Subject: Re: Request for good resesources on Voice Recognition Research
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2000 11:29:57 -0800
Yoletta, I have an eleven year old boy with dysgraphia. He also took the
Woodcock Johnson, in which he scored in the high 90's in composition,
punctuation, spelling and grammar, but very poorly in mechanics. This fact
pointed to the dysgraphia, but the higher scores averaged out so that he
was
not elibible for an IEP, only a 504 plan. I talked to my friend who is a
special ed teacher in Portland, where the Peabody is the primary test used
of its type. The Peabody scores the mechanics of writing in a separate
category than the rest of the cognitive writing skills, and so if the child
is unable or has difficulty writing, his/her score will show up as low in
one single category rather than being averaged in with other areas. Kids
get diagnosed properly easier with this test, and the scoring fits the IEP
criteria better. I went first to my physician for a referral for
educational testing, and then I went to a private educational testing
service. It was expensive, and we are of modest income. It was so worth
it, because I had asked the school for three years to test, or consult or
whatever. I felt intimidated asking for services, and so I chose to go to
a
private source, where I could ask for any or all testing I wanted, and not
feel like I had to "make a case" first. Then I went back to the school,
who
then began to take me seriously with the results of the testing. It was
then noted that my son probably had a tremor in his hand, as well as some
cognitive processing difficulties. The tremor, unnoticeable to me or
anyone
else, was noticed by the school psychologist, who has one himself. It is
something worth investigating. I then went to a pediatric neurologist
(thank god covered by insurance except that we have to drive 145 miles to
get to one) and he confirmed the tremor, and some other neurological
difficulties, such as lack of sensory tone in fingertips, and toes. He
recommended a workup by an occupational therapist. I thought this was
going
over the top but then I talked by chance to another mother whose child has
dysgraphia and she got a great deal of help with occupational therapy
evaluation and treatment from a therapist that is certified in diagnosing
sensory integration dysfunction. Whew. It turns out that this is a
difficulty for Andrew. This was quite a journey for me, and as my husband
is
now out of a job, and no health insurance at this time, our challenges are
somewhat daunting. But my point is that a physician's help, probably a
pediatric neurologist, could really help. So could a broad range of
educational testing. All of these efforts brought me help from the school
because it suddenly seemed like a real, tangible problem. Also, these
different steps helped my sense of my own reality and credibility. My kid
also does well with other aspects of writing, but getting him to do a
paragraph could take half a day. It is perplexing, but real. Keep
fighting
for some recognition of dysgraphia. You are welcome to communicate with me
anytime. Good luck. Stephanie Clark
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-spk2wrt@phoenix.edc.org
[mailto:owner-spk2wrt@phoenix.edc.org]On Behalf Of
spk2wrt@phoenix.edc.org
Sent: Tuesday, December 05, 2000 9:32 PM
Subject: Re: Request for good resesources on Voice Recognition Research
This is a little off the topic, but I'll go ahead anyway. I was told by a
compliance person in my district that we are not allowed to use the term
dysgraphia. The school district has decided that this is a medical term
and
can only be diagnosed by a physician. How do you suggest I counter this?
I've also been told that the IEP team can no longer suggest adaptive or
assistive technology without a full consult from the district AT team (and
they don't make housecalls). I'm still looking for a good instrument that
will identify dysgraphia. A student can score in the average range on the
Woodcock Johnson written language subtests, but still be unable to write a
simple 3 or 4 sentence paragraph. That makes it even more difficult to
sell
the idea of dysgraphia and AT.
Yoletta
----- Original Message -----
From: <spk2wrt@phoenix.edc.org>
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2000 1:17 PM
Subject: Re: Request for good resesources on Voice Recognition Research
> Dear Maddie:
>
> I have some case studies on my web site, if you would like to read them
> (http://www.the-literacy-center.com/StudentsLDSpeechRec.htm ). I also
have
> a book with more case studies in it, along with implementation
suggestions.
> I also have a 7 minute video (MPEG) that I am working on uploading to my
> web
> site. It shows a young lady using SR with a helpful companion program.
> The
> young lady is a sixth grade student. I also have anecdotal notes on many
> other cases.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Shelley
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Shelley Lacey-Castelot
> President
> Innovative Solutions Group, LLC, home of:
> The Literacy Center, LLC
> SpeaktoWrite
> netTranscribe
> www.innosolu.com
> slc@innosolu.com
> PO Box 821, Huntington, CT 06484 USA
> Tel: (01) 203.929.1199 Fax: (01) 203.925.8666
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-spk2wrt@phoenix.edc.org
> [mailto:owner-spk2wrt@phoenix.edc.org]On Behalf Of
> spk2wrt@phoenix.edc.org
> Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2000 12:41 PM
> Subject: Request for good resesources on Voice Recogniton Research
>
>
>
>
> Hi!
>
> I am currently working on a graduate paper in which I am using research
to
> support the use of voice recognition by an eleven year old with learning
> disabilities. Does anyone have any suggestions as to resources, aritcles
> and websites that contain research documentation supporting the use of
> vooice recogniton with students with learning disabilities. I am not
> looking for sites that advertise their products. I am looking for true
> research and documentation that justifies my use of the software for this
> student. Thanks to everyone for your suggestions!
>
> Maddie Gold
>
>
____________________________________________________________
To post a message to the spk2wrt list, send your message to:
spk2wrt@mail.edc.org. To reply to a message, simply use the reply button in
your email program (do not change the subject line in any way). To access the
spk2wrt archive containing a full list of all discussion threads to date, point
your Web browser to: http://www.edc.org/spk2wrt/hypermail/. For questions about
this list, please send a message to: spk2wrt@edc.org. For more information
about the Speaking to Write project, please visit our Web site at:
http://www.edc.org/spk2wrt
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Dec 07 2000 - 17:15:07 EST