Dyslexia tools for all ages
"As someone
with dyslexia,
I have
experienced
first-hand how
challenging
education can
be without the
correct support
in place.”
This article explores what
dyslexia is, my personal
experience of dyslexia,
assistive technology (AT)
that can be used to support
students (both dyslexic and
non-dyslexic), the way in
which practitioners could
implement these tools, as
well as sources of support for
teachers and students.
What is dyslexia?
According to The British
Dyslexia Association (2019:
01), “Dyslexia is a learning
difficulty that primarily
affects the skills involved in
accurate and fluent word
reading and spelling”. Typical
characteristics of dyslexia are
difficulties in “phonological
awareness, verbal memory
and verbal processing speed”
(Dyslexia Reading Well, 2020:
04). It should be noted that
dyslexics are not the same:
their condition can vary from
person to person, meaning
support needs to be tailored to their individual need. This
means that dyslexia is “best
thought of as a continuum,
not a distinct category, and
there are no clear cut-off
points” (The British Dyslexia
Association (2019: 11). The
NHS (2023) predicts that up
to one in every ten people
in the United Kingdom (UK)
are dyslexic, although this
has been predicted as being
much higher. The Dyslexia
Reading Well (2020) for
example, suggests that
15% of the population have
dyslexia, whereas Sakyo
(2021) suggested a prevalence
rates of 25-30% of all adults
in the UK show signs of being
dyslexic. Unsurprisingly,
then, the statistics are
rather ambiguous i.e., not
distinguishing between
adult and children’s rates of
dyslexia, yet what we can
see overall is that a high
proportion of people in the UK
have dyslexia.
My experience
I was diagnosed with
dyslexia at 24 when I was
in the second year of my
degree. Previously I had
really struggled in education,
which really affected my self confidence and meant that
I believed I was never going
to be ‘academic’. However,
with the integration of some
dyslexic assistive technology,
as well as SpLD (Specific
Learning Difficulties) study
skill support from a specialist
mentor, I finally began to find
my feet academically, which
really helped me develop a
love for learning.
I learnt about dyslexia, tools I
can use to support myself and,
importantly, with my tutors
help, started to look at the
barriers I was facing and, thus,
how these can be overcome.
My mentor inspired me so
much that I later trained as
a specialist dyslexia tutor so
that I could support others. My
dyslexia diagnosis, although
somewhat late in life, is part of
the reason I feel confident to
continue to challenge myself
throughout lifelong learning - I
am planning on doing a PhD
next year.
Below are a few examples of
some of the dyslexia programs I have used both as a person
with dyslexia and as specialist
SpLD study skill mentor.
Assistive technology
Dragon NaturallySpeaking
Dragon is a speechrecognition software. This
assistive technology (AT) is
a valuable source of support
for dyslexics who struggle
with word-retrieval and
graphomotor skills, and thus,
committing ideas to paper.
Once set up (this takes around
20 minutes), students can talk
into a microphone and have
their comments dictated. I have seen how practitioners
have used Dragon to support
students get their thoughts
and ideas onto paper. In
addition, I have myself used
Dragon to dictate emails,
write a reflective journal and
develop essay drafts. It can
also be used to surf the web
using voice commands to a
PC, laptop, iPhone and more.
ReadSpeaker
ReadSpeaker is a screen
reader software for Mac or PC.
My students use this software
to read web pages, e-books
and journals. As this is an
entirely web-based resource students can access it from
any internet-connected PC.
Practitioners could also use
ReadSpeaker to support
students during an exam by
setting it to read their exam
questions aloud to support
with understanding, which is
proven to be useful to those
with dyslexia.
Read and Write
Read and Write is a text-tospeech program that provides
visual and auditory feedback
of text. My dyslexia relates
to a speed of processing,
meaning I take much longer
to read through text than a
non-dyslexic person. I use
Read and Write to read
documents out loud to me,
which helps me absorb the
information better and, thus,
develop my understanding
on the document content
to a much higher standard.
In addition, I have seen how
practitioners use Read and
Write to support students in
improving academic writing
through its word prediction,
predictive spelling, thesaurus
and dictionary.
KAZ Type
I have always found typing
easier than writing: a
common characteristic of
dyslexia. KAZ Type teaches
individuals how to touch
type. I found the tutorials on
developing touch typing skills
really useful, my typing is now
much faster – a useful skill for
anyone to develop.
Sonocent Audio Notetaker
The Sonocent Audio
Notetaker captures audio
and is a really useful tool for
taking notes for individuals at any stage of their study.
Once the notes have been
transcribed, the student can
categorise and organise them
into different sections, which
can be useful when multiple
subjects are being studied. It
also allows the user to add
photos, written comments,
scribbles, diagrams and
graphs, supporting users
in building an effective
notetaking structure.
Brain in Hand
It is not uncommon for
dyslexics to struggle with
remembering lists or
instructions (even when
written down), which can
really impact attainment on
all levels of education. Brain
in Hand allows students to
organise their studies in a
diary and its reminders section
prompts them to achievetheir set tasks or goals. If the
student requires support,
there is a traffic light system
that can be used to let either
their specific practitioner, or
someone from Brain in Hand
support, know the level of
support that is required. The
program is very flexible in that
it can be developed to suit
specific needs. For example, a
practitioner and student can
both have access and, thus,
both can update as and when
needed. My GCSE students
found this collaboration
process really useful as I
could send them prompts
about tasks, for example,
an upcoming exam. For me,
though, the most important
feature of Brain in Hand is
the way in which it supports
students in managing their
anxiety. Anxiety and dyslexia
are common comorbidities as many dyslexics struggle
to understand, fully, why they
face so many challenges
with reading and writing
(Margari, 2013).
Conclusion
In conclusion, dyslexia – a type
of specific learning difficulty
– impacts people’s ability
to read and write, meaning
education attainment can be
affected. However, assistive
technology can be used
to level the playing field by
supporting dyslexics, like
myself, in overcoming the
barriers which are being faced.
Although several types of
assistive technologies exist,
it’s important the student
(and teacher) shop around to
ensure the specific program
suits the individual’s needs, as
dyslexia can vary from person
to person.
This article was originally published in the Spring issue of Aluminate - CACHE Alumni's quarterly member magazine. If you'd like to read more articles like this, or would like to access articles which are more topical and up to date, become a member or sign in to access and download your copy of Aluminate now.