Trish,
In a message dated 2/16/99 3:40:56 PM Eastern Standard Time, spk2wrt@edc.org
writes:
> I am working with a 17 yr. old student who has cp. He is a spastic
quadriplegic with moderate speech problems and severe learning disabilities.
When he came to me last year the team that worked with him told me that many
methods of computer input had been tried with him and had not been successful.
He had a Mac at home with PowerSecretary installed but hadn't used it yet.
I was to teach him. Last school year we worked on it 5 days a week for 40
minutes a day. This year we felt that we must change over to DragonDictate. He
has been working with it since September.
>
> He has achieved approximately the same level of skill with DD that he had
with PS. When the program is on and the microphone in place he can open up the
word processor, place a heading on the new page, print and save his word and
exit the programs correctly and independently. When copying form a text, his
dictation accuracy averages in the 65% range and with about 4 words per minute.
>
> His greatest difficulties are in correction. He has mastered the ICA and
can recognize words at a 6 - 7th grade level. However, his spelling skills are
at about a 1st grade level and he can't seem to work with more than an array
of 3 words in word prediction even with enlargement (visual perception
problems). Moreover, he can't seem to get the hang of using Word History
(difficulty in sequencing steps). In addition, the student does not have basic
writing skills i.e. use of punctuation, grammar, and capitalization, as well as
organization skills to put his thoughts into a coherent paragraph. He "writes"
the way he speaks, unable to recognize that formal writing is not the same as
holding an informal conversation. Even when copying from a correctly typed
model and given a guide to keep his place on the page, he requires frequent
reminders to include punctuation and caps. We have worked on all of these skills
in the year and a half that he has been with us but we have made little
progress. These skills are even more important because he wants to be a
professional writer.
>
> Questions are being raised by the team working with this student. Is this the
best method of computer access for this student? Will he ever be independent on
this system (he is independent in few areas at school) ? Can he ever use DD to
complete school assignments (not at his current level)? Is there something I'm
missing, a technique or program to help?
>
> I would really appreciate your input. Thank you.
Great question, Trish. Some of the kids with CP simply have too many issues to
really ever get independent with speech. I think "independence," which I
dearly believe in, is sometimes an unrealistic goal, at least if you look at
it objectively. Sometimes, however, I find that kids "feel" more independent
just being able to do a little bit of the work themselves, and especially if
it's the more "school-like" part, such as writing.
I'm sure we'll get some great answers here, so I'm just going to confine
myself to one strategy that I have used with similar sounding kids. After
making sure that the voice file is really strong by closing supervising the
first few hours of writing, I change the following options:
(1) Adapt only on Correction (Voice Menu / Options / Dictation tab), so that
the voice file cannot be easily corrupted;
(2) Choice list NOT displayed (uncheck that box) (Voice Menu / Options /
Dictation tab) so that it does not flash up all the time;
(3) Increase the Word History buffer to 20 or so (Voice Menu / Options /
Correction tab) to provide a bit more flexibility on later corrections.
Then, I use a modification of the strategy that John Lubert and others have
suggested of not using the Choice List, but simply having the student dictate
a single sentence (or whatever length of text he / she wants), but I check in
frequently (after each sentence or every few minutes and stop them to make
corrections. Whatever corrections can be accommodated through the Word History
(Oops) window, we do that way--it always helps to continue to build the voice
file when you can--and others are just made through the word processor. The
important thing is that I include the student in making as many of these
changes as they can, although I occasionally do a thing or two quickly to get
back to writing.
Now, this clearly is not "independent," but the kids seem to feel more
independent than they would otherwise.
As for alternatives to speech input, it probably demands a new AT eval.
Good luck and we'll see what others have to say.
Bob Follansbee
BobMoshe@aol.com at Internet
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