What if your child has GREAT ideas to share, but he has dysgraphia? When a child has trouble with writing, it is hard to write his ideas down. SO, assistive technology for dysgraphia and writing disabilities can help your child show what he knows in writing.
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A lot of kids with dysgraphia write simple, short sentences because it’s hard for them to form their ideas for writing. Additionally, the child often has handwriting issues.

Hence, all of these issues make your child’s writing difficult to read and understand. When there are letter spacing problems, spelling difficulties, and details are left out of the story, it’s a problem. As a result, your child doesn’t seem nearly as smart on paper as you KNOW he really is!

Therefore, it’ll help you to check out the assistive technology you can use for dysgraphia and writing disabilities problems.  These tools will help you, because there is help for your child’s handwriting AND written expression issues.

As another idea, you can also help your child overcome his writing problems.  Truly, you may find the page about overcoming dysgraphia on the LearningAbledKids website of help to you.

Lastly, if your child has other learning problems too, check out the page about assistive technology for reading, math, and executive functioning (ADHD) on this site for more help.

Above all else, think about getting the tools that seem like they can really help your child. Anything you can do to make writing easier for your child is well worth doing!

As you can see, I’ve listed high, medium, and low tech assistive technology options. See what treasures you can find among the tools listed below.

High-Tech Assistive Technology for Dysgraphia and Writing Disabilities

Dictation/Transcription Tools (speech-to-text)

Word prediction (this is an option you can turn on in many word processors and on your computer.)

Text-To-Speech in Word Processors (this is usually an option you can turn on in your computer.)

Mind Mapping for Kids (on Amazon)

Writing Tablets for Kids (on Amazon)

Proofreading programs (like Hemmingway)

Mid-Tech Assistive Technology for Dysgraphia and Writing Disabilities

Electronic Spellers (On Amazon)

Digital Recorders for Oral/Dictated Responses (On Amazon)

Electronic Dictionaries (On Amazon)

Dictation Headset (On Amazon)

Electronic Thesaurus (on Amazon)

Low Tech Assistive Technology for Dysgraphia and Writing Disabilities

Tracing Workbooks (on Amazon)

Scribe (which is a person who writes down what your child says for them)

Pencil Grips (On Amazon)

Adaptive Grip Pens and Pencils (on Amazon)

Wide-lined paper (on Amazon)

Raised-line paper (on Amazon)

Graphic Organizers (on Amazon)

Composition Templates (on Amazon)

Lettering Stencils (on Amazon)

Writing Guide (on Amazon)

Preprinted words or phrases for sentence construction (on Amazon)

Words Cards (on Amazon)

Word Rings (on Amazon)

Word Wall Posters (on Amazon)

Dictionary (on Amazon)

Thesaurus (on Amazon)

High Contrast Paper (Bright Paper) (on Amazon)

Slant Board (on Amazon)

Word Spacer (on Amazon)

White Board (on Amazon)

Page Holders (on Amazon)

Correction Tape or Markers (on Amazon)

Check Out More Assistive Technology for Dysgraphia and Writing Disabilities

Click to Shop for Assistive Tools for kids Dysgraphia on Amazon

The post Assistive Technology for Dysgraphia and Writing Disabilities appeared first on Learning Abled Kids.

Whether your child has dysgraphia, ADHD, or Executive Functioning deficits, writing can be quite difficult for a child with a learning disability. It causes problems with handwriting, spelling and written expression on paper.

Writing is a difficult activity because it involves all of the following:

1. Fine motor activity such as holding and using a pen,
2. Gross motor control in maintaining a stable and appropriate posture,
3. Mental processing and recall of word structures involved in spelling,
4. Mental recall and application of punctuation and grammar,
5. Mental processing and working memory used for building sentences, and
6. The ability to perform all of the tasks above simultaneously at a speed fast enough to get thoughts written down on paper.

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Learners with dysgraphia, ADHD, or Executive Functioning deficits find it highly challenging to accomplish all that is needed to write effective compositions without using assistive technology. If you’re interested in other strategies for Writing, be sure to check out other Assistive Technology for Dysgraphia and Writing Disabilities too!

Fortunately, to the relief of many parents and learning abled kids, assistive technology can rescue your child from his writing difficulties!

Battle tested voice-to-text options are available at affordable prices, THANKFULLY!

Benefits of Using Dictation / Transcrpition Tools to Overcome Dysgraphia

For kids with dysgraphia, ADHD, or Executive Functioning deficits, writing by hand can be a dreaded task.

In most cases kids with specific learning disabilities that affect writing end up producing work that does not reflect their true ability to express themselves. The child’s conversational skills often demonstrate a much higher level of thinking than the child’s written work.

With assistive technology, a child can concentrate on what he wants to say and let the dictation & transcription voice-to-text tool complete the words-to-paper portion of the writing task.

Dictation tools transcribe your child’s natural speech as he speaks. Taking the hand-written component out of writing can transform a child’s hatred of writing into a much more enjoyable task.

With dictation tools, your child can boost their creativity, speak with their naturally robust vocabulary, and organize their thoughts much more easily.

Additionally, your child can easily see spelling errors and correct their own mistakes since most dictation tools work like word processors too with built-in spell-checking and grammar checking features.

Because kids with dysgraphia typically have illegible handwriting, having a transcribed speech-to-text composition is more legible than a handwritten one. When a child has reached their teens and still has poor handwriting, it is critical for them to be able to present legible papers if they plan to go to college.

In college, virtually all papers are typed, so it is an additional benefit for your child to be able to use dictation tools to create lengthy college papers.

For kids with ADHD, having to hold a composition in mind for any length of time before it gets written on paper is an invitation for intruding thoughts that make your child forget what he was going to write. Transcription tools let your child get his thoughts on paper almost as fast as he can say them, which enables him to write before he forgets what he was going to say.

Children with Executive Functioning deficits often have overlooked errors in spelling and punctuation. While dictation software won’t be a cure all for overlooking errors, it does help minimize them. Additionally, the software will allow your child to get ideas on paper as he organizes them in his mind, which can help with the organization and planning component of written assignments.

SO, teaching your child to use a dictation tool can ease struggles with written school work.

➜Click to See dictation / Transcription tools on Amazon

How Do Dictation Tools Work?

Dictation tools work on the basis of recording a person’s voice, recognizing the syntax and phonology, and then converting words to text using a set of rules. This magical process uses voice recognition logic built into the device’s software.

The device must have a microphone. Often there are speakers for text-to-speech reading aloud of what has been transcribed.

Dictation capability can be integrated into telephones, tablets, computers, etc., so that your child can use the options built into many devices these days. The physical act of typing isn’t actually required these days. In fact, I do a lot of my writing using dictation!

Depending on the severity of your child’s dysgraphia, he may experience relative ease or difficulty in using the dictation tools.

How Easy is it For Your Child to Use Dictation Software?

Elementary children may not speak with proper pauses or emphasis, which may make the dictation tool misinterpret the child’s words. Generally speaking, transcription is more difficult for young children to use than it is for teens to use.

Speech-language difficulties also make dictation software susceptible to recording errors caused by word repetition, poor pronunciation, or misspoken words.

However, if your child is a well-spoken middle or high school level learner, he’ll probably find the dictation tool relatively easy to use. Knowing how to use dictation tools in college can enable a student to really impress professors with great papers!

Which Dictation / Transcription Tool is Best for My Child?

There are a number of dictation options in the market today. While most phones support speech to text conversions, there are also notable market leaders in tools that are user friendly, cost effective, and compatible with other applications (like word processors). If you don’t want to give your child a phone (yet), then having a handheld dictation device can be a great alternative!

Some of the top products in the market today include:

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Windows Computers: If you have a Windows computer, the Microsoft operating systems offer built-in speech recognition software. If you want to give dictation software a trial run, this is a great place to start. However, if your child will be using dictation software regularly as assistive technology, portable tools built specifically for this purpose will probably serve their needs better.

Dictation: This is a free, online speech recognition option. When your child goes to this page, he can dictate into the computer microphone and there is a note window that will show what has been dictated. Your child would then have to copy and paste the dictated text into his document. This is a workable, free solution if you don’t want to spend the money for Dictation product otherwise.

➜Click to See dictation and Transcription Tools on Amazon

Inspire Writing Creativity in Your Child by Using Assistive Technology

In most cases, children with dysgraphia are average to above average students who can perform better and achieve academic excellence if they are taught to use assistive technology interventions early in their academic careers.

If your child speaks eloquently, but writes simplistically, getting and using a dictation/transcription device can open up a world of written creativity for your child.

Brighten your child’s educational future with a dictation/transcription voice-to-text tool!
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The post Dysgraphia Assistive Technology: Let Your Child Speak His Mind with Dictation Software appeared first on Learning Abled Kids.

What Works as Assistive Technology for Spelling?”

Research shows that weekly spelling tests DO NOT WORK for improving a child’s spelling ability when the child has a specific learning disabilities. Research shows self-correction brings about a significant and permanent improvement in spelling.

“Error self-correction also has proven successful for improving the spelling performance of elementary students with disabilities (Alber and Walshe 2004; Grskovic and Belfiore 1996). The findings of this study indicate that high school students with deficits specifically in written expression also can use error self-correction to improve their spelling performance. This is valuable because individuals’ difficulties with spelling can be more difficult to remediate as they get older (Brice 2004).” (From “Error self-correction and spelling: improving the spelling accuracy of secondary students with disabilities in written expression,” 2007, by Kim Viel-Ruma, David Houchins, and Laura Fredrick).

More information on self-correction in a moment, but I did want to let you know  if you’re interested in other strategies for Writing, there is additional information available about other Assistive Technology for Dysgraphia and Writing Disabilities.
Click to Shop for Franklin Spellers on Amazon

How Does Self-Correction of Spelling Work?

Using the self-correction method and assistive technology for spelling is a relatively simple, two-step process.

Step 1: When your child writes a composition of any kind, you simply highlight words which contain spelling errors. If your child is using a Word Processor with Spell Checker, then having the spell checker activated will generally underline misspelled words with a red line.
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Step 2: Your child looks up the correct spelling of the word and corrects his own spelling error. When a child has spelling difficulties, looking up the word itself can be difficult, which is where electronic spellers, the assistive technology for spelling, can be a great tool.

How Can a Child with Phonetic Spelling Difficulties Self-Correct?”

Using phonetic spelling is common for children with dyslexia, but often the phonetic spellings they use are widely variant from one spelling to the next. This can make self-correction a very difficult task.

Enter Electronic Spellers, which are awesome assistive technology for helping a child self-correct spelling errors. When a child keys in his phonetic spelling of a word, Franklin Spellers (in particular) are excellent for presenting a list of words that your child probably meant to spell.

For example, your child may type “geumt” (a real spelling of a child with dyslexia) and the speller will present phonetic alternatives, including “jumped,” which is the word the child intended. For each word, the child can select it to be presented with a definition which enables the child to determine if it is the correct word. Some of the electronic spellers have built in text-to-speech capabilities and earphones so your child can still use the electronic speller even if he can’t read yet.

➜Check Out Prices and Models Now

Why Does Self-Correction Work Better than Spelling Tests?”

The reason self-correction works so well is because it is an active, engaged process for your child. Your child has to determine the correct spelling, and make the corrections himself. When your child self-corrects a specific word repeatedly, he builds the neurological memory-recall pathways for that word. The repeated-memory recall process means he’ll eventually be able to remember the spelling with out assistive technology for spelling.

Additionally, when your child repeatedly spells a word incorrectly, and repeatedly corrects the word, over time he will remember that word better. Your child only works on words he doesn’t know how to spell. He quits working on words he has already mastered. Thus, greater efficiency and individualization comes from using the self-correction method for improving spelling abilities.
Click to Shop for Franklin Spellers on Amazon
Self-Correction is the method that worked well for my son when no other method, including years of repetitive weekly spelling tests, did not work. We began using the self-correction spelling method after I researched for the most proven method of remediating spelling difficulties.

We used self-correction of spelling errors throughout high school for both of my boys. In addition to we saw marked improvement in their spelling abilities, including phonetic spelling. My boys became very skilled at self-correcting their own work. The level of skill acquisition my boys achieved is serving them extremely well as college students.

Do you know anyone who needs this information? Please share!

Great Spelling Aids for kids with dyslexia:
Click to Shop for Franklin Spellers on Amazon

The post Assistive Technology for Spelling ~ How To Improve Your Child’s Spelling appeared first on Learning Abled Kids.