When remediation is not enough . . .

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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
• J/I Special Education/Psychology Students
• September 2002

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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 action
• increase awareness of the technology available to
  accommodate students with LDs

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Premise

• Our Desire - we want all of our students to be
  able to master the Three Rs 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.

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Consequently

• In order for many of these exceptional students
  to be successful, their learning must be 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.

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Remediation

• Should
• provide direct intervention and instruction
• build skills in areas of deficit
• teach strategies to cope in areas of deficit
• But may involve
• withdrawl creating gaps in class 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

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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

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Accommodations

• Should
• meet learning outcomes/objectives
• keep expectations at grade level
• allow for similar work
• allow for alternative presentation of info,
  assignment completion, test taking
• Can or Are
• build self-esteem
• eligible for high school credits
• available at colleges and universities

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Some Stats . . .

• learning disabilities impact the lives of
  approximately 10 of the population
• approximately 4 of Ontarios school aged
  population is formally identified with LDs
• of Ontarios 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/HD
• 75 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
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A brief overview . . .

• What is a
• Learning Disability?
• A new definition
• from the LDAO

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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.

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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.

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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)

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Learning disabilities

• range in severity and invariably interfere with
  the acquisition and use of one or more of the
  following important skills

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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 skills
• social perception
• social interaction

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What a LD is Not!

• IT IS NOT
• low intelligence/an intellectual disability
• mental illness/emotional disturbance
• autism
• visual or auditory acuity problems
• laziness/lack of motivation
• a way to avoid other issues
• a physical handicap
• the result of a poor academic background

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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

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For you visual learners
What does an LD look like?

• Diagnosing a learning disability?

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Traditional Aptitude vs. AchievementAverage
Student
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Traditional Aptitude vs. Achievement Student
with a LD
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Aptitude, Achievement Info Processing Visual
(Dyslexia)
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Aptitude, Achievement Info Processing Auditory
(CAPD)
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So how might an LD affect a Learner?

• A Couple of Examples . . .

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Cant 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.

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Cant you see this?

• Cant you see the _________?

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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.htm
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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 wont make it in the real
  world

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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 wont 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

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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

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LD Specific Software

• textHELP Read Write
• v. 5.0
• (Read Write v. 6.0 is now available)

www.texthelp.com
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RW 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

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RW aids processing deficits

• Directly
• phonological processing
• language processing
• visual-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

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textHELP! Read Writeoverview

• Reading tool
• Screen 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

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RW Reading Tools

• Screen Reading
• reads the screen, icons application menus
• Text Reading
• highlight 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

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RW Reading Tools

• Reading features
• change readers
• character
• voice
• speed pitch
• highlighting colours text size
• find and listen to words and definitions in Spell
  Check, Thesaurus and Word Wizard

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RW Writing Tools

• Listen to your writing
• listen as you type by
• letter
• word
• sentence
• or even speaks punctuation
• listen to proofread a complete document

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RW 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)

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RW 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

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RW 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

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textHelp - Helps!

• Assists and motivates
• Accommodates many reading and writing deficits
• Helps 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

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Want to practice?

• We will put 5 copies of Cambrian Colleges
  textHELP! Read Write instructional manual on
  reserve in the library
• and 5 copies in the Student Affairs Office
  (A201).
• There are student disks with the package please
  copy these disks to your computer and dont
  overwrite the files on the floppy ?

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Just released Read Write GOLD

• Read Write features plus
• scan read features
• speech input (speech to text XP engine)
• research tools gather, organize, annotate info
  from the internet
• simple scientific talking calculator
• Teacher Toolkit manage spelling and activity
  logs and student access

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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
• Mikes Learning Resources site
• www.nipissingu.ca/faculty/mikew/resource

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Questions?

• . . . our thanks for this opportunity!