Tag Archives: dyslexia

Jisc on exams

The Joint Information Systems Committee, (see Wikipedia description of Jisc) has issued guidelines for digital examinations, like the Scottish ones posted recently. B.D.A. NTC contributed to these guidelines. They encourage schools to take advantage of digital exam formats for print-impaired … Continue reading

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Talking in exams

CALL Scotland announced a project about Talking in Exams, i.e. writing by Speech Recognition with particular reference to Dragon Naturally Speaking and ReadQ SpeakQ. This is particularly relevant for English examinations when scribes cannot be used, but Speech Recognition can. … Continue reading

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MPs and Peers

Google Alerts flags a presentation, for MPs and Peers, by AbilityNet and others, including Abi James and Neil Cottrell of B.D.A. New Technologies Committee, today 20 January 2015. Digital access by and for disabled people: technology showcase for MPs and … Continue reading

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A.T. webinar

Abi James, NTC Chair, presented a B.D.A. webinar on Assistive Technology in Examinations. Here are PDF and Powerpoint versions of her presentation. It is good that schools are increasing their use of Computer Readers and Exam pens in Examinations. © … Continue reading

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Updated pages

updated pages Cheryl Dobbs has done a major revision of our Apps page for all facilities that support dyslexia. She has added some, deleted a few, and revised the description and comments on most of the items. There is now … Continue reading

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A.T. Case study

A blog was posted on 10 April 2014, about a senior Microsoft Assistive Technology staff member. He helped two dyslexic workers, but he learned about the software for his own benefit, as well as showing it to them. One worker … Continue reading

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‘Monster’ for literacy

‘Teach your monster to read’ is an excellent on-line, free, early literacy games program for Windows and Mac, with an app coming soon. It is sponsored by the Usborne Foundation. Children will learn to read letter-sounds and some letter-groups, relevant … Continue reading

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NTC presentations

Members of the B.D.A. NTC were involved in a range of presentations at the 9th B.D.A. International Conference, 27 to 29 March 2014. This page provides summaries of each talk and links to open or download their slides. © B.D.A. … Continue reading

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Free workshops

Publishers and suppliers provide a lot of training and support. They have open days and workshops for prospective customers and for users of their products. They also have videos and guideline documents online. Some of them are listed on our … Continue reading

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JPE review

Two pupils in the B.D.A. Children Will Shine project in Peterborough are making good use of a Jolly Phonics Extra kit with a Talking Pen. The specialist teacher in charge, Jacqueline Swift, reports their enjoyment. More comments come from a … Continue reading

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Apps wheel

CALL Scotland has produced a ‘wheel’ of apps for dyslexia learners and users who have reading and writing difficulties, as an A3 poster. You can see or down-load the poster as a PDF file. Note that all the app titles … Continue reading

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Mobile technology

Kevin Brunton has revised our page about Mobile Technology. It is good that there are now so many mainstream devices that support dyslexic users. Recent research suggests that dyslexic people find reading easier on iPods etc. It is logical that … Continue reading

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TTS exam update

Malcolm Litten has written an update article about dyslexic pupils using text to speech in GCSE English examinations. Malcolm relates the experiences of four schools, and urges all schools to take up this option for dyslexic pupils who are entitled … Continue reading

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Dyslexic use of an iPad

A teacher reports on senco-forum: A sixth former uses her i-Pad (everyone in Year 12 was given one by the school) to take a photo of the whiteboard in lessons when the teacher has finished writing on it. Then she … Continue reading

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DSA consultation

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) issued a consultation about targeted support in Higher Education, mainly the Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) The deadline was 31 May 2013. The New Technologies Committee sent a response about the hardware, software … Continue reading

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Music A.T.

B.D.A. book “Music, other Performing Arts and Dyslexia” has many examples of assistive technology for music. We have put brief details of software, including apps, in a new page, Music Technology. B.D.A. web has general information about music and dyslexia, … Continue reading

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Greg Brooks’ scheme update

The Dyslexia SpLD Trust has published the fourth edition of “What Works for Pupils with Literacy Difficulties? The Effectiveness of Intervention Schemes” by Greg Brooks. It provides information on research evidence for successful intervention schemes for children who struggle with … Continue reading

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Free ‘Speak’ for Office

CALL Scotland has written a guide to a well-hidden free Text to Speech facility in Microsoft Office 2010. It can speak selected text in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Anyone who wants to listen to a lot is likely to … Continue reading

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Load2Learn webinar

The Load2Learn project by Dyslexia Action and the R.N.I.B., now joined by Dolphin Computer Access, and supported by the Department of Education, hosted a free online webinar at 7pm on Thursday 21 February 2013. For school staff, who are helping … Continue reading

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B.D.A. new books

The British Dyslexia Association has published 11 books. PDF files are available for purchasers of the printed versions. Dyslexia Friendly Schools Good Practice Guide (19.95) You can buy ten of the books as a set: BDA Set of Ten Books … Continue reading

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