Originally posted by allison burnett on January 27, 2019
Exceptional students in need of individual education plans (IEPs) and accommodations/modifications are a segment that can greatly benefit from mobile technology in education. There are an abundance of educational apps available in the marketplace to support different learning styles and profiles– probably the largest barrier to adoption for educators is to narrow down the exceptionality you need to support, and sift through the apps to find the best one to meet the specific needs!
Dyslexia is one exceptionality that has many online apps available that can provide real benefits to identified students. Many dyslexic students have challenges with decoding their ideas and putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). Several apps exist in the marketplace which help students capture their thoughts quickly using speech to text. The University of Michigan’s Dyslexia Help website recommends the Leo – Recorder & Transcription app for this purpose. , rather than write a full slide deck presentation. In fact, my son used one of these apps back in grade 1 to submit his reading comprehension assignments!
Similarly, apps could be used by students to support students’ reading efforts. Read/Write produced by Text Help is an app that helps students with reading long passages with text to speech functionality. It also has a speech to text feature, as well as other additional functionality to provide a comprehensive suite of solutions to support dyslexic students. Common Sense Media provides a good review of this app. For younger students struggling with reading, there are also numerous phonics-based apps that can help students with phoneme practice and association. ABC Phonics is a good example of an app that helps students with the building blocks of reading in a phonics-based approach that is suitable for dyslexic students.
Here are a couple of sites listing apps to support dyslexia – again the biggest challenge is sifting through the resources to identify the app to support the student in the area they need it most!
- Reading Rockets has a very comprehensive list of apps that are available to support a range of functions that dyslexic students may need additional support with: http://www.readingrockets.org/literacyapps/dyslexia-and-learning-disabilities
- One site that has been referenced by other contributors on this site is the EducationalAppStore.com. They also recommend a list of five free apps that educators can download and use: https://www.educationalappstore.com/best-apps/5-best-apps-for-kids-with-dyslexia
Learning disabilities both for students and employees is something that as educators we need to be cognizant of. In the Corporate world, the learning disabilities of employees are often overlooked. Some are comfortable enough to share with their direct manager and understand the need to advocate for themselves. Others are concerned that in talking about a learning disability will make them appear weaker as an employee. The links shared are wonderful for students and while some can be used by adults, hope that corporate educators and human resources put more thought into the impact learning disabilities can play in successful onboarding. The following is an interesting article about employees with dyslexia:
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190702-we-need-to-talk-about-dyslexia-at-work
With my online students, I struggle with supporting a student’s individual learning needs. It isn’t until you receive the first assignment do you have any indication of their personality. Sometimes there are red flags that are present in the text, but sometimes a teacher does not realize until the student advocates for themselves. Online teaching is still one to one without any supports from a learning services team. I feel these apps and resources are invaluable to provide the additional support that students may not even know what to ask for. Online teachers need to have an online tool kit, just like classroom teachers. They need to be facilitators not only to students remotely, but to provide resources to parents to further support students.