For goodness sakes, don't wait for the school district. Just go to some
business that has older computers (& you have some in town that collect them
from businesses and resell them) and ASK THEM FOR AN OLDER COMPUTER!! Or show
this to a local businessperson and ask for them to donate an e-machine, and get
someone to give you (complete with tax donation slip) a
monitor....used is fine.
I've got an e-machine, bought this year for $484 from PCMall.com which
runs at 333mHz, and it runs the copy of Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred
2.1 which Staples sells for $49.95 (and so does Egghead.com) just fine. It
came with MS Works and Windows 98. I also just bought a used PC with
monitor, 200 Mhz (both have CD drives, sound cards, speakers) for $250.
Eventually, get someone to give you a laptop that will run speech
recognition so they can tote it around.
Districts are afraid if parents ask, they will have to provide computers for
everyone. Why they don't just do that....using donated and used computers, I
can't figure out. I have 1 computer per each of 16 kids in my class because I
beg, borrow, and repair old ones.....and they work just fine.
Sandra Smith, Sequim Schools
<sandrams@orca.esd114.wednet.edu>
----------
>From: spk2wrt@phoenix.edc.org
>Subject: URGENT NEED FOR YOUR THOUGHTS
>Date: Sun, Jul 29, 2018, 5:00 AM
>
> I am a retired Special Ed Teacher/Administrator currently helping parents as a
> pro-bono (free) Parent Advocate for parents who have children with special
> learning needs.
>
> At present I have one single parent (mom) who is disabled and on welfare
> (she is wheelchair bound). She has three daughters ages 7, 15, and 17. All
> three have Learning disabilities. The youngest (CASS) has some eye muscle
> imbalance, plus articulation problems in addition to moderately severe
> Reading, Writing and Math problems. She is about to enter third grade and
> is functioning at about 1.5 grade level in R/W and 2.0 in Math.
>
> The next oldest (CHRIS) was moved from a segregated self-contained Special
> Ed class that mom was unhappy with, into a regular ed setting. (The school
> told us she'd never make it). Whereas she was on the honor role last year
> in a watered down curriculum, she is now on the honor role in the
> mainstream. To provide her with extra help we had an Assistive Technology
> evaluation done. The ATP evaluator recommended that Chris have the use of a
> computer in all of her classes. She also recommended that she learn the
> Write OutLoud word processing program to help her with writing; and the use
> of the Ultimate Reader program to help her in reading her textbooks. She
> also recommended the RFB&D tape recorded texts or texts on disk.
>
> We asked for an old computer to be sent home so that she could finish her
> assignments at home. (Also so that I could give them a 33.3 baud modem so
> they could get on the Internet). The family lives way out in the country
> and they do not have access to a library or to school facilities after
> school. The ATP evaluator (who was obviously well groomed - and paid- by
> the school) stated that a computer in the home would be too frustrating for
> Chris until she was trained to use it, and until she had "good" keyboarding
> skills, and "knew" how to use the programs.
>
> I asked for the Dragon Dictate for Teens program. Again, the ATP evaluator
> said that this was not needed. Instead Chris should dictate her material on
to
> a tape recorder, then listen to it and type it from that. Chris is
> severely dyslexic, she also has dyscalculia and dysgraphia. Personally I
> can't imagine an adult, let alone a child with these handicaps, typing from
> a tape recorder. When I told them that, it got dropped from the
> recommendations. They said that they'd wait to do this until she learned to
> "type well".
>
> It is obvious that the school does not want to send a computer home,
> although the US Dept of Education/Voc Rehab issued what is known as the
> Schrag letter stating that when a computer in the home is needed to provide
> a Free Appropriate Public Education, and it is recommended by the IEP
> Committee, then it must be provided. The problem here is that the School
> District employees who compose the IEP Committee are not about to agree that
> Chris is being denied an FAPE which she is, because she does not have the
funds
> to take a taxi home, nor can her family afford a computer so she can work at
> home as other students do. Chris did make it to the Honor Roll but at the
> expense of hours spent struggling to complete her homework, or to write her
> reports. She is a bright young lady who loves school and learning and life
and
> it is ALL being drained from her....she gets only a minimal amount of time on
> the computer twice a week when she is in Resource Room. The computer does not
> travel from class to class as it was supposed to.
>
> At this stage she knows all about how to use the computer and the Write
> OutLoud program. She has done the Type to Learn program three times. She
> was never given the Ultimate Reader program or taught how to scan her texts
> into the computer for use with this program. She has never had the use of a
> spk2wrt program or even a tape recorder. Nor has she seen the recorded
> texts or texts on disks.
>
> Due to this we asked for an Independent Evaluation this Spring. The
> District refused, choosing instead to call for a Hearing.
>
> Realizing that CASS her younger sister probably needed some adjustment in
> the software recommendations from the AT evaluation done for her last summer
> (the same ATP evaluator came from our Capitol to evaluate her. On one
computer
> the software would not work; on the other computer the programs had been
> pre-loaded and would not work. So, based on a minimal amount of printed
> material she wrote a diagnosis in which she merely recommended selected
software
> - i.e. Intellikeys and Broderbund. We felt that now that CASS is moving up in
> the grades it would be a good idea to have a new recommendation based on more
> software ideas. Again the District objected and called for a Hearing.
>
> Ironically if we to consider the needs of the 17 year old we would find a
> student who has poor Math and poor Reading Comprehension skills. She could
> also benefit from a computer in the home, and use of the Internet to help
> her find material. By using the Ultimate Reader program she could save
> material she finds in .txt format and then have it read to her.
>
> Instead of spending between $600-$900 to purchase a computer for use in the
> home, the District prefers to spend $500 per day per Hearing Officer to
> pursue the case.
>
> The third daughter was abused as a child, and is very depressed. She has
> been going down hill for the past few years. (Few friends, no dates, etc.)
> The school has never provided psychological counseling and prefers to have
> the Mother find services outside the school which is very difficult for a
> familiy on Welfare. Resources are very limited as this is a rural area.
> She barely managed to pass the required math courses and state exam. Now
> she is failing Social Studies and English. She is just making a minimum
> passing grade in Cosmetology which is a field she was very enthusiastic
> about. She has missed a lot of school with minor viruses and was
> hospitalized once for depression. While there she was almost attacked
> again. In testing her I found her major problem is in Reading
> Comprehension and Writing. Again with the help of scanned material which
> could be read to her, her comprehension would improve. Dictating her
> material into the computer would help with writing.
>
> What I would appreciate from you is that if you agree that a computer were
> made available to the family in the home there would be much educational
> benefit to EACH of the three children. If you have any other ideas, please
> include them as well. Thank you,
> Joan Langston, MA
> Parent Advocate - Special Education jlangsto@warwick.net
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