The Benefits of Trial Software

In an effort to gain a basic understanding of the various assistive software available on the market today and to assist me in writing my reviews I have relied on trial software. Many of these 30 day trials, in my opinion, offer the user just enough time to adequately gain a better understanding of the software and assist the user in determining if a specific software is worth purchasing once the trial is expired.

For educators who may have a student with a disability in their classroom I think trial software can be a very effective way of determining what software is going to be most beneficial. I understand that this may mean putting the software on ones own personal device but I feel this minor inconvenience can go a long way. Parents can also trial software on their home computers allowing their child to use the software to do their homework. With trial software the educator and parents can keep track of the students progress, for example taking not of how the student performed the work before the assistive software was introduces, how they are performing in the middle of the trial and then at the end of the trial. These results can be shared then with parents and with member of you special education team as evidence of if the software was beneficial. I feel in many cases having already has a student trial software gives educators a parents a base for having the software purchased for the students continued use. 

Just in the couple of software trials that I have tried I have gained a better understanding of how each software works.  Now when people ask me about different assistive software I can give them my review.

PERSONAL REVIEW OF ZOOMTEXT

Recently I have been playing around with Zoomtext to familiarize myself with this software that is used by many people with visual impairments. Before starting to try the software out my sense was that I would not find the software very user friendly, this coming from others I had spoken to about the software. I  was pleased when I started to use the software to discover that many options it has for users and began thinking that this software could be beneficial for not just people with visual impairments but for others as well which I will explain as I continue describing the software and it many uses.

For magnification, zoomtext  can begin at 1X and can go as high a 36X allowing each user to modify the text to their comfort level. The user can also change the view to allow them to see the full normal view which most of us are used to to different views according to the level of vision. For example overlay view opens a separate window that is magnified wherever the cursor is  as in the line view the document is used line by line. I felt this feature would be beneficial for people who may have difficulty with visual tracking that is not part of a visual impairment. I have Cerebral Palsy and sometimes have visual tracking difficulties where I may be reading a document and may skip a line or two as my eyes did not find the right spot, having a feature that would allow me to go line by line would have kept me on track and not constantly loosing my space.

When looking at color schemes on the computer,  the traditional black on white is not ideal for people with visual impairments. Zoomtext allows the user to change the color scheme to be something that is easier on their eyes, one popular color scheme is a black background with yellow print but Zoomtext offers many options

When it comes to cursors, I don't know about you but I can never find my cursor. I end up having to start typing to see where it is and then go back and delete once I've found it. With Zoomtext there is a feature that places a circle or a square around your cursor, never to loose it again. 

As I said before even though zoomtext is a software program for people with visual impairments I see many features that can be used by others. 

Check out tzoomtext and download a free trial and try out all that this program offers.

Using an AAC device for communication

What is AAC? AAC is a set of tools and strategies that an individual uses to solve everyday communicative challenges. Communication can take many forms such as: speech, a shared glance, text, gestures, facial expressions, touch, sign language, symbols, pictures, speech-generating devices, etc. Everyone uses multiple forms of communication, based upon the context and our communication partner. Effective communication occurs when the intent and meaning of one individual is understood by another person. The form is less important than the successful understanding of the message.

As part of my Cerebral Palsy I was unable to speak until I was 4 years old. Until that time I used a picture board. Mine was different but this gives you the basic idea of a picture board. I think mine probably had things like mom, dad, sister, brother, toilet, hungry, thirsty and other words that a young child would need to communicate.


Once I learned to speak through the help of a speech pathologist I no longer needed my picture board. It wasn't until I moved away from home and no longer had my parents to speak for me if people didn't understand that I started asking what devices were available to help me. For me I use my AAC device in situations where my speech may not be understood (such as going to a new doctor or a social services agency) or in situations where I know I may not be heard because of noise levels as in situations where I need to speak louder my speech becomes more distorted.

My first device was a Dynavox. This is a great AAC device but I found for a person such as myself who has an unsteady gait, the portability of the device was not what I was looking for as I found it quite heavy. It did however have all of the options I wanted such as the alphabet board for spontaneous conversation and also allowed me to program messages for use in places I may need to use the device.



 My second device it was a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) with AAC software that had the same capabilities that the dynavox had but was alot more portable. I could place this, like a phone, in my bag or purse and take it out when needed.


 




 A few years after I got my PDA I purchased a Samsung tablet. Originally I purchased the tablet just like a lot others to replace my laptop to have something more portable to have when I went away on trips. I decided it was time to combine the two devices and started searching for AAC software to use on the tablet. I asked for some ideas from my AAC clinic and they recommended I use a software program called "Predictable', it had all of the features that I needed and has been my chosen AAC software for about the last year and a half.




 As I know a number of educators read my blog I thought I would relate this back to how having a speech impediments and/or having an AAC device can be effectively use in the classroom. For those students who have a difficult time getting their words out or who's speech may be unclear the best thing an educator can do is to give the student time to formulate their answers. If you know ahead of time what questions you will be asking, perhaps give the question to the student who may have difficulty speaking or using an AAC device time to form their answers.

Please feel free to ask me questions about any of my blogs.


For more information of people with communication disabilities please visit the 'Communication Disabilities Access Canada'.
http://www.cdacanada.com/

Giving a fifth grader the tools to suceed

A few years ago a friend of mine was teaching a Grade 5 class. One of her students had recently been diagnosed with a writing disability and was struggling to get a lot of his work completed. Even though he had the use of a computer, he would often sit in front of the computer, just staring at the screen not knowing where to begin. He often used a scribe to do his work but this often depended on the availability of the classroom teacher or the SERT.

She asked the Special Education Resource Teacher if the school had Dragon Naturally Speaking and they did. When asked if the student would  be trained on this program the SERT explained that it would be great but he did not know how to work the program. It was his lucky day as my friend knew that I had been using Dragon Naturally Speaking for years and I would be willing to train students on assistive software like Dragon http://www.nuance.com/dragon/index.htm. She called me that night to set-up a time for me to come meet the student and start training.

A few days later I went to the school and met with the student and the SERT to begin training. This student was ideal candidate for using Dragon Training. We went through the training quite quickly and by the next session he was ready to test it out using some work he had to do for class. After just two sessions he was ready  begin using Dragon on his own.

The student continued to progress using Dragon and his marks were reflecting this progress. Now when he was given a writing assignment to do he was given the option of having a scribe or using Dragon. The more the year went on he chose Dragon more as he became more comfortable with the program.

I feel that this great example of a students' use of Dragon Naturally Speaking, speaks to how a student with a disability benefit from assistive technology like Dragon Naturally Speaking. For teachers, I would recommend asking around to see if there are people available to train students on the software if your SERT and/or school board do not offer training. If my friend did not have this student in her class and did not know that I was willing to train, this student could have been still waiting for training, thus continuing to struggle academically with writing assignments.

Technology in Post-Secondary

Technology in Post-Secondary

I was first introduced to the Dragon System when I was transitioning from secondary to post-secondary school.  At the time the only system I could use was the Discrete Speech which means the user says ‘one – word – at – a - time’ opposed to continuous speech where the use speaks in a natural rhythm. The discrete speech recognition was good but it was very time consuming.  To read more about continuous vs discrete speech recognition click on this link http://www.synapse-ada.com/naturallyspeaking/define.html  You must remember that this was the mid 1990’s so continuous speech recognition was not what it is today.

I used Dragon Discrete speech until I was in University and when the time came for me to get a new system things changed. I have been fortunate to have all my computer related needs met through the Technology Access Clinic at Chedoke in Hamilton and had the same Occupational Therapist for years. When I went to the clinic for my assessment I was informed that my O.T. was no longer with them and I now had someone new. This O.T. was great, not that the others we not good but this one was not afraid to try new things with me. Making sure that I had all my technology needs met.

As we started taking about my new system, at the time, he mentioned to me that Dragon had a new Pro edition that he wanted me to try.  If I remember correctly I think I laughed out loud and said something like ‘not with my speech’. My speech pathologist was there with me and talked me into trying it out which I reluctantly did, not expecting it to work. To my surprise it worked better than I thought. It actually understood the majority of words I was saying. It did take a long time in the beginning to train Dragon to my speech patterns but it was definitely worth it. I have used Dragon Naturally Speaking for about 15 years and have found it fantastic.  

When I use the computer I use a combination of keyboarding and speech recognition. When my fingers get cramped up or sore I switch to Dragon and when I get tired from speaking I switch back to keyboarding. 

How Assistive Technology has impacted my life.

For my new job, I was asked to create a Blog for myself and later one that will be related to my work. I am working as a Co-ordinator/Manager for the Brock-Niagara Assistive Technology Initiative. When considering what topic I should start with, I thought about my journey through using assistive technology from when I received my first typewriter until now and how it played an important role in my education and life.

I have Cerebral Palsy (CP) which affects my fine and gross motor skills. My speech is also affected and can sometimes be unclear. Technology became a part of my life at the age of eight when I was given a typewriter to help with writing tasks. My parents would have liked me to have the typewriter much sooner but the school felt it was important that I learn to print, despite the struggles I had in holding a pencil without dropping it twenty times a day.

Finally, in Grade 3, I was given a typewriter. Of course, I now needed to learn how to type. From what I remember this was a much more enjoyable task then learning to cursive write as that was what the other students were doing while I had typing class. I became quite the typist and even to this day my Occupational therapist is always impressed at my speed and accuracy for someone with fine motor difficulties. Writing tasks now became much more manageable as I was able to keep up for the most part with my peers.

My parents purchased our family a Commodore 64 when I was in Grade 5. Although we used it mostly for games and fun there was a word processor called GEOS. This was my first time using a computer mouse and believe me when I say it was an adventure each time I used it. Other then the frustration of getting my hands to cooperate in using the mouse, the commodore was a great asset. I was able to edit my work on screen. One of my biggest problems was having double letters where they did not belong because I left my fingers on the keys to long. You could not adjust the keyboard like you can now.

In Grade 7, I got a new typewriter for in class work. It was a lot quieter and had a small screen that you would type a line out and then have it type on line. This typewriter would do for Grade 7 and 8 but high school was right around the corner and a typewriter that still made noise was not going to cut it.

Follow my blog to see what happens in Grade 9 and beyond.