Some of the I.C.T. questions and comments from visitors.
1. Basic I.C.T. software provision for a school.
2. Set up website with free dyslexia friendly features.
3. Software programs which help improve short term memory.
4. What is available for dyslexia over the internet?
5. Could Wordshark be available over the net?
6. How can a teacher support a dyslexic colleague?
7. Computer programs for spelling problems?
8. Could the B.D.A. arrange dyslexia training in Qatar?
9. How do deaf, dyslexia people get B.D.A. information?
10. Information for H.E. students and staff?
11. Appreciative comments.
1. A teacher from a school with no history of making provision for dyslexic pupils asked about the basic I.C.T. software provision they should consider.
See B.D.A. tech page Getting Started.
2. Visitor who wanted to set up a website with features that were dyslexia friendly but free to put on his site.
See B.D.A. web for Dyslexia Style Guide. Also have a good search engine with ‘fuzzy’ spellings and enable people to get to what they want in two clicks from the home page.
3. Suggestions of software programmes which help improve short term memory.
See B.D.A. tech Study Skills on Memory. The value in these activities is the discussion of strategies that the user can apply in real life situations.
4. What is available for dyslexia over the internet?
Many programs can be:
- bought online and downloaded;
- downloaded for a 15 or 30 day trial;
- free or purchased for use online;
- free downloadable samples, e.g. one game, story or section;
- seen or explained online in excerpts or videos.
Many companies will send demo disks.
You can see programs at Educational Exhibitions, and some Local Dyslexia Associations can demonstrate software.
5. Could Wordshark be made available over the net for pupils and teachers to access?
You would have to ask White Space.
6. An art teacher asked how he could help and support a dyslexic colleague. He said the teacher in question was a very good teacher but was struggling to move up in the profession because he had difficulty with writing and spelling and had trouble keeping up in staff meetings if there were handouts, because he read slowly.
Your colleague can:
- Look up Edward Vickerman, dyslexic teacher, on the internet.
- Tell staff and pupils he is dyslexic and his strategies. That will teach them to help other dyslexic pupils and adults.
- Ask for papers BEFORE meetings, and listen to them with a text-reader. Use Dragon Speech Recognition for writing.
- Ask Access to Work for technology aids and perhaps for a support assistant.
- You, as his colleague, could offer to swap tasks, e.g. you could correct spelling errors in his pupils’ course-work and he could make some visual aids for you.
7. A teacher running a Saturday club wanted advice on computer programs she could use with pupils with spelling problems.
Wordshark, and other programs in that section of B.D.A. tech page on I.C.T. for Literacy.
8. Could the B.D.A. arrange dyslexia training in Qatar?
Contact BDA office on 0845 251 9003, E-mail. The Kuwait Dyslexia Association (web not currently available) has arabic versions of Lucid CoPS and Memory Booster and is supporting its teachers.
9. How does B.D.A. make its information available to deaf people who cannot read and are dependent on sign language?
It does not do so, currently, but we will look into it. That led us to wonder how deaf people are assessed for dyslexia, how they learn to read and to wonder if we could have videos of sign language for them. Any ideas will be welcome.
10. do you have any information on technology for H.E. students and academics who are dyslexic?
A great deal depends on what the students are studying and the level of support they need! As a general rule of thumb, most will benefit from having text on the screen read out to them, as individual difficult words and phrases or even whole passages, by means of Text to Speech. Many students benefit from using Dragon for Speech Recognition, especially in conjunction with a program like Read & Write Gold or ClaroRead. If they need more specialised support look at Iansyst for an overview of what is available.
11. Constructive comments by readers. Other comments have been put on relevant pages.
From Liza Iliffe.
Hi, I am very excited to have found this wealth of information on using technology for Dyslexic children. I am just starting my journey with looking into getting our nine year old some I.T. support to assist him with his learning, and I can see as I start to read your posts and information pages that there is a wealth of information here, so thank you.
From Shama Ahmad.
Hi, Just came across this site while searching for research for my dissertation, which is about how technology is helping those with disabilities in which I will include about dyslexia.
BDA Technology 
Hi;
I’m dyslexic and have been using various assistive technologies to help me in my day-to-day work. However my line of work often means I have to work in secure environments where the use of these tools are banned due to data security concerns.
My query is what takes precedence? The reasonable adjustments for a disability or the data security concerns of the employer.