iPads for Students with Dyslexia

What is dyslexia? 

 

According to the online definition, a general term for disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols, but that do not affect general intelligence. I didn't know much about dyslexia at first I thought dyslexia is when someone gets confused with a few letters, but it's more than that. There are many misconceptions about dyslexia. Students with dyslexia does not mean they have low intelligence level which hinders them from learning. Another misconception that people would think is that boys outnumber girls with having dyslexia when in fact both genders would nearly have dyslexia. Also, people would have the misconception, that the students with dyslexia just read letters or words backward which is not the problem because with dyslexia students are more challenged in trying to breaking down the words. I also had that misconception that students with dyslexia would have trouble reading but they would also struggle when speaking and socializing.

I believe that teachers should be aware of this challenge that the students with dyslexia go through because often teachers neglect their learning. Teachers should make the accommodations and have patience with students with dyslexia. Some accommodations that teachers can make are such as simplifying directions, breaking down writing activities, or highlight important information.

There are some great apps that students with dyslexia can use to enhance their learning. 

Dragon Dictate

This app allows any information on google, twitter, and Facebook to be read aloud to the student. I plan to use this app during reading or any lesson in fact because I would want my students to be guided in their reading. If the students were collaborating in a group project, they can use it to facilitate research information online.

 

 

  Sound Literacy 

 I would like to implement this app as a tool for my students with dyslexia to improve their reading skills. Students with dyslexia need that practice and have strategies to decipher letter-sound correspondence. With Sound Literacy, it requires for both teacher and student to work together to improve the spelling of the phonemes. Using the app improves the interaction between the student and teacher and provide other benefits that come from one to one instruction.

Here's a link with apps that students with dyslexia can use:

Back-to-School Guide: Must-Have Apps for Dyslexic Students

As the days of summer fun come to a close, thoughts of reading assignments, worksheets, and essays return to the forefront of many students' minds. For students with dyslexia, work that requires reading and writing can be daunting, and it often saps the enjoyment out of school.

4C's

iPads are beneficial tools for students with dyslexia because they can use it as an assistive technology. These apps that I recommended and the link to a website with apps incorporate the 4Cs that can help students learn 21st-century skills. With Dragon Dictate, students can collaborate with other students with research, and the students wouldn’t feel left behind due to their reading disability. Next, students with dyslexia can communicate with the students and teacher through the use of the app because it allows student’s responses to be recorded. Students with dyslexia can think critically because they are more apt to give deeper knowledge through response being recorded. I think students with dyslexia would have time organizing their thoughts and them put that information on the paper, so recording their responses or having that one-to-one discussion would benefit them. Students with dyslexia can be creative with the use of iPad apps because there are apps available that have a speech-to-text feature that would allow thoughts to be written down. For example, students can be creative with writing so using a speech-to-text feature would step-by-step help students organize their thoughts. Students with dyslexia can use a mind map with a speech-to-text feature to organize their creative writing. Afterwards with the help of the teacher, the students can make an outline and write a rough draft before the final creative writing.