The Dysgraphia Sourcebook by Ben Bryce

Author:Ben Bryce
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: dysgraphia
Publisher: Andale LLC

Software that Helps

There is a huge amount of software on the market available to help with dysgraphia with an abundance of features. Which features your child needs is an individualized decision. Consider consulting with an occupational therapist or assisted technology specialist to make a decision about what software types can help your child. You can also ask your school about the types of software they have available so that you can purchase the same software for use at home. In general, all children with dyslexic dysgraphia will benefit from having software with these key features:

• Mind mapping/visual organizer

• Split screen feature

• Speech-to-text software

• Speech output (where the software reads what is on the screen out loud)

• Word predictor (much like the text predictions on smartphones)

• Dictionary and spell checker

You may need to purchase more than one product to obtain all of the features you need. Some good software products for children with dyslexia:

For-Fee Products

Mindmeister (online resource)

Mindmeister is an online mind-mapping tool. It’s ideal for real-time collaboration. An additional feature is that you can integrate a Skype account into your profile. Each mind-map begins with a central idea in the middle of the screen. From there, you can add related concepts which can be rearranged with ease. Mindmeister also keeps track of revisions and the maps can be exported to a file or printed. The program is free for 30 days; after that you must pay $2.99 per month.

Inspiration/Kidspiration

Inspiration (for middle schoolers and up) and Kidspiration (for K-5 learners) are visual organizers, where students can brainstorm using images and symbols. A personalized visual organizer helps students break down assignments into small steps. It includes:

• A talking interface text-to-speech for students who are challenged with focusing on printed text.

• A word retrieval tool to find and choose words.

• A storyboard creation tool to illustrate the sequence of events in a story.

• Compatibility with word, so that fleshed-out outlines can be exported as a Word document.

• Dozens of pre-loaded templates, from creating comic strips to character analysis.

Kidspiration or Inspiration can be purchased for about $40 (as of May 2014). A free trial is available from www.Inspiration.com.

WYNN Literacy Software Solution

WYNN software was developed specifically for students with reading challenges and writing difficulties like dysgraphia. WYNN Wizard, which at the time of writing sells for about $1,000, includes:

• The ability to scan printed pages and convert them into text on the computer.

• Speech synthesis for the scanned text to be read aloud.

• Reading out loud feature for any document, PDF or web page.

You can purchase WYNN at www.freedomscientific.com/.

Kurzweil 3000

Kurzweil 3000 is a text-to-speech program that combines reading text from a computer with a range of study and language tools. It also includes an integrated voice notes feature and a “read the Web” tool to read web pages out loud. The software costs around $1400.

Free Products

Audacity Sound Recorder and Editor (downloadable program)

Audacity Sound Recorder and Editor is a free open source program that records live audio, converts tapes and records into digital recordings or CD’s, edits MP3 and WAV files, and much more.

Download

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