 devices and above (which makes it ideal for every iPhone).

It’s a matching and reading app that allows students to learn effective reading, writing and speaking through animation and repetition.

The app uses voice, sign language, pictures and words to help kids widen their vocabularies, master sentence structures and distinguish connections between words and visuals.

ADHD Angel

Aside from the usual speech and learning problems that many students encounter, a lot of children in America also have problems focusing in school due to behavioural disorders such as ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).

For students who are having trouble controlling and monitoring their ADHD tendencies, the perfect app to try is ADHD Angel. ADHD Angel helps students understand their condition and monitor and manage their feelings.

Aside from medication reminders, the app also features information about ADHD which kids can use to explain their disability to their peers. It also has important emergency contact details, advice and reminders to help students cope with ADHD even at school.

TapToTalk

For students who can’t speak because of autism, cerebral palsy or other speech defects, the iPhone is a very helpful tool in communicating with others.

Apps likeTapToTalk serves as an easy and fun communication device. The app is filled with pictures that he or she can tap to voice their feelings and needs.

Aside from this app, the developers also created other apps to go with it such as TapToTalk Uploader which helps disabled kids expand their photo album by uploading their own pictures.

Learn Braille Alphabet

Whether or not a student is blind, it still is helpful to learn the Braille alphabet.

Students who have a blind friend or family member will find it easier to learn the Braille alphabet by using the Learn Braille app.

This app is enhanced for the iPhone 5 so that students can easily learn Braille with fun visuals and interactive games.

Not only will the kids learn a new language, they will also be able to help their blind classmate!

While there are many apps to support parents and teachers who have disabled students, developers have yet to come up with many applications to help disabled children.

But with the onset of new technologies, it won’t be too long until students with disabilities have the opportunity to learn at the same pace as other kids.

The Best Text to Speech (TTS) Software Programs and Online Tools - How-To Geek

The Best Text to Speech (TTS) Software Programs and Online Tools - How-To Geek

Phonics: Children who do not respond

What happens when a child cannot learn to read through phonics? 

Educational researchers call these children nonresponders or  treatment-resisters. They use these terms because direct and intensive teaching of phonetic skills is usually the first approach taken to help a young child who is falling behind but a surprisingly large number of children fail to progress to phonics-based interventions.  

Researchers have found that 25% to 50% of children with learning disabilities fall within this category. That is, one-fourth to one-half of kids with reading difficulties won't learn with the methods that are most likely to be offered at their schools. That is a higher percentage than the reported number of children with dyslexia.

New research confirms that the children who do not progress with traditional phonics-based tutoring are highly likely to be dyslexic. 

Unfortunately, schools often follow up the failed intervention with more of the same -- the teachers try harder, reasoning that the child must need to have more repetition and practice to learn but the research evidence also shows that the children who do not learn from phonics-based teaching at the outset do not improve over time; if anything, their performance tends to get slightly worse.   

Most dyslexic kids will struggle to learn to read that way, and those who struggle at the outset will continue to find traditional approaches to reading to be difficult or near-impossible. 

Learn more about the Davis Method:

• Is your child a nonresponder?  
• Research Update: Nonresponders & Dyslexia
• Davis Methods - A Brief Explanation 

Reading Disabilities: 50 Useful Apps For Students

Whether you’re the parent of a child with a reading disability or an educator that works with learning disabled students on a daily basis, you’re undoubtedly always looking for new tools to help these bright young kids meet their potential and work through their disability.

While there are numerous technologies out there that can help, perhaps one of the richest is the iPad, which offers dozens of applications designed to meet the needs of learning disabled kids and beginning readers alike.

Here, we highlight just a few of the amazing apps out there that can help students with a reading disability improve their skills not only in reading, writing, and spelling, but also get a boost in confidence and learn to see school as a fun, engaging activity, not a struggle.

Helpful Tools

These tools are useful for both educators and students with reading disabilities alike, aiding in everything from looking up a correct spelling to reading text out loud.

1. Speak It!: Speak It! is a great text-to-speech solution that can allow students with reading disabilities to get a little help with reading when they need it.
2. Talk to Me: Talk to Me is another text to speech application. It can be used to read words out loud as they are typed, which can help students to better correlate the letters and words with how they’re pronounced.
3. Dragon Dictation: Dragon Dictation works in reverse of the two apps we just listed. Instead of reading text out loud, the application writes down spoken text. For students who struggle with writing, it can be a great way for them to jot down ideas or get help learning.
4. Dyslexic Like Me: Explaining dyslexia to a child can be hard, but this application can make it a little easier. It’s an interactive children’s book that helps students to understand dyslexia and become empowered to overcome their learning disability.
5. Merriam-Webster Dictionary: If spelling is a problem, it’s always a good idea to have a really great dictionary on hand. This app from Merriam-Webster can provide that.
6. Ditionary.com: If Dictionary.com is your go-to place for definitions and spelling help, this app can be a great way to bring that functionality to your iPad or iPhone.
7. Prizmo: With Prizmo, users can scan in any kind of text document and have the program read it out loud, which can be a big help to those who struggle with reading.
8. Flashcards for iPad: This app makes it easy to study words, spelling, and other things that young and LD readers might need help with.
9. Soundnote: Using Soundnote, you can record drawings, notes, and audio all at once, balancing reading-based skills with those that are auditory and visual.

Fundamentals

These apps help teach the fundamentals of reading, writing, and spelling to any young learner, but can be especially helpful for those who are struggling.

10. Alphabet Zoo: Alphabet Zoo is a great tool for helping young readers to recognize letter sounds. Using text and pictures of animals, kids can build their reading skills while having fun.
11. Find the Letters HD: A favorite of special education teachers and psychologists, this app asks learners to find letters and numbers in a coloring grid. It helps build skills in spatial positioning, depth orientation, form discrimination, and concentration and attention.
12. First Words Sampler: Preschoolers with a reading disability can get a head start on improving their skills with this app that teaches them about letters and words using fun graphics and sounds.
13. Montessori Crosswords: Embrace the Montessori method by using this app to help youngsters improve their spelling and reading skills through engaging phonics-based exercises.
14. Read & Write :Students can practice reading and writing letters using this application. Users can trace letters, learn letter sounds, and get illustrations to go along with each part of the alphabet.
15. Sound Literacy: With a portion of the proceeds from this app going to the Dyslexia Association, there’s no reason not to sign on. Even better, the app is incredibly useful, employing the Orton-Gillingham method to help students recognize the spellings of English phonemes.
16. weesay ABC: Using pictures, words, and sounds, this application makes it easy for young students to practice and learn their ABCs.
17. abc PocketPhonics: This app is a great tool for teaching reading disabled students the fundamentals of letter sounds and shapes.
18. The Writing Machine: By correlating pictures and words, reading text, sounding out letters, this tool helps students develop early literacy abilities with greater ease.
19. WordSort: One of the top educational apps out there, this game helps kids to learn how to identify parts of speech, like nouns, adverbs, and verbs, as well as emphasizing grammar skills.
20. ABC Phonics Word Families: Using analogy phonics (or word families) this application teaches young learners to see and hear the patterns of commonality in a set of words. With flashcards, spelling words, scrambled words, and games, this app is a must-have for helping students.

Reading

These excellent iPad apps can be a big help to reading disabled students who need a little extra support when trying to read.

21. Blio: Blio offers all the same features of any basic e-reader, and also a few things that make it unique. Through synchronized highlighting and a serial presentation view, the app helps those with reading disabilities make sense of the text, something many other similar apps don’t offer.
22. Read 2 Me: For those who have difficulty reading, apps like Read 2 Me can be a godsend. The app comes complete with an entire library of texts, all of which can be read out loud.
23. Read2Go: If you use DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) books in your classroom, Read2Go is one of the best and most accessible ways to read those books on iOS.
24. AppWriter: Designed with reading and writing disabilities in mind, this text editor for iPad integrates numerous accessibility features into standard text editing functionality.
25. Audiobooks: Sometimes students with reading disabilities might just want a break from reading books the old fashioned way. That’s why this amazing collection of free audiobooks can come in handy, offering access to classics like Romeo and Juliet and Treasure Island.
26. Bob’s Books: Bob’s Books uses phonics-based interactive games to help kids learn how to read. Activities will help young learners to sound out words, spell, and make connections between letters and sounds.
27. iStoryTime: There are numerous titles to choose from in the iStoryTime series, all of which allow kids to have the book read to them or to get help reading it themselves.
28. MeeGenius! Kids’ Books: MeeGenius is another series that’s perfect for practicing reading skills. Those with trouble reading can use illustrations and helpful word highlighting to get help, or just have the book read to them until they’re confident enough to do it on their own.
29. Reading Trainer: While this app is designed to help average readers boost their reading speed and ability, it can be useful to those who struggle as well, as many of the skills taught can help just about anyone become a more confident reader.
30. See Read Say: This application will help to ensure that young learners are familiar with all of the Dolch sight words (the most common words), using games, activities, and tons of practice.
31. Stories2Learn: Why use existing stories to help troubled readers when you can build your own? This application lets you develop your own text and audio stories, including messages, topics, and other things that can help keep kids interested.
32. eReading series: The eReading series from Brain Integration LLC, helps young readers at all levels of proficiency learn about topics like Greek Mythology and Gulliver’s Travels. Users can have the book read to them, or practice reading without the help, too.

Writing

For those with reading disabilities, sometimes writing can also be a trying task. Here are some apps that can help teach, assist, and make writing more fun.

33. iWrite Words: Named by The Washington Post as one of the best apps for special needs kids, this game-based program helps youngsters learn to write their letters through a fun and engaging setup that uses illustrations and animations to keep things interesting.
34. AlphaWriter: Using Montessori-based learning methods, this application helps kids to learn how to read, write, and spell phonetically. It also teaches lessons on consonants and vowels, letter sounds, writing stories, and much more.
35. Sentence Builder: Through this application, elementary school children will learn how to build grammatically correct sentences, with a special focus on using connector words.
36. Story Builder: After kids are done learning how to build sentences, they can move onto this app which combines those sentences into one coherent story, complete with illustrations.
37. Writing Prompts: Having trouble thinking of things for students to write about? This app removes that roadblock and offers up numerous ideas for short writing assignments.
38. Idea Sketch: This mind-mapping app can help learning disabled students make sense of their ideas and organize them in ways that they can easily translate into written work.
39. Storyrobe: Teachers and students can build and share their own unique stories through this application. Integration with YouTube and email makes it easy to share and revise, too.

Spelling

These applications can be excellent tools for improving spelling skills.

40. American Wordspeller: Looking up a word in a dictionary isn’t that simple if you have no idea how to spell it. This app removes that problem and employs a method that lets you much more easily pinpoint how to spell just about any word.
41. Word Magic: Created by the parents of a five-year-old, this app for young learners help kids learn words and how to spell them correctly. It uses lots of positive reinforcement, rewards, and fun pictures to keep things interesting to learners.
42. Typ-O: Poor spellers can rejoice over this great application that help you spell words correctly in any typing-related program on your iPhone or iPad.
43. A1 Spelling App: This application is a great way to help poor spellers begin to learn the correct spelling of common words, increasing difficulty as kids master words.
44. iSpell Word: iSpell Word is designed to help kids learn the spellings of simple English words. It uses games to teach, with each level of the game employing more difficult words so kids are always challenged.
45. Jumbline: If you’re looking to make reading, writing, and spelling into a game, this app can help. It’s full of word games that ask players to use speed, smarts, pattern recognition, and spelling skills to win.
46. Spelling Bee Challenge: Kids can have fun taking part in a mock spelling bee using this application that boosts both spelling and vocab skills.
47. Word Fall: In this educational game, words fall from the sky and players must collect letters to form basic words.
48. WordLadder: This highly challenging word game will get older readers thinking about how words are spelled and how they can be connected and changed to form new words.
49. ACT Spell: Developed especially for learners with disabilities and special needs, this tool helps develop motor control, word recognition, spelling, and reading skills.
50. Word Wizard: Lauded by The New York Times, this word-focused app lets kids hear the sounds of letters and words through a movable alphabet while also engaging them in spelling practice and games.

What Is Dysgraphia? - YouTube

Dysgraphia is a learning disability that affects writing, which requires a complex set of motor and information processing skills.

Dysgraphia makes the act of writing difficult. It can lead to problems with spelling, poor handwriting, and putting thoughts on paper.

People with dysgraphia can have trouble organizing letters, numbers, and words on a line or page. This can result partly from:

• Visual-spatial difficulties: trouble processing what the eye sees
• Language processing difficulty: trouble processing and making sense of what the ear hears

As with all learning disabilities (LD), dysgraphia is a lifelong challenge, although how it manifests may change over time.

A student with this disorder can benefit from specific accommodations in the learning environment. Extra practice learning the skills required to be an accomplished writer can also help.

Read more about Dysgraphia

Dyslexia: Dynaread lets Customers Set their Discount Rates

You’re a commercial enterprise, your private customers are adults with income levels across the board, but your actual product end-users are very needy children.

What do you do? Help those children whose parents can afford it, and forget about the others? What if the vast majority of adolescent suicides can potentially be avoided if all of these children would receive help?

Is it ethical to only help those who can afford your product? Hans Dekkers, CEO of Dynaread does not think so, and choose to introduce a flexible ethical pricing model.

Five to ten percent of the nation’s school population are struggling readers and have dyslexia. A fairly high number, but nothing when compared to the broader impact dyslexia has on society as a whole. Research evidences that 50-70% of inmates in Juvenile Detention Centers fall in the struggling reader category.

Research into nearly 300 adolescent suicides demonstrates that a shocking 89% had wrestled with dyslexia. No less than 80% of all learning disabilities demonstrate a comorbidity with reading struggles, raising an interesting “which came first: the chicken or the egg” question for learning disabilities that center around behavioral issues.

The Midlands Region in South Caroline recently completed a cost study into this issue of illiteracy. Their findings?

The State misses out on $54 million of tax income due to low income averages of illiterates. If dropout could be averted for only one extra year in school, regional productivity would rise by 8.5%. Crime would drop to the extent that it would save the region $488 million per year.

These are stunning figures.

Hans Dekkers: “The bottom-line in pricing is profitability. But the bottom-line in genuinely trying to do something about illiteracy is reaching as many children with dyslexia as possible with quality treatment.

These two objectives are not necessarily mutually exclusive. When we started our dyslexia treatment venture, we made the strategic choice to go the commercial route.

Nothing drives quality upward faster than free market pressures. But we quickly discovered that a significant portion of our free online dyslexia test users had budgets that could not handle our pricing.”

Though outwardly, Dynaread’s flexible pricing model may look a bit like Priceline.com’s Name-your-own-Price, Dynaread’s set up is fundamentally different.

Priceline’s power lies in the creation of additional sales channels for the seller. These sellers are able to monetize otherwise unused seat capacity on their flights, rooms in their hotels, or cars in their rental car fleet.

In contrast, Dynaread’s model is more of an honor system. This works because there is already a significant amount of customer/Dynaread loyalty prior to the purchase, thanks to Dynaread’s quality of follow-up on the child’s free online reading test.

Is it a risk? Hans Dekkers: “It is more math than risk. We precisely track and measure purchase history. We can raise or lower base pricing as well as adjust the levels of instantly available discount percentages.

We periodically tweak things to keep riding the optimum. What we’re after is a pricing model that leaves no child behind, whilst delivering sustainable profitability.

The last thing you want is price-competition, so simply going cut throat pricing is a very bad idea for everybody.

Such an approach would erode quality and would ultimately come at a high cost for the dyslexia community. We believe our approach allows for responsible pricing, whilst making it possible to truly leave no child behind: and that is exciting!”

With dyslexia awareness and activism on the rise, dyslexia seems poised to be the next blind corner in child health and education to be exposed and dealt with.

Initiatives like Dynaread’s flexible pricing lower the threshold to proper treatment.

Dynaread welcomes investor interest from those who share their passion and are interested in helping Dynaread move faster into other language regions.

For more information, go to https://Dynaread.com.

Concerns over UK Literacy Rates and Education

Pupils in England who fail to achieve at least a C grade at GCSE in English and maths will have to carry on taking the subjects to the age of 18, the government has announced.

This follows concerns too many teenagers leave education without adequate skills in literacy and numeracy needed by employers.

It will see some pupils re-taking GCSEs and others taking less demanding tests, aimed at improving basic skills.

This will apply from September 2013.

The changes are set out in a written ministerial statement from Education Secretary Michael Gove.
Leaving age

Alongside high levels of youth unemployment have been complaints from employers that too many youngsters lack basic skills needed to make them employable.

Leaving age
Alongside high levels of youth unemployment have been complaints from employers that too many youngsters lack basic skills needed to make them employable.

The statement quotes a CBI survey saying two in five employers were not satisfied with literacy levels among school leavers.

It also follows the report from Professor Alison Wolf which warned some pupils were being diverted into cul-de-sac vocational qualifications - when they lacked the basic skills they most needed.

More than 40,000 youngsters a year reach 19 without having had any further lessons in English, after failing the subject at 16, says the Department for Education.

For maths, the figure is more than 60,000 each year.

The changes, linked to raising the leaving age for education and training, will mean youngsters in the education system beyond 16 will be expected to reach an adequate level in maths and English.

Those who have already achieved a grade C or above at these subjects will be unaffected.

And in a detail which may indicate the proposed return of the O-level, supporting notes mention GCSE grades but the ministerial statement talks only about a "good pass".

For those with near-miss D grades, there is an expectation pupils will re-take to get to a C grade or higher.

For those who have weaker skills, there will be other tests or lessons which might not lead to a qualification.

The plans are underpinned by a funding change.

"Rather than funding per qualification, we will fund institutions 'per student'," says the ministerial statement.

As an interim measure, and recognising the concerns of more academic schools, the statement promises a three-year guarantee of no cuts in per-student funding for individual institutions.

Brain Training is Life Changing! - YouTube

NB: We are not endorsing Learning Rx or any other products or services on this site and include this video and others for information only. This will allow our readers to stay informed about what is available in the Dyslexia and the Learning Disorders Environment and to be able to make informed decisions about their own specific needs. Enjoy!

Dyslexia: Message from a Teacher who is Dyslexic

Rocky Perry wrote his first book back in 2009 while he was studying Early Childhood Education at Dalton State College.

He has always tried to do the things that are hardest for him. He learned to read and write later than most people due to his Dyslexia, which was diagnosed with in the early eighties.

Writing a book, like getting his degree, presented some unique challenges. This first book was written using Dragon Naturally Speaking speech to text software.

He did finish the book and when he looked back at all the things he'd learned from the experience, he knew he had to keep writing.

"In the early eighties I was diagnosed with Dyslexia. It wasn’t until sixth grade that I learned to read. Most every book I read before thirty was an audio book and school was always a huge struggle."

"At thirty six, I am a college graduate, a teacher, author of several books, and a father of three great kids. I am doing the best I can. Dyslexia is still a struggle."

"I give a lot of credit to people who have helped me along the way, and of course technology. Without technology I am certain I would not have made it through high school, much less any of the other endeavours I have accomplished in my life."

Read more about Rocky on his blog: Mom, My Teacher is Dyslexic

We do not endorse any product or service on this blog but we do encourage you to become familiar with technology that can act as a tool and help you overcome the difficulties you face when managing your Dyslexia.

Dyslexia: Beneficial Apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

Take a look at our recommendations and then purchase the Apps from iTunes.
The pricing shown below is just a guideline as the prices change on a regular basis.

eBook Readers

VOD - Voice of DAISY

The Voice of DAISY (VOD) is a player which plays and reads digital talking books created in the DAISY format.

The VOD is ideal for anyone who experiences difficulties with reading material, such as people with dyslexia or individuals with visual impairments.

The text is read aloud using text-to-speech with highlighting support. There are several functions available, such as: you can open with the last book played; you can go directly to a page by entering the page number and bookmarks can keep the actual time point.

• Requires: iOS 3.2 or later
• Device: iPhone 3G/3GS/4, iPod touch (2nd generation or later), iPad
• Price: Approx. £17.99
• Download: Voice of DAISY

Word Processing

Pages

Pages is a word processor for mobile devices. You can create, edit and view documents wherever you are. With 16 Apple-designed templates to choose from you can produce letters, reports, flyers, cards and posters and customise your documents with colours, fonts and textures.

You can view and edit Pages ‘09, Microsoft Word and plain text files, with the onscreen keyboard or a wireless keyboard with Bluetooth technology.  

Pages works with iCloud so your documents stay up-to-date across all your iOS devices - automatically. You can also easily import files from Mail, the web, a WebDAV service, or your Mac or PC using iTunes
 File Sharing.

• Requires: iOS 5.0 or later
• Device: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation) and iPad Price: Approx. £6.99
• Download: Pages

Dictionaries

Oxford Deluxe - Oxford Dictionary of English and Oxford Thesaurus of English

Combining the entire Oxford Dictionary of English (ODE) and the Oxford Thesaurus of English (OTE) plus 70,000 pre-recorded sound files from the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary makes this an ideal application for anyone needing access to the English language with dictionary definitions and more.

Features of the Oxford Deluxe include wildcard search, complete off-line use, bookmarks with editable notations and hyperlinking between dictionary and thesaurus plus to and from appendices.

• Requires: iOS 3.1.3 or later
• Device: iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
• Price: Approx. £37.99
• Download: Oxford Deluxe

Dictionary.com - Dictionary & Thesaurus

Dictionary.com App delivers reference content from Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com including nearly 1,000,000 words with definitions and 90,000 synonyms and antonyms. No Internet connection is needed to search words.

Features: alphabetical indexing, example sentences, custom backgrounds, favourite word lists and more.
When connected to the internet you can also access phonetic and audio pronunciation, spelling suggestions and word of the day.

• Requires: iOS 3.0 or later
• Device: iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
• Price: Approx. £1.99
• Download: Dictionary.com

Oxford Medical Dictionary

The Oxford Medical Dictionary contains 12,500 terms and concepts used in medicine today. Written by distinguished practicing specialists and medical writers the entries are accessible and jargon-free.

Containing over 140 illustrations and diagrams, along with recommended web links this is ideal for anyone working in the paramedical fields: pharmacists, physiotherapists, speech therapists, social workers, hospital secretaries, administrators, technicians, and so on.

It will also be invaluable for medical students and practicing doctors.

• Requires: iOS 3.1 or later
• Device: iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
• Price: Approx. £10.49
• Download: Oxford Medical Dictionary

Text-to-Speech

Speak it! Text To Speech

Speak it! has been designed for ease of use; simply enter the text you want to say and press the ‘Speak it!’ button. Features include: highlights word as they are spoken, ability to create audio files and email them, save phrases to have them repeated later, pause and resume speech playback, change the speech playback speed and much more.

Speak it! includes four quality voices: American Male, American Female, British Male, and British Female with the option of downloading other voices (which will incur an additional cost).

• Requires: iOS 3.0 or later
• Device: iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
• Price: Approx. £1.49
• Download: Speak it!

OCR

ZoomReader (iPhone 4 only)

ZoomReader, from the makers of ZoomText, lets you magnify and read text. First take a picture with your in-built iPhone camera of an object, like a book, menu or even a medicine bottle before the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology will convert the image into text. ZoomReader will then read the text back to you using a natural sounding voice.

It is designed to be able to photograph an 8.5″ by 11″ document. ZoomReader includes colour filtering to make reading easier.

• Requires: iOS 4.2+ Only
• Device: iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S
• Price: Approx. £13.99
• Download: ZoomReader

Prizmo

Prizmo lets you scan and recognise text. Ideal for documents so you can share with other users and for business cards where the information can be extracted to create contacts on your phone.

Key feature of Prizmo is the highly accurate OCR technology in 10 languages: English, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish.

• Requires: iOS 3.1 or later
• Device: iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
• Price: Approx. £6.99
• Download: Prizmo

Note Taking

Notebooks for iPad

Notebooks allows you to conveniently write, capture and organize your ideas, notes, reminders, journals, diaries or details of life that you want to keep close at hand.  

Notebooks for iPad allows you to easily create notes and documents and then file them away in notebooks or projects. Import and view PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and many other types of documents and file them with your notes.

You can manage your tasks using reminders and to-do lists and tick them off on completion.

Type your notes and texts, no matter how long they are. Draw with your finger or a dedicated stylus.

Select your favourite fonts, background colours and patterns. Quickly create new documents with the contents of the Clipboard or import web pages from Safari, Mail and other iPad apps.

Create as many nested books as you need with the ability to freely move, rename and restructure your documents and books. Full text search enables you to find notes quickly.

Protect your confidential documents with a passcode, Sync and back-up files via WebDAV and Dropbox.

• Requires: iOS 4 or later
• Device: iPad
• Price: Approx. £5.99
• Download: Notebooks for iPad

File Management and Annotations

GoodReader for iPad

GoodReader for iPad handles large PDF and TXT files, MS Office files including .doc and .ppt, iWorks, image manuals, large books video and audio with great speed. PDFs can be opened and annotated with typewritten text boxes, sticky notes, lines, arrows and freehand drawings. Annotations can be collated and exported via email.

You can create folders, move, copy and rename your files; zip, email, unzip and unrar them; plus send your files to other apps. Files can be synced to a number of file management services including DropBox, iDisk, Google Docs and WebDAV.

There is very limited VoiceOver support so this app cannot be used to read aloud files.

• Requires: iOS 4 or later
• Device: iPad
• Price: Approx. £2.99
• Download: GoodReader for iPad

Mind Mapping

iThoughtsHD

iThoughtsHD is a mind mapping tool for the iPad. Mind mapping enables you to visually organise your thoughts, ideas and information.

You can use iThoughtsHD for: tasking lists, brainstorming, project planning, goal setting, concept mapping, meeting notes; it’s also ideal for revision and course notes.

You can import and export to and from many desktop applications and Cloud synchronise with Dropbox, Box.net, MobileMe andWebDAV.

The mind map features of iThoughtHD includes: multiple topic options, over 90 built-in icon and 45 clipart images. You can attach notes with hyperlinks to topics; assign different colours and shapes to topics and much, much more.

• Requires: iOS 4.0 or later
• Device: iPad
• Price: Approx. £6.99
• Download: iThoughtsHD for iPad

Organisational

Pocket Informant for iPhone/iPod Touch

Pocket Informant is a fully integrated Calendar, Task, Contacts and Notes solution for your iPhone/iPod Touch that lets you focus on everything you do in a day - not just your Tasks list.

With this highly customizable tool, you have the power to change virtually every feature to suit your preferences.  It comes with a full-featured Notes tab and complete Contact management system.

Features for the calendar include: customisable views for Month, Week, Day, List and Today; alarms and icons; photo and contact linking and more. With the swipe of a finger, or the touch of a button, you can add, edit, share or delete your information.

• Requires: iOS 4.2 or later
• Device: iPhone and iPod touch
• Price: Approx. £8.99
• Download: Pocket Informant for iPhone/iPod Touch

Augmented Alternative Communication

Proloquo2Go

Proloquo2Go provides a full-featured augmentative and alternative communication solution for people who have difficulty speaking.

It provides natural sounding text-to-speech voices (currently American, British, and Indian English Only), high resolution up-to-date symbols, powerful automatic conjugations, and a default vocabulary of over 7000 items, advanced word prediction, full expandability and extreme ease of use.

Special Learning Practitioners, teachers and parents recommend it for children and adults with autism, cerebral palsy, Downs syndrome, developmental disabilities, dyspraxia, motor neurone disease, stroke or traumatic brain injury.

• Requires: iOS 4.2 or later
• Device: iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
• Price: Approx. £129.99
• Download: Proloquo2Go

Calculator

Calculator for iPad

Calculator for iPad is a standard and scientific calculator which features: advanced mathematical/scientific buttons in landscape view; basic calculation buttons in portrait view; calculate with degrees or radials; percent button will behave just like the original calculator; memory buttons will also behave just like the original calculator; button sound is mutable; invisible backspace button by sliding/swiping the result screen with your finger.

Also features 7 different themes: standard, silver keyboard, retro grey, sticky notes, pink keyboard, happy pink, and wooden.

• Requires: iOS 4.0 or later
• Device: iPad
• Price: Approx. £0.69
• Download: Calculator for iPad

Recording

PureAudio Live Recorder for iPad

PureAudio is a full function digital voice and audio recording application with enhanced Andrea’s patented digital noise reduction microphone technology.

PureAudio digitally reduces background noise, while enhancing the recorded sound quality and intelligibility when making recordings in real-world noisy mobile environments.

It has an intuitive, simple to use interface with a user guide to all features and functions.

Some of the audio features include: digital noise reduction software to remove repetitive background noise from recordings; microphone sensitivity boost allows for far field recordings and three different recording formats: WAVE, CAF, AIFF.

There are various recording and playback functions to make your life easier including fast forward and fast reverse during playback using finger swipe gestures or by using the audio position slider.

File management for recordings is available so you can add, delete, rename and rearrange recording categories. You can also transfer recordings using iTunes File Sharing and more.

• Requires: iOS 3.2 or later
• Device: iPad
• Price: Approx. £1.99
• Download: PureAudio Live Recorder for iPad 

Full Credit for assembling this excellent list of Apps goes to the people at Dyslexic.com

Dyslexia: Making Sense of Literacy

Part 1: Literacy and the 9 Essential Skills

Part 2: How Literacy is Measured

Part 3: Literacy and Self Esteem

More Information on Literacy and the remaining 3 parts of this series are available at the 'More Than a Book' website.

Dyslexia: Five ways Microsoft OneNote can help students stay organised

To run the Video Click on the picture.

Did you ever wish that you had taken Note-Taking 101 in school?

Unfortunately, few schools offer it.

That means most of us are all too familiar with the frustrations of not being able to stay organized or find information and schoolwork fast enough.

We all know that if our notes and school work are organized, we can think more clearly and save time and frustration.

So imagine how challenging it can often be for students with dyslexia to take good notes, which are essential to academic achievement. Many students with dyslexia report that they often don’t take notes because it’s just too hard.

One advantage that all note-takers have in the digital age is the opportunity to use tools, such as Microsoft OneNote, to make taking and organizing notes a lot easier.

For students with dyslexia, OneNote has many features that can help students take notes faster and in different ways, stay organized, and meet literacy challenges, such as spelling and grammar.

Here are five ways that OneNote can help students with dyslexia take better notes:

1. Take notes faster

To take good notes, you have to record information fast. Commonly recommended ways to speed up note-taking include using shorthand or abbreviations and symbols instead of fully writing out words.

These are difficult skills to master, and for students with dyslexia and dysgraphia (difficulty in handwriting), they can be especially challenging.

OneNote not only lets students type notes so they’re sure to be legible later, but also it offers many additional ways to speed up students’ note-taking.

This means that they can spend more time paying attention and less time worrying about losing the information they didn’t have time to record correctly or clearly.

Here are a few of the ways OneNote makes “digital shorthand” available to students:

• OneNote offers several ways to automate repetitive tasks, filling in information for students so that they don’t have to take the time to do it. For example, the AutoComplete feature enables them to enter long strings of text by typing just a few characters. When the AutoCorrect Options button or the Paste Options button appears on the page, students can simply select the option they want instead of having to type it themselves. AutoComplete and AutoCorrect are turned on by default in OneNote.
• Keyboard shortcuts can speed the process of entering information even more. Start by selecting a few shortcuts that the student uses most often, and then add more. Here’s how to use keyboard shortcuts:
• Microsoft OneNote 2010
• Microsoft Office OneNote 2007

Students can find and access what they need a lot faster by simplifying and customizing the ribbon, toolbars, and menus.

In OneNote, students can group ribbon and toolbar buttons and menu commands together in a way that makes note-taking faster for them.

They can also create a toolbar that contains only the buttons and menus they use most often. The Quick Access toolbar in OneNote 2010 can easily be customized in this way.

Students can even create a custom toolbar button or menu command. Minimizing the text and images on the screen can be especially helpful for students with dyslexia.

Here’s how to group related buttons and menus on a ribbon or toolbar:

• OneNote 2010
• Office OneNote 2007

Here’s how to create a custom toolbar:

• OneNote 2010
  
• Office OneNote 2007
  

2. Record audio and video notes

Like patting your head while rubbing your stomach, understanding information while you are taking notes is not easy.

Students can make an audio or video recording of a presentation from within OneNote while they’re typing notes.

OneNote adds an icon in the note margin that students can click when they’d like to play back what was being said or shown at the time they took the note.

Listening to the audio notes later, while reviewing their typed notes, can help increase comprehension. In addition, students can paste audio recordings of related information into OneNote (for example, an audio recording of an assigned book).

Just like the text in OneNote, all audio recordings can be searched for specific spoken words or phrases.

Here’s how to record audio or video notes:

• OneNote 2010: Click the Insert tab, and then click Record Audio or Record Video.
• Office OneNote 2007

3. Use visual cues to help you organize and remember information

Using visual cues in a notebook can help students to sort through their notes faster and to better understand different kinds of information.

For example, students with dyslexia can find and process information better by marking notes as definitions and by highlighting information.

OneNote lets students highlight text and assign a variety of other colorful and distinctive tags to notes, such as To Do, Important, Question, Idea, Definition. They can search the notebook for a particular kind of tag, too.

This is a great help, because it makes it easy to create a list based on specific kinds of notes, definitions, or key ideas that students can use to study.

Here’s how to work with note tags:

• Office 2010: Select the note you want to tag. Click the Home tab, click the Tags list, and then select the tag you want to apply.
• OneNote 2007

Structuring the page to take good notes has also been shown to help students. For example, left-justified, ruled pages with thicker lines can help students with dyslexia locate information faster and comprehend it better. Lists and tables can help them and other students to better focus and comprehend.

Students can also customize the color of text and numbers to make their notes more readable. They can select Full Page View, with toolbars minimized, so they can read their notes better.

If they need more space on a page to see all related information at the same time, all they have to do is click and drag the page to add space horizontally or vertically.

OneNote gives students all these options and more so they can create a personalized notebook that supports their way of learning.

Students can access most of these options by clicking the View tab on the OneNote 2010 ribbon.

Students can use the OneNote 2010 ribbon to structure pages for easier comprehension.

4. Use outlines and templates

All students, and particularly those with dyslexia, can benefit from structured note-taking, such as the use of outlines and templates.

Outlining is one of the most helpful features of OneNote. Each note you take in OneNote, whether it’s a paragraph or just a list item, is automatically entered as an element of an outline.

Each outline appears in a container, surrounded by a thin line with a handle along the top edge.

OneNote lets students create vertical or horizontal outlines, use bullets or numbers, expand and collapse outlines, move them around the page, and send them directly to Word.

Here’s how to work with outlines:

• OneNote 2007
  

Note-taking templates can help students to take notes and to develop their note-taking skills.

This kind of graphic organizing can take many forms—strategic note-taking (which uses general written or visual cues to prompt the note-taker), guided note-taking (which uses written or visual cues specific to the presentation), column-style note-taking (in which the main ideas go in the left column and sub-points in the right column), or webbing (which uses a non-linear approach to mapping information).

Teachers can set up a general note-taking template and distribute it to students to use on a daily basis, or they can create a template for students to use to take notes during a specific presentation.

Parents and students can explore what works best for the student overall and then create a customized note-taking template in OneNote, based on the way the student learns best.

OneNote comes with built-in note-organizing templates and access to templates at www.office.com. You can easily customize these them to create your own note-taking structure.

Here’s how to work with templates:

• OneNote 2010
• Office OneNote 2007

5. Use the spell checker, dictionaries, and thesaurus

OneNote has other great tools that support reading and writing comprehension, such as spell checker, dictionaries, and a thesaurus.

In addition, OneNote 2010 includes Research options. Students simply type a word or phrase in the Search box, and OneNote brings related web sources, in addition to dictionaries and thesauruses, right into their notebooks.

Having the information they’re researching displayed right next to their notes can help students stay on track.

Here’s how to use the spell checker and research features:

• OneNote 2010: Open the notebook you want to check, click the Review tab, and then click the tool you want to use. In the lower section of the pane, click Research options to specify where you want OneNote to search.
  
• OneNote 2007: Open the notebook you want to check. From the Tools menu, select Spelling, and then click Spelling.
  

More ideas

Some students with learning disabilities may qualify for a disability accommodation for note-taking that allows them to use note-taking services (often provided by peer volunteers).

The following are additional ideas and resources to help students with learning disabilities such as dyslexia:

• Office OneNote WebApp enables teachers, parents, and students to access and edit entire OneNote notebooks from a browser—even on a computer that doesn’t have OneNote installed. It’s a fast way to check whether students’ note-taking skills are improving.
  
• Windows Live SkyDrive enables you to sync notebooks to the cloud so that they are available anywhere from any computer
  
• Interactive Classroom connects your Microsoft PowerPoint lessons with students’ OneNote notebooks, enabling you—during a lesson—to insert yes/no, true/false, and multiple choice questions. Students answer, in real time, with a simple click. You can adjust the lesson to the results, adding ink or text annotations that they see in their notebooks. Help engage every student, and equip them all with study notes that match your content.
  

Determining Your Marketable Skills - Learning Difficulties

Many of your strengths and abilities are "marketable." This means that they are of value to employers. Your marketable skills can be applied to specific jobs.

Employers will want you to have both job-specific skills and the right disposition and interpersonal skills to adapt to the workplace.

Job-specific skills might include: carpentry, sewing, electrical wiring and bookkeeping.

General skills could include getting along with others, being a team player, managing time, respecting diversity, organizing work, and problem-solving.

Dyslexia: Assistive Technology Turns the Spotlight on Texthelp Apps

We are happy to feature innovative new assistive technologies. Today, we want to tell you about a Web App from Texthelp, eBook Reader, that reads Bookshare books in the Cloud.

eBook Reader is one of a new suite of Web Apps that work within browsers on iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone, and other mobile devices as well as PCs and Macs.

A short video shows how the eBook Reader works. Current Apps include: Read&Write Web, eBook Reader for Bookshare® eBooks, Speech, and Dictionary.



Students in schools and colleges who use Read&Write GOLD can use these Apps at school and at home. They’ll find familiar features, including Read Aloud with dual colour highlighting, Dictionary, Translator, and Study Skills, anywhere, anytime.

One early user seems very enthusiastic: “I am beyond thrilled with the new Web Apps from Texthelp!

These Apps provide students with full access to curriculum materials on revolutionary mobile devices.

Our students will now be able to use the Apps directly on their iPads, in the classroom or media center, sitting in the beanbag chairs or wherever they want.

They will not have to go sit at a big computer and look “different” than the other kids. The best part is that there are books on there that the kids want to read.

It’s not just the classroom novel or textbook and that has made a huge difference for their independent reading books.

I worked with one student who was a non-reader and would not use a computer or netbook. We put the class reading book on an iPad using the eBook Reader and he loves it.

If only you knew this student, because getting him to like anything is so hard. This was like a miracle for us!” states Ashley Tremblay, AT Specialist, CES, Trumbull, CT.

The excitement was shared by another educator, Denise Falcon, a Learning Specialist at The Lillian and Betty Ratner School in Ohio, “Being able to access Bookshare through eBook Reader finally adds the missing pieces that struggling readers need!”

“The highlighting tools and built-in dictionaries give students the tools to finally be able to annotate eBooks and find definitions of unknown words without ever leaving the content.”

The eBook Reader uses Bookshare’s API, (application programming interface), that automates and takes care of many Bookshare functions.

Betsy Beaumon, Vice President and General Manager of the Literacy Program at Benetech said, “We congratulate Texthelp on their new eBook Reader, seamlessly connecting access to educational content at school and home.

This use of our API has broken down another barrier to access, making accessible instructional materials (AIM) very easy to use, available anytime, anywhere.”

Here’s a little more information about the Web Apps

• Read & Write Web – The Read&Write Web toolbar opens within a browser and interacts with web content providing: Text-to-Speech to read html content aloud with dual color highlighting, Dictionary and Picture Dictionary to look up unfamiliar words, Translator to translate selected words into multiple languages, Study Skills to highlight and extract important pieces of information, and Fact Finder to research on the web. Users can also control the speed of the reading voice.
• eBook Reader – The innovative eBook Reader for Bookshare eBooks allows a user to log in to Bookshare, search for, open or save a Bookshare eBook, and read the book aloud with dual color highlighting. eBook Reader also provides access to the same support tools found in Read&Write Web as well as personalization options for reading and speech.
• Speech – Designed for smaller mobile devices such as phones, Speech allows users to read aloud any typed or pasted text with color highlighting.
• Dictionary – Another App meant for smaller devices, Dictionary allows users to look up typed or pasted words and get text definitions as well as image representations. Definitions can also be read aloud.

Dyslexia: Octavia Butler Author Extraordinaire

Despite her Dyslexia, Octavia Butler was an award-winning author of thirteen books. She was a pioneer in the science fiction genre, winning both the Nebula and the Hugo Awards.

In 1995, Butler was honoured with a MacArthur fellowship, and in 2005, she was the recipient of the City College of New York's Langston Hughes Medal.

The Pen Center West awarded her with a lifetime achievement award. Tragically, she died in 2006, after a fall outside of her home.

Throughout her life Octavia never considered herself to be very bright, much less a genius. In fact, she struggled in school, where teachers interpreted her slow reading and inability to finish assignments in the allotted time, as laziness and an unwillingness to do the work.

But when given the time to write in school, Butler would weave tales that were so out-of-the-box her teacher assumed she had copied them from a published story.

When she was thirteen, one teacher did recognize her talents as a writer and encouraged her to submit a short story to a science fiction magazine, he even typed it out for her.

That story would be the first of many she submitted for publication, and would signify the moment Butler knew that she wanted to, and could, write for a living; however, Butler was writing stories for herself long before then.

A shy loner, Butler found solace and company in words. At as young as four years old, she was making up stories for herself; and as she recalls in an interview with the literary journal Callaloo, “By the time I was ten I was writing, and I carried a big notebook around so that whenever I had some time I could write in it.

That way, I didn’t have to be lonely. I usually had very few friends, and I was lonely. But when I wrote I wasn’t, which was probably a good reason for my continuing to write as a young kid. I read a lot also, for the same reasons.”

Despite her dyslexia, she was a bookworm, reading everything that she could find. Butler described how she got her first library card: “When I was six and was finally given books to read in school, I found them incredibly dull; they were Dick and Jane books. I asked my mother for a library card. I remember the surprised look on her face. She looked surprised and happy. She immediately took me to the library and got me a card. From then on the library was my second home.”

Butler’s mother only had three years of education, but she learned to read, and worked hard as a housekeeper to make sure that her daughter learned to read and went to school.

After high school, Butler went on to graduate from Pasadena City College with an Associates of Arts degree in 1968.

Read more of Octavia Butler's story here: Octavia Butler: Author