Mathscribe- Assistive technology for print disabled users?

Price: free! (no ads- $1.29)
iTunes link










Today i downloaded and assessed Mathscribe for the needs of low vision and print disabled users as a math notation program.

Mathscribe is a very sophisticated unicode math annotator for the ipad. It contains greek and hindu-arabic symbols as well as algebraic and trigonometric characters.  You can export the results into a rich text format- that means you can paste it into emails, word documents- anything you like which makes it a promising app for users who find notation with pen and paper difficult or want an easy to way to export math across digital sources that is cohesive and understood on multiple other systems and devices and of course- printers!

Math is not my forte but it looks like every character i can imagine is available in the keyboards various submenus.

Accessibility Limitations 
In regards to accessibility however, this application falls over in a few areas at this stage.

* You CAN adjust the font of the script to a ridiculously large size (N100)- but not the character buttons- and the font on the calculator is necessarily small due to all the functions made available. So it's not really great if you can't get a good look at N18 and this is not the sort of app you'll want to use the built in zoom for.

Like any keyboards though, if you love it you'll memorise it and then at least your working area can be enlarged so you don't have to use the zoom. But this makes for a steep learning curve- one thing that helps in this regard as that Algebraic and Trigonemetric keypads change the colour of their borders when selected- but not the keys- a missed opportunity there i feel.

Speech to Text
The math notation you create is unicode and can be voiced through speech or voiceover- but it won't voice things such as super or subscripts and only voices the unicode as it appears without making any inferences- so the math in my screenshot here reads as "Seventy Four therefore Fourty Seven"and pythagoras' theoreum is voiced as "a two equals b two plus c two".

This is the common failing point of text-to-speech engines reading math.

Voiceover compatibility
On ios 8.1 with voiceover on- this thing crashes all the time. When it doesn't crash there are serious navigation issues on the keyboard- the keyboard and dynamic keypad are the SAME element- so voiceover reads across the entire top row including the keypad in its scan. These really need to be navigated as separate elements to be accessible or useable.

This large keyboard is read by voiceover horizontally across the keyboard and keypad which makes it difficult to navigate.

Digital Braille
Sadly i don't at this stage have access to a digital braille display to test how this works in UEB but i suspect the issues with speech and voiceover carry over to digital braille.

Speech to text
No Speech-to-text or Siri compatibility is a missed opportunity in my opinion, but this is more an issue that Apple hasn't made Siri compatible with math notation then the fault of this noble free app.




Verdict 

There are some strong points as well for mathscribe in it's notation abilities for students with print disabilities that aren't vision related. It notates the math you type without solving it for you, which could be a selling point over soulver for high level notation and pedagogical purposes for teachers.  The contrasting colours of the keypad help to separate the functions on the keyboard visually. But all in all this clever app needs a bit of work before it can be effective assistive technology for users with print disabilities and i prefer the UI of Soulver personally.

Assistive Technology Teaching Program for a Dyslexic student- The Fantasy Novel.

I want to share a program I developed for a particular student which i think would be useful for other teachers and parents of students with dyslexia.

When i met this student he was eleven years old and was well spoken and intelligent, despite this he was reading at a level a few years below and this was consistent in his schooling. He had a diagnoses of dyslexia so i was able to get a few sessions from my employer to work a program with him last year.

This student had very little experience with technology and a love of the fantasy genre. I developed this program to teach him literacy support AT skills like speech-to-text, text-to-speech- but also to tap into his loves. This program culminates in my student using speech to text and word prediction to create an electronic fantasy book which is completely accessible and electronic and able to be read by his peers and other children with print disabilities.  The student also used the Lord of the Rings MMORPG computer game to research fantasy concepts and enjoy reading in a gaming context.

This program contains the software and hardware as well as all the steps of each session to build competence and work towards the final success of the student. I hope the information here is of use to other teachers and parents of dyslexic students and i'd love nothing more than to discuss aspects of the program with you or troubleshoot!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UkKJWCR_bhsloNiydb48ic37c4zANZBFq0BX1izwLYA/edit?usp=sharing

Amazing, Accessible games for blind users!

Having a vision impairment can be an impediment to gaming, many of my students who use their vision to game have come up with lots of modifications and strategies to game effectively. But this post is not for that. This post is to compile the best games that my students are playing that either utilise only audio or have graphics that are not essential to the gameplay. In other words, games that are not designed to be seen, but rather to be heard.

It's a better age then ever before for a Blind gamer- there are technologies such as binaural processing which allow a true-3d audio experience with headphones and clever gamemakers can utilise these technologies to make truly Awesome Game experiences, screenreading technology has also play a factor in making old text-based games from the 70's and 80's accessible experiences for the blind. These older style of games traditionally relied upon superior writing and text-based adventure principles which makes them ideal for blind-gaming! So Onto the games!

Papa Sangre 1 & 2

Homepage: http://www.papasangre.com/

price: $2.49

The Papa Sangre games are out on the itunes app store for IOS devices. If you've never heard of them, you should go and buy one of them right now, as in my experience these games are at the pinnacle of incorporating binaural sound engineering and clever game-making.  These games are scary and contain supernatural themes- but the content is not mature and my adolescent students love these sound-based scary interactive adventures!

King of Dragon Pass

All the elements in this screenshot are navigable by braille or speech! WOW!

(price:6.99) (Itunes Link)
edit: Available now for android and other platforms! Here is the game's homepage!

I love this game. As a child, this game helped me develop my literacy as a text-based adventure many moons ago and i love introducing it to my students now because it's extremely deep and engaging fantasy and provides amazing educational opportunities that are totally hidden in the game.

 I can trick my students into developing their braille literacy by linking it to a braille display, I can enhance my students screenreader navigation skills as the game is full of sliders, nobs and spreadsheets- so you have to learn how to navigate these to play the game effectively, and the game is full of strange fantasy words as well as real ones that my students have to explore by character to learn which helps develop their phonemic awareness too. |

Despite the games complexity however, it plays like a turn-based choose your own adventure- with you passing the time and being presented with options- a lot of the depth of the game can be unlocked as you play rather then being needed to be mastered immediately.

 It's principally a civilization or tribe management game with deep strategy and customization. You are essentially a war chieftain (male or female) in a deep and engaging fantasy world with a compelling metanarrative that also allows you to roleplay your chieftan to represent the character you want to be. You must allocate resources, decide which Gods to worship, which other clans to ally with and which to war with. There are countless hours in this game and all the while you will be exposed to moral questions, economy management and must deal with the consequences of your decision in short and long term events.

It was fantastic to see this old favourite revived in the modern age and it's still as useful as every for reluctant learners to sink their teeth into and engage in a deep fantasy experience.

Audio Defence Zombie Arena

Price: $4.99
Itunes Link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/audio-defence-zombie-arena/id804041240?mt=8

Amazing Amazing. Who would have thought you could have a playable, action packed and entertaining shoot-em-up game without visuals? This is as close as you get to a sound-based FPS, it's brand new and based on the very latest binaural sound engineering. Just a brilliant tech demonstration, a fun and frantic game and something i can get my butt well and truly kicked by my blind students with. I'm trying not to sound like a corporate shill as this is by the same company that makes Papa Sangre- i promise i'm not- Just buy this and you'll see that it is objectively astounding technology and damn fun.

Not sure it's very educational though- there is some math involved if you want to effectively smack-talk other players about their score I suppose!

My ABBYY Finereader Tutorial

My ABBYY Finereader Tutorial

Hi there. I enjoy using Omnipage to create clearprint for my students with special needs because of the power and customisation of the software. However i have found that ABBYY finereader offers my colleagues a more user friendly process and tends to get the results we need faster. So, i've developed a training module and procedure for Finereader that I hope assists you in creating clearprint for your students.

Edit: At this moment the sound on my video is poorly encoded- you'll need to turn your speakers up and then twice my system sound will beep and it will annoy you. I"m sorry. I'm reincoding and will upload a better version. If you want to motivate me to do this faster make a post!

Module Document is here 
Video is here

Soulver- a great math app for students who can't show their working!

Price: $2.49

Itunes Link:

Instructions: http://www.acqualia.com/soulver/

Soulver is the love child of a word processor and a calculator. It allows our students to input calculations which it lists in an accessible and exportable format. Many blind and dyslexic students find paper a difficult medium for recording and breaking down their thoughts. Soulver is a natural tool for these kids as has calculator functions but breaks down the math students are doing in their heads and represents it as a clear list on paper- ready to be printed or emailed to the teacher for assessment and marking. 

Click me for a video that's more impressive then this screenshot!

Oh and Soulver is completely compatible with VoiceOver so the math can be translated into audio or even braille- and if you want a multisensory learning experience with audio and visual queues- you got it by enabling speak selection! 

WOO!

Apps and Software for Students with Learning Difficulties

Apps and Software for Students with Learning Difficulties

The following Software has been suggested for testing to use with students with Learning Difficulties. Where the application has been specifically used or assessed by an myself, details of this assessment will be featured on the right. The following Categories for apps have been suggested; Organisation Software to assist students with learning difficulties organise dates and tasks. Note-taking and Mindmapping software to assist students creating and organising their ideas, Literacy Assistance Software to improve a student's access to Text and finally Study Aids to assist students in working with digital documents and to learn particular concepts and outcomes. 

Organisational Software	Description	Resources and Reviews
istudies Pro price: $3.00 iTunes Link for iStudies Pro IOS	This is an organisational app that helps students organise their tasks.
Next Thing price: Itunes Link to Next Thing IOS	Next Thing is a task manager and scheduling aid that's comparable to a “digital sticky note.”
Dropbox price: iTunes link for Dropbox Weblink for dropboxIOS PC/MAC	This popular file-sharing software is a great organizational tool for keeping all of your files accessible no matter where you are! It interfaces well with multiple files including PDF, Pictures- even Zipped files!	Dropbox is currently used by many students in Catholic schools to assist with organisation and file management on their ipads. We have found this app to be powerful, simple and accessible.
Msecure price: $10-20 weblink to mSecure IOS PC/MAC	This password manager and protector keeps track of student accounts and passwords and keeps them secure and organised.
Evernote    http://evernote.com    Price: Free	Conventional Paper Diaries, calendars and workbooks are by their nature difficult to access for students who experience difficulties accessing print- as such most students with print disabilities will benefit from the use of a notes program such as Evernote which will allow them to use a shared cloud computing diary and workbook for each subject accessible from any computer, phone, iPod or tablet.  These digital workbooks can have pictures, movies and text embedded and you can use text-to-speech and find features to access the them easily. For a five dollar a month subscription students have unlimited storage for their evernote accounts- this will be useful for students who fill their accounts up quickly!
iOs Calendar, Reminders and        Notes    Price: Free and inbuilt with IOS device	Although Evernote is highly recommended for students, an alternative for those who do not have internet access regularly is to use the standard IOS Calendar, Reminders and Notes as a digital diary and workbook.	I use this with my blind and dyslexic students- integration with Siri is fantastic!

Note Taking and mindmapping Software	Description	Resources and Reviews
Kidspiration / Inspiration http://www.inspiration.com/ Price- $80-90	Kidspiration and Inspiration are great tools for creating and interpreting and re-representing mindmaps- the former is aimed for use by primary school aged kids and the latter is designed to be used by Adults and Adolescents. Typically dyslexic people have trouble organising their ideas in a way that can be represented to others, this software aims to give dyslexic students a platform to easily organise and represent information and assists them to create structured text around this information.
InClass price: Free iTunes Link for InClass	This is another organisational app designed to help students keep track of their courses through more efficient note-taking. Combining video notes, audio notes and photo notes.
iThoughts price iTunes link for iThoughts	iThoughts is a mindmapping app to help students organise their thoughts.
Corkulous price:  iTunes Link for Corkulous	Corkulous™ idea board is the incredible new way to collect, organize, and share your ideas. See the demo video: http://www.corkulous.com/
Popplet price: $4.99 iTunes Link for popplet	Popplet is a platform for your ideas. Popplet's super simple interface allows you to move at the speed of your thoughts. With Popplet you can capture your ideas, sort them visually, and collaborate with others in realtime. Quickly and easily!

Literacy Assistance Software	Description	Resources and Reviews
Read and Write GoldPrice $699 http://www.texthelp.com  Mac/PC + ireadwrite for IOS (6.99) + read and write for Google Docs($30)	Texthelp offers a powerful suite of literacy apps for students with print disabilities. Features such as natural voices, moving highlights, collectable highlights and a range of dictionary, screenshot readers all characterise Texthelp's softwares for various platforms. The most fully fledged software is the package for the PC followed closely by the MAC package with the Google Docs and IOS packages typically containing less features.	Read and Write Gold review here iReadWrite for IOS review here Read and Write for Google Docs review here Various video tutorials and information on Read and Write Gold can be found here and also here.
Dragon Naturally Speaking   Nuance Website Price $200 For Mac/PC + Also Dragon Dictation for IOS ($6.99)	Using speech to text can be a very useful way to create text, however efficacious use of text to speech does not come immediately and students will need to be explicitly taught how to use dragon dictation as well as given the time necessary to train their application to their particular voice. It is also less appropriate for students who have difficulty speaking clearly. Dragon Dictation is Nuance's Dictation software for the iPad and it performs very well in optimal conditions. Unfortunately, unlike the computer-based version, Dragon Dictation processes the speech online rather than on the device itself so will not be usable without an unrestricted internet connection. As of the writing of this article- Dragon Dictation is known to be unusable within our CEO schools due to proxy restrictions.	Nuance Dragon YouTube Videos Dragon Naturally Speaking User Guide
Voiceover on iOS with browser/ibooks www.apple.com Price: free with iPad, the ibooks vary  in price	Students with print disabilities should set up and learn to use voiceover on their ipads so they are able to utilise the Apple's excellent text-to-speech engine when accessing print on the iPad, particularly when accessing ebooks or the internet. Students can use the inbuilt dictionary on the iPad to listen to unfamiliar or difficult words and to listen to the definitions when they are unsure of the word meaning.	Apple voiceover tutorial General information on using Apple technology to assist students with print disabilities, which includes this strategy.
Natural Reader http://www.naturalreaders.com Price- $50	Whilst Read & Write Gold is the deluxe comprehensive tool for kids with print disabilities, if you are just looking for cheap human sounding text-to-speech engine that will read text on a PC in Word, on the internet and virtually all other applications that use digital text then this is the one!	Natural Reader Tutorial
Inbuilt MAC/OS features www.apple.com Free with MAC O/S.	If your student is using a MAC there are a range of inbuilt features that will assist them such as speech, predictive text, sending text toiTunes as a spoken track to be played on an iPad etc.	Apple - Speech - Literacy How to send text to iTunes as a spoken track.

Study Aids	Description	Resources and Reviews
GoodReader price: $4.99 iTunes Link to GoodReader	GoodReader has been praised for its annotating capabilities and quick pace when managing large PDF and TXT files, manuals and books. Its multi-tab option makes it easy to switch back and forth between documents when studying.	GoodReader has a lot of buttons and is very powerful, it is more useful for older students who will not be phased by large menus filled with various buttons and features.
Flashcards Deluxe price: $4.00 iTunes link for Flashcards Deluxe iPad	Flashcards Deluxe is an easy to use, yet powerful flashcard app which you can use to study just about anything you want, features up to five sided flashcards for learning.
iAnnotate PDF price: iTunes Link for iAnnotate PDF iPad	iAnnotate PDF is another PDF Annotator, but with a simpler User Interface then GoodReader- more suitable for younger users and those who would like a simpler more streamlined app.
PowerPoint / Keynote	Students with problems accessing print are often not well served by conventional palm-cards or speech notes, instead teaching a student with literacy issues how to make and use a PowerPoint or Keynote presentation utilising pictures and keywords to jog their memory and keep the flow of their speech logically structured is very handy.

Sources: 

http://www.ncld.org/students-disabilities/assistive-technology-education/apps-students-ld-organization-study

Vision Australia Library now serving all print disabilities- including dyslexia!

Vision Australia Library now serving all print disabilities- including dyslexia!

    ............ Now open to all print disabilities! 

Questions	Answers	Links
What is the Vision Australia Library?	Vision Australia's library is features an ever-growing collection of over 40,000 accessible titles and 350 daily newspaper archives for Australians with a print disability.	About the Vision Australia library
Who can join and borrow from Vision Australia's library?	Anyone with a print disability- including dysgraphia or dyslexia can now join Vision Australia's library and take advantage of their services, Special Education coordinators can refer their students to the library and assist with the application process.	What is a print disability?
Can school's borrow and manage borrowed books on student's behalf?	Yes, as long as a consent form is filled out by parents the school library can manage the students books and be act as a delivery and book management source for the student- making it much easier to get an accessible copy of a school novel or other resources from the library.	Link to Vision Australia's library information page
How do our students join the library?	The link to the right will take you to the appropriate online forms to fill out. Special Needs teachers are able to fill out and submit these on students behalf and act as referrer.	Vision Australia Membership form
What formats of books are available for students?	Ebooks, Audiobooks, Daisy Books, Large Print and Braille.	Collection Guidelines (Word, 164KB)
Is there an online catalogue that i can search to locate accessible books?	Yes!	search the Catalogue as a guest

Any further questions can be answered by calling the Vision Australia library staff on 1300 84 74 66

my thoughts on readwritethink for aussie teachers

The American Scootle

ReadWriteThink is an american website that,much like the Australian Scootle, attempts to collate a wide variety of digital resources for teachers to use in the classroom, combining interactive resources, links to purchasable books and materials and lesson plans aligned to the US curriculum, ReadWriteThink in many ways accomplishes the ambitions set by the Australian Scootle, but with an alignment to the North American rather than Australian Curriculum.

Unlike Scootle however, ReadWriteThink is accessible to all teachers around the world and does not require a .gov or .edu sign-in to access, and so is available for Australian teachers to parse for resources.

Limitations  for Australian Teachers?

Any site that wishes to offer qualitative and peer reviewed resources aligned to a specific curriculum will necessarily suffer from a lack of resources and ReadWriteThink like Scootle currently suffers from this same problem. Whilst there are certain to be  useful lesson plans, interactive tools, and printouts that will be of use to teachers- the author of this article counted around 1190 resources available on ReadWriteThink in total- this includes all classroom resources, lesson plans and community stories (testimonials from teachers)- the vast majority of resources are lesson plans which will have to be appropriated to meet with Australian rather than American Curriculum standards.  


Verdict
Due to the small number of unique tools and resources offered by ReadWriteThink, particularly when one considers that Australian teachers will not be able to use many of these american resources due to localisation issues such as the US-centric themes of many lessons or the use of the imperial system for measuring; Teachers are more likely to use these teacher-resource sites like ReadWriteThink to parse for exercises and resources occasionally then to become regular users of the site as is intended, fortunately ireadwrite think features a powerful search and category browsing features that make this task easy to perform and is accessible by all teachers which boosts its usability and usefulness.  

Suggested AT program Program for a Dyslexic student

Suggested AT program Program for a Dyslexic student

Stephen Cordwell, ISTV and Print Disability Specialist Teacher.

Contents

1. Personal Observation Notes (interview format)

2. Recommendations and Ideas

3. Program Introduction and Rationale

4. Required Equipment

5. Proposed Program

1.Personal Observation Notes

Name: Student X

Age: 16 YO

School: A High School

SDL: History of multiple interventions and diagnosis of dyslexia/print disability.

Interests:

Wood works

Rugby

Body-Boarding

Dislikes:

English

Math

Q: If you had to read something would you prefer at home or school?

A. At home is better for reading

* Student X rarely if ever hands in work from home

Q: What is your main way to record ideas in class?

A. Notes App on iPad

* A check of Student X’s notes app and school books reveals that Student X has recorded 0 information this year in written form and only a few lines of text are to be seen in his NOTES app on the iPad- it is currently October, Term 3 and Student X is in Yr 10.

Q: Do you use any technology to access curriculum information currently?

A.  Photos of shopping lists and Speech Selection on iPad

Q: Do you use the internet to find information?

A. Only really the NRL website because i know where to find the information i want.(the scores)

*Student X has an amateur photograph as his cover on his iPad of Waves Breaking at a local beach, and he admits he is interested in photography and has used a proper camera before and enjoyed it

Q: Do you prefer typing or writing?

a: Writing

* However it bears to mention that there is no evidence of written work anywhere in Student X’s Locker, Bag etc, only some typed class notes on the iPad.

Q: What would be the best way to record your thoughts if you could choose?

A: Using my voice

Q: Do you like the idea of dictating to a computer program?

A: Yes, i tried Dragon a few years ago but it didn’t seem to work very well- i’d like it if it worked better.

Student Xs Computing Teacher

“ I have Student X for graphics, i chose a less complicated alternative drawing program on a Windows Machine, whilst the other students used a more advanced drawing program.  Student X was able to complete the drawing but unable to email me any of his work”

Student X’s English Teacher

“ I have Student X for English and i modified the lesson by providing Student X with an audiobook on an SD card but Student X did not know how to use an SD card and i’m not sure his iPad can read them.”

Student X’s Special Ed Coordinator

Student X does not adopt to new technology quickly or independently as his peers do, I suspect he is thwarted by the literary component on his technology for use.Student X learns and represents best by speaking and listening and requires high structure to tasks in which learning is effective. In most interventions, Student X will typically show improvement to start with but his success is not sustained or maintained and Student X tends to forget what he has been taught quickly unless it is taught or understood in a meaningful way so that it becomes long-term memory.

Q. Student X, is there a teacher here who teaches you in a way that you enjoy and understand best?

A. Yes, My Science Teacher explains things in a way that i understand.

Q. What technology do you currently have access to at home?

A. Personal iPhone, iPad for School, Mac for School that stays at home, Windows Machine used in some classes.

Q. Out of these which do you think is currently the best tool out of the three for Class?

A. The computer is probably better

Q. How do you find contacts on your list on your iphone to send them messages?

A. Oh i just type the beginning of their name into the searchbar and they come up

Q. Have you ever done an email to a teacher

A. No, I Can’t Email

* Upon inspection, Student X’s iPad is set up with School Account- but never used for emailing work- i’m personally  confident that Student X could email as the skillset for emailing and SMS on an iPhone are almost identical but i suspect that Student X has not been explicitly taught these things or had them reinforced within class- i suspect that Student X is not familiar enough with any one particular Operating System to have found any consistency to learn these operational fundamentals.

2. Recommendations and Ideas.

General Tech

• Formal overview of Mac,IOS, Windows- what they are and why they are different and how to manage these devices.
• Introduction to Dyslexic Fonts and Basic Text-to-Speech in MAC and IOS

Core Training

Read And Write Gold and Dragon on  Windows machine- and proper training on the windows laptop

iPad/iPhone

• Effective use of Reminders,Calendar and Notes to organise.
• Prizmo to GRAB text from Worksheets
• Google Maps with Voice for navigation
• Tripview for Travel Training
• iBooks and Voiceover
• iPad for Internet Exploring
• Finding Information with Search
• SIRI and Dragon Dictation (if they ever work within a CEO environment)

3. Program Rationale

The following is a proposed educational program to introduce and equip Student X with specific AT skills to assist in his special print access requirements.

Student X currently struggles to read and write in print and has limited access to his iPad and School Computer. The purpose of this program will be first to address access problems and issues Student X may be having in his general computer use and then to equip Student X with some AT tools that will enhance his access to curriculum materials and be compatible with Student X’s issued laptop in his next school.

4. EQUIPMENT REQUIRED

Teacher Requires

*Windows Laptop with Dragon Dictation and ReadandWriteGold installed. ( Currently will only require Read and Write Gold for Windows on work laptop)

* iPad with Siri and the following others apps, Prizmo, Reminders, Calendar, Notes,s Google Maps, Tripview Lite, Ibooks with some books loaded up, Dragon Dictation,  iReadWrite

*note* I will need a day with the device in advance  to learn how to use SIRI with Dragon Dictation, and iReadWrite as well as organisation apps myself)- i currently only personally own an ipad 1 which is no longer compatible with modern apps or operating systems- i’ll be unable to teach these skills without first learning them myself.

Student Requires

Student Laptop with  WINDOWS, Read and Write Gold , Dragon Dictation, Microsoft Office,

iPad 3rd Generation or higher with the following apps

Reminders,Calendar and Notes to organise.

Prizmo 10.99

Google Maps with Voice for navigation

Tripview Lite

iBooks

SIRI and Dragon Dictation (+verified as working  within a CEO environment)

5. Proposed Program.

Stage	Objective	Indicator	Equipment required	Rationale	Evaluation
1	Showcase and orientation of Accessible Machine	Student X should know a few basic Dragon commands and demonstrate starting up his computer and APPS and opening a word document ready to go with his voice set up.	A Windows Laptop with Read and Write Gold, Dragon Dictation, Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer.	It will be useful for Student X to first get to see and experience a computer that is customised for himself and has the necessary tools that he will work with. I will show Student X very basic computer operation and demonstrate the use of read and write gold and dragon dictation. After which i will set Student X up so that he can train his voice to Dragon Dictation.
2	Touch Typing Basics and File management Basics.	Student X should be able to identify the correct typing position and will need to know basic OS functionality to save, organise and send his work. Student X should be able to navigate to MYDOCUMENTS and create folders and demonstrate saving files into these folders.	A Windows Laptop with Read and Write Gold, Dragon Dictation, Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer.	For Student X to successfully use a computer as a piece of AT it is essential that he has an understanding of basic file management and operation of his Windows Laptop which will be issued next year at his new school
3	Advanced Read and Write Gold Features Voiceover on iPad with Browser and Ibooks		Laptop with Read and Write Gold and word processor as well as iPad with admin rights and access to the Net.	This lesson will focus on the options Student X has for customising voice, pitch and speed as well as verbosity and to use his read and write gold app to read emails i will send him.
4	Advanced Speech with Dragon Dictation	Student X should be able to save and open files using Dragon as well as cite the majoroperational features of Dragon in word processing and text entry. Furthermore Student X will need to be able to demonstrate how he will find additional keyboard shortcuts and voice commands in the manual using Read and Write Gold to have this read out to him.	Laptop with Dragon Dictation and Word Processor	This stage will teach Student X about Dragon Dictation- basic computer functions, Punctuation and Text entry as well as How to operate the computer basically using Dragon.