Speech Recognition Software

I teach a class called Speech Recognition Software. I use Dragon Naturally Speaking software

http://www.enablemart.com/Voice-Recognition/Dragon-NaturallySpeaking-Preferred?leadsource=104

and the textbook Nifty 59. The Dragon Software is very good for those students who have difficulty actually writing (typing) whether it is because of a physical disability or a learning disability. The book really has step by step lessons and exercises, which makes it very easy to work through for the student. It really is great software to facilitate the typing process for some people. If the software is trained well enough the user has the possibility of it accurately typing 120 words a minute.

With that said it may not be the best software for someone who has difficulty reading and writing. And in all fairness it was not really created for someone with difficulty in those areas. For that I would suggest finding some other software that is made with the LD student in mind.

ZoomText

Showing someone assistive technology that does not really have an idea that such items exist is fun. They are amazed that there are such wares out there in the world. I wish more people had the awareness that there are aids that bring those who have difficulty functioning in the majority world up to a level playing field. It should be second nature in this age of technology to find reasonable and appropriate assistance for people who need to do things differently.
It is true that some people who have a disability find ways as they live life to assist themselves and that is good. But when it comes to education it is sometimes hard to compete academically using the “homespun” accommodations so to speak. For example, I knew of a woman who was deaf. Her parents never sent her to school because of their isolated location. She learned to communicate with her family so there was no problem. But when she decided to go to school she did not have a way of communicating with the world outside her home.
At any rate there is much technology out there, high tech and low tech. Today I showed off the ZoomText software (www.AIsquared.com) for a colleague. This particular software was created for folks with low vision. It will magnify anything on the computer screen in sizes that are astounding. This particular version will also read if needed. In addition, the user can switch colors and backgrounds to suit their vision needs and change the views from full screen to magnifying glass, to bars across the screen. This software is excellent for computer users who have low vision. Since this version will act as a quasi screen reader it has other applications such as assistance for someone who may be a non reader.

Assistive Technology for people w/disabilities

I wonder how much better students with disabilities in a 2 year college (Associate Degree or Certificate) would fare if they were given better tools early on to enhance their learning. I am in the situation to see that not very many of these students come to us with the knowledge or even the awareness of technology that would make their lives much easier.
The public schools claim to not have the money to offer this technology. Well who does? We grovel for money sometimes as we struggle at the post-secondary level to offer reasonable accommodations.
My point is that the elementary and secondary schools today do not care about how well a student does or what they learn. It seems that they view their job as getting the student through and out of their institution rather than teaching them to work with their disability and not perpetuate it.
I sat through a webinar a couple of days ago that highlighted some software called Read & Write Gold….. http://www.readwritegold.com/index.html it is assistive technology that helps students (or anyone) who have problems with reading and writing. There are many reasons that people may not be able to read, there may be a reading disability or perhaps they just never learned. But the good news is that there is software out there like this that can assist them. I am not saying that one software program over another is better as there are as many pieces of assistive technology out there as there are types of disabilities.
Read & Write Gold helps a person by reading each word on the computer screen. It doesn’t matter if it is on the internet or scanned from a text book. It will also read what you type as you type it. There are many more functions of this software; reading for you is its basis though.
My point is that if students came into college having already used assistive technology then they could be reading at more than the 5-6 grade level that we see now. I often wonder how high schools are able to graduate students who cannot read at more than an elementary level and then encourage them to go to college. Imagine the frustration that these students face as they enter into college level, reading intensive courses.
More later as I look further into assistive technology for people with disabilities.

Finally

Ok so I have finally made the foray into the world of blogging. Now the dilemma…what bits of knowledge to impart to the world.
I work in post secondary education with students who have disabilities. Each day is an adventure. We have about 500 students and there are about that many different disabilities on our registry….from permanent physical disability due to a tick bite to deafness to psychiatric illness.
I practice diving under my desk each day (figuratively that is). But you never know what will happen and I believe in being prepared.
Sometimes it is harder to work with the instructors than it is the students. I think too much of the time the instructors do not look outside their own worlds. Frankly, I believe that they sometimes expect that those around them should understand what they are thinking. Truth be told often what they say isn’t even understood much less what they are thinking or what their unspoken intentions are.
I hope I do not seem too cynical, but I have been doing this for quite some time and have seen just about everything. At least I think I have but there is something new each day. I think that it will be my intention to first bring you up to speed on the occupation and service of working with college students with disabilities and add the something new each day that keeps me coming into work and also the things that cause me to have a spreadsheet with a countdown to retirement.