Re: Voice Recognition software and Alpha Smart

[Guest guest]

Hello,

Our son is 7 and can not put his thoughts on paper either. May I ask what is AlphaSmart? I'm having another IEP meeting soon and maybe our school has that too.

Thanks,

'

Cathleen

From: erduckjr <erduckjr@...> Sent: Fri, September 24, 2010 6:22:36 PMSubject: ( ) Voice Recognition software and Alpha Smart

My son (11 yrs old/6 grade)has an extremely hard time writing his thoughts. He is very creative and loves to communicate verbally with people. But getting the thoughts from the head to the paper is difficult. Because of that we are looking at different solutions. His school has just provided us with an AlphaSmart for use in school. We just got it this weekend and had it put into his IEP. (BTW, his school has been beyond great in the support they are giving him so far this year - very pro-active.) Hopefully his keyboarding skills will allow him to finish his in class assignments. I have also been debating whether to buy a voice recognition software program for home. This should help him in getting his homework done faster and shorten the amount of time on homework. We were already told by the Language Arts teacher that they will be doing alot of writing in class and have homework involving writing assignments.Has anybody ever tried

using voice recognition software before? What kind of results have you seen?Rich D.

[Guest guest]

AlphaSmart is a word processor device. It is about the size of a notebook

computer. For some children who have a hard time writing, this helps out.

Hopefully my son will be able to use this and make improvements in class.

Rich D

>

> Hello,

>

> Our son is 7 and can not put his thoughts on paper either. May I ask what is

> AlphaSmart? I'm having another IEP meeting soon and maybe our school has that

> too.

>

> Thanks,

> '

> Cathleen

>

>

>

>

> ________________________________

> From: erduckjr <erduckjr@...>

>

> Sent: Fri, September 24, 2010 6:22:36 PM

> Subject: ( ) Voice Recognition software and Alpha Smart

>

>  

> My son (11 yrs old/6 grade)has an extremely hard time writing his thoughts. He

> is very creative and loves to communicate verbally with people. But getting

the

> thoughts from the head to the paper is difficult. Because of that we are

looking

> at different solutions. His school has just provided us with an AlphaSmart for

> use in school. We just got it this weekend and had it put into his IEP. (BTW,

> his school has been beyond great in the support they are giving him so far

this

> year - very pro-active.) Hopefully his keyboarding skills will allow him to

> finish his in class assignments.

>

>

> I have also been debating whether to buy a voice recognition software program

> for home. This should help him in getting his homework done faster and shorten

> the amount of time on homework. We were already told by the Language Arts

> teacher that they will be doing alot of writing in class and have homework

> involving writing assignments.

>

> Has anybody ever tried using voice recognition software before? What kind of

> results have you seen?

>

> Rich D.

>

[Guest guest]

Do you know why your son has a difficult time writing? Is it a physical thing

such as dysgraphia? A word retrieval issue? An organizational issue? Or a

combination of many things?

My son's school started working with him in 4th grade on his writing. They used

graphic organizers and followed something close to the Landmark writing program.

It took a lot of effort on both his and his teachers parts but my son's writing

is now level with his peers.

My son also has a physical problem with writing due to dysgraphia. He has an

option of having a scribe or typing on any of his classroom tests that require a

lot of writing. For the state tests he is allowed the same accomodations if he

needs them. Any accomodation for the state test has to be written into the IEP.

We put in any accomodation that we think he may need just in case because if its

not there then he can't use it.

As a sophomore my son wanted to take the PSATs this fall but we decided against

it since we hadn't put any accomodations in place. We will put them into place

for next fall. Any college testing such as PSATs or SATs require that you

request accomodations from their organizations. An IEP has no impact on that

type of testing.

Writing programs:

http://www.concordspedpac.org/Writing.html

Dysgraphia:

http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/LD-ADHD/dysgraphia-learning-disabi\

lity-writing.gs?content=860

Executive Function:

http://www.tourettesyndrome.net/disorders/executive-dysfunction/

>

> My son (11 yrs old/6 grade)has an extremely hard time writing his thoughts. He

is very creative and loves to communicate verbally with people. But getting the

thoughts from the head to the paper is difficult. Because of that we are looking

at different solutions. His school has just provided us with an AlphaSmart for

use in school. We just got it this weekend and had it put into his IEP. (BTW,

his school has been beyond great in the support they are giving him so far this

year - very pro-active.) Hopefully his keyboarding skills will allow him to

finish his in class assignments.

>

> I have also been debating whether to buy a voice recognition software program

for home. This should help him in getting his homework done faster and shorten

the amount of time on homework. We were already told by the Language Arts

teacher that they will be doing alot of writing in class and have homework

involving writing assignments.

>

> Has anybody ever tried using voice recognition software before? What kind of

results have you seen?

>

> Rich D.

>