Helping Students with Literacy Difficulties
by Cheryl Dobbs
Author: Cheryl Dobbs, Independent ICT/SEN Consultant, Melbourne
I am constantly looking for tools and ideas which will encourage a group of students I work with whom I can only describe as “reluctant writers”. Each student has his/her own reasons for such reluctance. For some it may be a difficulty with handwriting caused by physical reasons or through processing problems. For others it may be a concern over difficulties with spelling and therefore they limit their actual expression to simple sentences and “safe” spelling of words they know. Some have great ideas orally but have difficulty organizing their ideas or have forgotten what they wanted to say as soon as they start putting it physically into print. Whatever the reasons behind their difficulties I need to be on the constant look out for hardware, software and activities which will help to lighten the load and start to encourage and increase their confidence to put their thoughts into print.
The following three case studies have been selected to illustrate the selective use of technology. Each student attends a weekly session which is used as an opportunity to develop an individual teaching program but also to provide an opportunity to try different technologies which may benefit their learning styles and areas of difficulty not only now, but as their needs change. The aim is to be able to provide a level of support so that they can work as independently as possible and to the level of their cognitive ability with technological support when required e.g. talking word processors, word prediction, planning software etc.
There is no magic cure to alleviating literacy difficulties but there is plenty of software around these days which can help and support the individual if chosen appropriately. However, it is choosing the correct product for the individual need which is essential. There is no “one-stop” shop for a “solution”. It is therefore essential that we constantly look at the needs of the individual and make adjustments or changes as the student matures or when needs change.
The ideas presented are just a selective area from a range of activities designed to teach “writing skills” in each student’s individual learning program.
Alan (CoWriter 4000)
I first met Alan when he was ten years of age. He was basically a non-reader, knew a few sight words and some simple three letter words. He had very little confidence in his own ability, spoke but a few words to me when spoken to and showed little enthusiasm for learning to read and write. In addition to his mainstream schooling he had received support, out of school, with tutors in individual and group programs. He viewed my intervention as another program which meant he had to do “extra” work and put in more effort. Our first few sessions were strained to say the least.
Alan’s handwriting was virtually illegible. His letters were either poorly formed or reversed and he had very little fine motor control. His written ability was limited to a few words made up of their initial sounds plus a few he could spell. A “sentence” (I use the term guardedly) of six words could take up to ten minutes to produce with constant coaxing and encouragement. This was a “good” day!
Encouraging Alan to use a keyboard was difficult. He knew his handwriting was poor but he was even more reluctant to use a computer. It was almost as if he saw its use as another acknowledgement of his “failure”. Many weeks of using the computer for good quality adventure games, puzzles etc in short bursts to provoke some interest occurred before I introduced the use of CoWriter 4000 to produce some written work. When I showed him how it could be used to write a sentence with a few key presses……….I was greeted with “cool”. This was probably the most enthusiastic response I had ever had!
Alan quickly picked up how you could scan the lists to hear individual words and by this time, after a few weeks of a structured, multi sensory, literacy program, was able to read phonically regular three and four letter words which enabled him to at least make an attempt to write the first two or three letters of the words he needed. This was enough for CoWriter to pick up and Alan could then hear the “predictions” chosen. He was then quite willing to “write” two or three sentences for me in about the same time it had been taking me to get two or three words into print. This moment became a turning point for a whole range of issues and Alan’s literacy development continues from strength to strength.
Kate (AlphaSmart 3000)
Kate was in Grade Six when it was decided to introduce her to an AlphaSmart 3000 to attempt to alleviate the enormous difficulties she was experiencing with handwritten tasks. Any written work was taking an infinitely long period of time and effort. She was frequently distracted and very little was ever appearing on a page. She had, however, made enormous gains with reading and was actually beginning to read for pleasure rather than being “coaxed”.
We’d been using a talking word processor fairly regularly in our sessions but it was the CoWriter applet on the AlphaSmart which Kate particularly enjoyed. Writing was a huge effort for her and the opportunity to use something to “help” with the load, certainly appealed! She certainly fitted the description of a typical “reluctant writer” – she saw little need in writing when she could use her voice. When she wrote “sentences” these were usually a string of words joined by a succession of “and”.
CoWriter 4000 had been trialled in her weekly sessions successfully and this had seemed to draw her attention to sentence structure……having insert a full stop to return to the body of text was something, which up to this period of time, seemed to have totally passed her by.
In an ideal world, the availability of CoWriter 4000 for daily tasks would have reaped enormous benefits but this, unfortunately was not seen to be a need by her school. It is one of my frustrations to know that there is technology available which would help students in their daily school life but it is either not available because of financial reasons or because there is not seen to be a need, either through lack of awareness or failure to recognize that processing difficulties are as much a “disability” as physical ones.
Kate’s parents decided to upgrade computers at home and invest in software and hardware for her to use both in school and at home, this included a talking word processor and the purchase of the AlphaSmart 3000. The Neo would have been preferred but at this stage the CoWriter applet was not available on this machine. Kate was quite able to read most of the predictions on the screen which had prevented its use with other students whose reading ability required the availability of a sound card to read text (not available on either the AlphaSmart or Neo).
As Kate was going to be totally responsible for its use in school we had to ensure that she felt both comfortable and confident with the features before she took it in to school for the first time. There was no one available in school with any experience of this machine, and so Kate was “trained” that in the event of any difficulties to shut it down and go back to the pen and paper until the issue could be resolved at home or when someone could come into school. Not an ideal arrangement but a reality.
The Alpha was, therefore, to be used regularly at home for a few weeks, in reality this actually became a term, before being taken into school for the first time. She was encouraged to “write” on a daily basis to help speed up her keyboarding skills and to write a sentence or two daily. When this proved to be an effort as it was on some days, sentences were dictated to her to get her accustomed to scanning the word predictions selectively and to use her phonic spelling ability to its full extent. Even with the extra support the AlphaSmart gave her, she still needed a purpose to write, so activities were planned for this.
The efforts paid off though and Kate now uses the AlphaSmart confidently. Her keyboarding has certainly improved and she can put together a few sentences with very little effort. It is perhaps not used as frequently as it could be in school but this is more to do with trying to develop a greater awareness to its benefits there- an ongoing task.
In an ideal world it would have been the school encouraging and supporting Kate to use the technology initially, but she now takes it to school daily, is totally confident with its use and at least has a tool available to her when she feels she needs the support. It will be interesting to see if staff see its’ benefits with other students who have an even greater need!
Jason (Texthelp Read&Write GOLD)
I met Jason as he was entering Grade 7 – this was unusual as most of the students I work with have worked with me from some point in their primary years. This ensures we can at least get a structure in place to allow transition into secondary school and to have made some headway with literacy skills/technological support before they go. In this way the student can at least read and write, with support, comfortably enough to tackle the curriculum.
In Jason’s case I was confronted with a student who had a fairly long history of difficulty, had been supported by tutors out of school for a number of years, had very little confidence in himself and still had extremely poor literacy skills. Like most of these students with similar difficulties, to tackle the basic requirements of homework took greater effort and time. To Jason’s credit and a reflection of his maturity, he had reached a stage where he really wanted some help and was prepared to put in time and effort. This wasn’t easy as he was also facing the new demands of the secondary timetable and curriculum.
A year has now passed and one of the first strategies put into place was the use of Texthelp Read and Write GOLD. This program has a wide range of tools available to help any student, not just those with difficulties and should be available in all secondary schools!
It was hoped that Jason’s school would take on board some of the recommendations as initial meetings with parents, myself and staff looked promising. Implementing the use of software and hardware in the classroom would have made Alan’s year easier, however, some teaching staff were concerned that he would look different from the other students if allowed to type work in lessons!
Obviously there were many aspects to consider if a laptop was used in class, not least of all security and logistics, but the comments were made quite strongly and Jason did not feel comfortable about pursuing the option. His feelings had to be respected so Jason continued to hand write in school, or borrow his friends’ books later for note taking – as he couldn’t keep up and certainly found copying notes from a board virtually impossible. He used his software at home for most homework tasks.
So has Texthelp helped? He and I would emphatically say “yes”, even though probably not all functions are being used to their greatest potential at this point in time. (The learning process is ongoing!)
The word prediction tool was probably the first tool he used regularly but even to this day Jason prefers to scan the word in the prediction box (i.e. hear it) and actually type the word for himself, rather than press Function keys, as most of the other students do. He finds this more comfortable and I have to say his spelling, albeit still a weakness, has certainly improved. His attention is drawn to new words and sight words flow from his fingers instead of the laborious “hunting and pecking” of old. So it doesn’t really matter “how” he uses it – it works!
Writing a short passage was extremely difficult. His thoughts were muddled and random and he frequently had no idea how to start. Typing or keyboarding skills were poor initially. There has been no magic cure, apart from hard work, a structured program and constant practice but Jason can quite easily put together a reasonable paragraph fairly easily. His typing speed has increased dramatically but this is probably influenced by the amount of time spent on MSN. (Incidentally he was not interested in this a year ago as he said it took him too long to type and was easier to phone or talk at school!)
The homophone facility is excellent and used constantly. These students have enough trouble recognizing whether a word is spelt correctly in the first place, let alone if they then have to learn there are three ways to spell and make use of it. This is always used as one of the final pieces of editing.
The speech facility is used with pages scanned into the program or more commonly with Jason, for pages on the web that he has been asked to work from but which frequently contain words he cannot read. This is where the dictionary is extremely useful too!
He has only just begun to make use of the research tools, fact finding and collating facilities available in the program, but this is an area I really want to develop with him as they are excellent tools for any student not just those with difficulties. I, personally, find them invaluable for myself when searching web pages for information.
Jason will now type most of his homework, unlike the early days when his slow typing speed frustrated him. He can see the value of using the computer as a planning and editing tool (even without additional planning programs) rather than the constant re writing of pages as he did in the past.
Texthelp is seen by us both, as a teaching tool as well as a support. Unfortunately, however, although he is extremely accomplished with the software, can see all its advantages, it is now the cumbersome nature of using the actual laptop and carrying it around which he now sees as the main drawback to its’ use in school! Jason’s literacy skills have developed but they are still developing – software is a tool, not a “magic cure” but he is far more accomplished and confident than the student I first knew and I hope it continues!
Conclusion:
So what can I recommend from the experiences of these and other students:
Software and hardware has to be trialled and used with students – there is no one piece of software which will work for all.
We need to be prepared to look to see how the software is used and not always as conventionally as first envisaged.
The student if being expected to use the a keyboard has to be comfortable with its use – this may mean learning to type if possible but at least to learn keyboard strategies.
Schools have to be made more aware of the types of assistive software available for students. This ideally should come from the top – our Education Departments and services
Teacher training courses should include a regularly revised use of technology and “special needs” components
Teaching staff need to be made aware of “hidden” disabilities and their effects as equally as they do for student with a physical difficulty.
Integration needs to be viewed as a means of enabling a student to achieve his true cognitive levels; this may well be the need for integration of technology!
Effective use of any tool needs to take into consideration a student’s cognitive ability and learning style, keep their interest and most importantly their self esteem whilst also providing structure and support.
Thank you Alan, Jason and Kate, your names have been changed but your reactions and experiences to the technology and software remain. You, like the other students I work with, are constantly teaching me through observation of your comments, frankness and undoubted humour, how this rapidly emerging field of technology can be used, and should be used, to support and help others with similar needs!
Note: Co:Writer SOLO has now replaced the Co:Writer 4000 edition.
More Co:Writer, Alphasmart 3000 and Texthelp Read and Write GOLD resources available at www.spectronicsinoz.com