I have had one or more instructors come to me about students who are making low grades in such classes as Medical Terminology, where spelling is very important or Office Procedures; some students consistently misspell words or cannot write complete sentences. As stated in our material under Learning Disabilities, “A learning disability is often called a hidden disability, because it may be hard to see and understand.†We always discuss a possibility of a learning disability, and I offer to talk to the students one-on-one; I sometimes find that the student has dyslexia or maybe cannot hear all the instructor has to say; this is especially when the instructor has her back turned. I usually make suggestion to the student with hearing issues to either sit up at the front, or discuss with the instructor if she would not turn away from the class as much. It also helps to know the services that can be offered to students, like Vocational Rehab or local hearing aid places that offer free hearing tests. There are exercises that can be done with the person with dyslexia; I understand, though, that a trained psychologist can make the official diagnosis of dyslexia or someone else wh0 has had training to do so. Some students, though, have known it since grade school.
“Learning Disabilities.†maxknowledge.com. Maxknowledge, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2011.
As you witnessed with your daughter, Karen, the use of this technology did not alter the curriculum, it just made it possible for her to minimize the impact of her disability and show what she truly knew and could do. That makes it PERFECT as an accommodation at the college level. That's what it is all about -- expecting the same quality end product, despite the means used to get there!
I am not sure if it was a Franklin Speller or not - it has been a few years ago. My daughter went through writing "jibberish" to actually graduating in the top 10 of her senior class. It worked miracles. You are right, I am sure they have some kind of "app" that can be used. I just didn't know if this was applicable to college students.
Would it be a Franklin Speller that you are thinking of, Karen? It would do the kind of thing you describe here. Of course, in this day and age, I am guessing "there's an app for that!" In any case, the idea of allowing students who have a disability that impacts on their spelling to make use of technology in their academic work is a sound practice. The student is still responsible for producing an acceptable quality of response. They just reach that level of quality through a different route!
