Assistive Technology
Assistive technology helps individuals to gain and provide knowledge at a faster pace. Your students may benefit from using assistive technology in secondary school to keep up with the daily demands of reading and assignments. It is important to dabble with programs and devices to see what works best for your students before they leave primary school.
Programs and devices to have a look at:
C-Pen
The C-pen has been approved by the Department of Education to use in exams. There are two types of pens: white and orange.
The white pen is used for everyday study. It has scan and store capabilities, a built- in dictionary, an earphone connector and more.
The orange pen is limited to the read only function and can be used in exams. We would suggest initially using the pen(s) as a study tool first to be comfortable and confident with it before using it on an exam.
Speech recognition programs allow the user to speak into a microphone and the words appear on the screen. These programs also recognise commands. This is a great tool for writing but requires practice in order for it to be of any benefit .
Dragon Naturally Speak (package)
Dragon Anywhere (app)
Google voice typing (free)
Windows 7 and 10 (free)
Text to Speech programs read text to you via your device. Again, these programs require practice in order to be of any benefit.
Kurtzweil (Scan book and computer will read text. Great for textbooks and reading chapters. Many other study skills functions accompany this program)
Read and Write Gold 11.5
Claro software
Grammarly
Mind mapping
Bubbl.us
Kidspiration
Great site for apps
Callscotlang.org.uk
