Dyslexia and the Use of Assistive Technology

1
Dyslexia and the Use of Assistive Technology

• Presentation 2
• Assistive Technology and Specific Learning
  Difficulties

2
Pre-requisite knowledge

• Before exploring this pack you should have looked
  at
• What is Accessibility?
• An Introduction to the Disability Legislation

3
Characteristics of Specific Learning Difficulties

• The following are common characteristics of
  Specific Learning Difficulties
• Memory Difficulties.
• Writing Difficulties.
• Reading Difficulties.
• Visual Processing Difficulties.
• Auditory Processing Difficulties.
• Time Management Difficulties.
• Organisational Difficulties.

4
Memory Difficulties

• Audio Recorder.
• Sticky Notes.
• Electronic To Do. Lists / Task Lists.

5
Organisational Tools

• Mind Mapping Software.
• Outline Tool.

6
Keyboarding

• Smart Keyboards.
• Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs).
• Desktop or Laptop Computer.

7
Visual Difficulties

• Good lighting.
• Coloured Overlays.
• Choose a clear font and think about the visual
  presentation.

8
Reading from the screen

• Text to Speech can be useful for students with an
  auditory learning style.
• Text to speech can be used for reading a whole
  range of text documents (web pages, Word
  Documents and PDFs etc).
• Text to speech can be used in conjunction with
  OCR to read printed books or papers.

9
Writing on the Screen

• Good Keyboarding skills.
• Speech Recognition programs.
• Spell Checking.
• Word Prediction.

10
Conclusion

• Technology can help support the needs of students
  with specific learning difficulties.
• Sometimes simple technology can work more
  effectively.
• Technology does not replace the need for
  specialist learning support, but it does give
  students more independence and freedom to work
  using their skills and strengths.