when remediation is not enough .

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When remediation is not enough . . . textHELP! Read & Write: Adaptive Technology for Students with Learning Disabilities Mark Giddens, Adaptive Technologist Mike Walker, Learning Strategist Presented to P/J & J/I Special Education/Psychology Students December 2, 2002

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When remediation is not enough. textHELP! Read & Write: Adaptive Technology for Students with Learning Disabilities Mark Giddens, Adaptive Technologist Mike Walker, Learning Strategist Presented to P/J & J/I Special Education/Psychology Students December 2, 2002. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: When remediation is not enough .

When remediation is not enough . . .

textHELP! Read & Write: Adaptive Technology for Students with

Learning Disabilities

Mark Giddens, Adaptive TechnologistMike Walker, Learning Strategist

Presented toP/J & J/I Special Education/Psychology Students

December 2, 2002

Page 2: When remediation is not enough .

General Learning Outcomes(Presentation Objectives)

identify our premise for using/promoting assistive technology

briefly define learning disabilities from a “psychological processes” or information processing perspective

introduce you to textHELP! Read & Write demonstrate this tool in actionincrease awareness of the technology

available to accommodate students with LDs

Page 3: When remediation is not enough .

Premise

Our Desire - we want all of our students to be able to master the Three R’s and to develop “normally” physically, mentally and emotionally.

The Reality – approximately 9.4% of our elementary and secondary students are “exceptional” (MET, 1997).

The Result - many of our students will not read, write or perform other academic tasks efficiently, despite our best effort and intense remediation.

Page 4: When remediation is not enough .

Consequently

In order for many of these exceptional students to be successful their skills must be remediated and/or learning either modified or accommodated

textHELP! Read & Write is one of many new technologies which may be used to accommodate students with LDs.

We purchased a site license for Read & Write and had it installed on your computers to help raise awareness of these new technologies.

Page 5: When remediation is not enough .

Remediation

Should provide direct intervention and instruction build skills in areas of deficit teach strategies to cope in areas of deficit

But may involve withdrawal creating gaps in classroom learning constant repetition and extra work leading to

frustration and fatigue low-level material leading to low self-esteem stigmatization (retard room) leading to

behavioural issues

Page 6: When remediation is not enough .

Modifications

Should change curriculum outcomes lessen expectations make work easier shorten assignments

But can lead to learned helplessness are ineligible for high school credits do not exist at college/university level

Page 7: When remediation is not enough .

Accommodations

Should meet learning outcomes/objectives keep expectations at grade level allow for similar work allow for alternative presentation of info,

assignment completion, & test takingCan or Are

build self-esteem eligible for high school credits available at colleges and universities

Page 8: When remediation is not enough .

Some Stats . . . learning disabilities impact the lives of

approximately 10% of the populationapproximately 4% of Ontario’s school

aged population is formally identified with LDs

of Ontario’s identified exceptional population approx. 48% of elementary students are LD approx. 54% of secondary students are LD

25 to 30% of those with LDs have AD/HD75 to 80% of those with AD/HD have LDs

Sources: Weber and Bennett, Special Education in Ontario Schools, Fourth Edition and LDAC National, Spring 2000

Page 9: When remediation is not enough .

A brief overview . . .

What is a Learning Disability?

Ministry of Education definition

Page 10: When remediation is not enough .

A learning disorder…

evident in both academic and social situations that involves one or more of the processes necessary for the proper use of spoken language or the symbols of communication, and that is characterized by a condition that:

Page 11: When remediation is not enough .

a) is not primarily the result of: impairment of vision; impairment of hearing; physical disability; developmental disability; primary emotional disturbance; cultural difference; and

Page 12: When remediation is not enough .

b) results in a significant discrepancy between academic achievement and assessed intellectual ability, with deficits in one or more of the following: receptive language (listening, reading); language processing (thinking,

conceptualizing, integrating); expressive language (talking, spelling,

writing); mathematical computations;

Page 13: When remediation is not enough .

c) may be associated with one or more conditions diagnosed as: a perceptual handicap; a brain injury; minimal brain dysfunction; dyslexia; developmental aphasia.

Page 14: When remediation is not enough .

What is a Learning Disability?

A new definition from the LDAO

Page 15: When remediation is not enough .

In brief… "Learning Disabilities"

…refers to a variety of disorders that affect the acquisition, retention, understanding, organization or use of verbal and/or non-verbal information.

Page 16: When remediation is not enough .

These disorders

…result from impairments in one or more psychological processes related to learning in combination with otherwise average abilities essential for thinking and reasoning.

Page 17: When remediation is not enough .

These psychological processes are

phonological processing memory and attention processing speed language processing perceptual-motor processing visual-spatial processing executive functions (e.g., planning,

monitoring and metacognitive abilities)

Page 18: When remediation is not enough .

Learning disabilities

…range in severity and invariably interfere with the acquisition and use of one or more of the following important skills:

Page 19: When remediation is not enough .

These skills are

oral language (e.g., listening, speaking, understanding)

reading (e.g., decoding, comprehension) written language (e.g., spelling, written

expression) mathematics (e.g., computation, problem

solving)organizational skillssocial perceptionsocial interaction

Page 20: When remediation is not enough .

What a LD is Not!

IT IS NOT:low intelligence/an intellectual disabilitymental illness/emotional disturbanceautismvisual or auditory acuity problemslaziness/lack of motivationa way to avoid other issuesa physical handicapthe result of a poor academic background

Page 21: When remediation is not enough .

A Learning Disability is a Information Processing Impairment

It is like having too many bridges out as well as too many

overlapping pathways along the “information highways” of the brain.

Dale R. Jordan

U. of Arkansas

Page 22: When remediation is not enough .

For you visual learners…

Diagnosing a learning disability?

What does an LD look like?

Page 23: When remediation is not enough .

Traditional Aptitude vs. Achievement

Average Student

9590

103

9395

105100

105

50

60

70

80

90

100

110

Aptitude VIQ, PIQ, FSIQ Achievement

R RecogR CompM CalcM AppWriting

Page 24: When remediation is not enough .

Traditional Aptitude vs. Achievement

Student with a LD

95

70

103

85

75

105100

105

50

60

70

80

90

100

110

Aptitude VIQ, PIQ, FSIQ Achievement

R RecogR CompM CalcM AppWriting

Page 25: When remediation is not enough .

Aptitude, Achievement & Info Processing Visual (Dyslexia)

119

94

61 61

83

100108

97103

75

110116

89

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Aptitude (IQ) Achievement(R,S,M)

Info Process

GraphemePhonemeMemorySpeedVerbalVisual/SpFluid R

Page 26: When remediation is not enough .

91

124

68

126

77

115

74 78

113106

72

8697

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Aptitude (IQ) Achievement(R,W,M)

Info Process

AuditoryVisualA-MemoryV-MemorySpeedVerb ReasonV/S Reason

Aptitude, Achievement & Info Processing Auditory (CAPD)

Page 27: When remediation is not enough .

So how might an LD affect a Learner?

A Couple of Examples . . .

Page 28: When remediation is not enough .

Can’t you read this?

Myle arn in gdisa bi LI tyma kesit dif Ficu ltform eto re Adi tslo wsm edo wnwh eniha veto re AdmYte xtbo Ok sbu twhe nius Eboo kso Nta peo rco mpu Teri zedsc ree nrea Din gsof twa Reto lis tent Om yte xtbo ok sith elp sal Ot.

Page 29: When remediation is not enough .

Can’t you see this?

Can’t you see the _________?

Page 30: When remediation is not enough .

Tough Facts from LDAC

35% of students identified with learning disabilities drop out of high school.

50% of adolescent suicides had previously been diagnosed as having learning problems.

Volumes of research have shown that 30% to 70% of young offenders have

experienced learning problems. Statistics on Learning Disabilities. LDAC, October 2001.

Source Online: http://www.ldac-taac.ca/english/indepth/bkground/stats01.h

tm

Page 31: When remediation is not enough .

What About the Kids?3 Tales from the Trenches

Adam (grade 4) – reading disability (pre. board) reading at grade 1 level, highly frustrated &

resistant to learning resistant to resource, so accommodated in the

classroom up two levels, completed grade level work,

independent research project, class leader end of the year comment to John now in Grade 5 – back in resource, same phonics

workbooks, etc. – shut down teachers, perhaps afraid of technology, but have

also bought into the myth that if students learn differently, they won’t make it in the “real world”

Page 32: When remediation is not enough .

What About the Kids?3 Tales from the Trenches

Eve (grade 4) – gifted with an LD worked very hard but no significant ability/achievement

discrepancy so parents paid for assessment performing just below grade level works harder than all of her classmates remediation every night thru Oxford L C principal won’t allow identification & IEP – “monitoring” recently caught cheating in spelling in French

“I wanted to get them right just once.” should she be allowed to experience success? strategy – Report Card – “accommodating her learning

disability according to the psychological assessment”

Page 33: When remediation is not enough .

What About the Kids?3 Tales from the Trenches

Ruth (grade 4) – not yet diagnosed problems with math probably non-verbal LD – problems with drawing,

visual/spatial awareness, awkward, late reader goes to Kumon Math every night nightly math sheet (10 – 20 min) may take 2 hours

with parents help teacher warned not to rock the boat (not to ID) so teacher removed classroom accommodation;

resulting failure allowed teacher to contact parents; parents influential in community and parent council

letters flew – testing has begun – shook up resource team; 5 kids will now benefit from 1st math program

Page 34: When remediation is not enough .

LD Specific Software

textHELP Read & Write v. 5.0(Read & Write v. 6.0 is now available)

www.texthelp.com

Page 35: When remediation is not enough .

textHELP! Read & Writeoverview

Reading toolScreen Reader

for severe print disabilities

Text Reader reads e-text aids decoding

and comprehension

Writing tools Word Prediction ‘Dyslexic’ Spell

Checker Thesaurus Homonym

Checker Word Wizard – use

it to look up topics

Page 36: When remediation is not enough .

R&W Reading Tools

Screen Reading reads the screen, icons & application menus

Text Readinghighlight to read e-text

tracks words in speech balloons or tracks highlighted text in TextReader

works in most Windows applications – word processors, email, web browsers

Page 37: When remediation is not enough .

R&W Reading Tools

Reading featureschange reader’s

character voice speed & pitch highlighting colours & text size

find and listen to words and definitions in Spell Check, Thesaurus and Word Wizard

Page 38: When remediation is not enough .

R&W Writing Tools

Listen to your writing listen as you type by

letterwordsentence or even speaks punctuation

listen to proofread a complete document

Page 39: When remediation is not enough .

R&W Writing Tools

Word Prediction find a word “the word starts with an ele…” change prediction window size and colours use a hyphen “-” to extend the list expand vocabulary – learns as you type or

import spelling lists learns your writing style & predicts for you program phonetic replacements (fone,

filosofy)

Page 40: When remediation is not enough .

R&W Writing Tools (editing)

Check spelling – as you type or after dyslexic (b p q d) and first letter errors - filosofy speaks back definition; gives examples in context by parts of speech – noun, verb, adjective, adverb keeps spelling log – errors and dates

Check homophones speaks back definition; gives examples in context

Use the Thesaurus – another word for big synonyms & antonyms

Page 41: When remediation is not enough .

R&W Writing Tools

Word Wizard – expands vocabulary look for alternative or linking words

example – chip: part of speech; get a definition; do a search – “more things like…” or “different kinds of …”

for research – president

Page 42: When remediation is not enough .

R&W targets skill deficits…

Directly:reading (e.g., decoding, comprehension) written language (spelling, written expression)

To a lesser degree:• oral language (listening, speaking,

understanding)

• organizational skills• social interaction

mathematics (e.g., computation, problem solving) social perception

Page 43: When remediation is not enough .

R&W aids processing deficits…

Directly:phonological processinglanguage processingvisual-spatial processing

To a lesser degree:• memory and attention (engages students)

• perceptual-motor (keyboard/prediction)

• executive functions (planning, monitoring and metacognitive abilities) (elaborating, editing)

processing speed

Page 44: When remediation is not enough .

textHelp - Helps!

Assists and motivatesAccommodates many reading and

writing deficitsHelps build reading and writing skills

including fluency, elaboration & risk taking

Although not the most sophisticated, Read & Write is probably the best all round LD tool for the money*

Page 45: When remediation is not enough .

Want to practice?

We will put 3 copies of Cambrian College’s textHELP! Read & Write instructional manual on reserve in the library

and 7 copies in the Student Affairs Office (A201).

There are student disks with the package – please copy these disks to your computer and don’t overwrite the files on the floppy

Page 46: When remediation is not enough .

Just released: Read & Write GOLD

Read & Write features plusscan & read featuresspeech input (speech to text – XP engine)research tools – gather, organize,

annotate info from the internetsimple & scientific talking calculatorTeacher Toolkit – manage spelling and

activity logs and student access

Page 47: When remediation is not enough .

More Technology for Young Learners

WordQ (simpler tool similar to textHELP!) www.wordq.com

Kidspiration www.inspiration.com

IntelliTools Inc. (www.intellitools.com) IntelliTalk II IntelliMathics IntelliPics Studio MathPad Accessibility Tools (for physical disabilities)

Page 48: When remediation is not enough .

Free Text Readerwww.readplease.com

• ReadPlease 2003• Text-to-speech

(no scanning feature)

• Developed in Canada

• Very simple to use• Use Oscar's Sound

Recorder (also free) to convert to .mp3 for portability

Page 50: When remediation is not enough .

Questions?

. . . our thanks for this opportunity!