Dyslexia in K

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There are many ways to help students with dyslexia. Knowing about and providing access to various assistive technology tools can prove extremely beneficial. Assistive technology has considerably impacted how a child with learning differences absorbs information. Using this technology to augment student learning can be a successful approach for many children. There is an enormous amount of assistive devices for people with dyslexia and other learning differences that provide them access to reading materials they may not otherwise be able to read.

I am absolutely amazed at how much assistive technology is out there to help a child learn! I can see my daughter benefiting from many of the tools I found. My daughter has always benefitted from books on tape where she listens as she follows along in the book. Another strategy she picked up on her own was to put subtitles on the television so she could read as she listened. It drove me crazy but it was helpful for her to combine her auditory and visual skills. Any of the following products would be of great help to her.

Kurzweil is a fabulous tool that puts text to speech with many cool features. Teachers can integrate it into the classroom. Kindle is a relatively new product that also puts text to speech but is portable. Browsealoud is a computer program that reads aloud websites and is free! Monster Keyboard is color-coded into vowels, consonants, and numbers to supplement visual learning. Neo Text2Speech is a device that can read back by letter, word, or sentence and at various speeds. The digital voice recorder is pocket size. It plays back at different speeds and in 5 different languages. The Speaking Dictionary is a portable phonetic spell checker and dictionary and includes word games. Read and Write Gold is a new text to speech toolbar that reads documents, emails and the web. It translates to and from 4 languages and is shortlisted for the prestigious Education Resource Award 2010 in the category of Best Special Education Resource. The Reading Pen simply allows the user to scan over text and converts the text into voice. ATSTAR is not a particular device but is an online curriculum to help teachers learn to use assistive technology in the classroom.