How to best utilize Learning Ally with my dyslexic son...

[thundersweet]

I paid for the subscription last year and he used it once! I would like to register again this year but need some kind of plan. Do you have dc pick out a book and require a certain amount per day? Do you have them following along or just listening? I would love to hear how this program is used in your home.

 

Thanks,

Sandy

[SandyKC]

We used Learning Ally for awhile with my DS, but it was not his favorite venue.  When we used it, we used it in association with his literature coursework.  Whenever he had a book to read, particularly a long one, I would see if the book was available in LA.  If so, I would check it out on behalf of DS and let him listen to it in the manner of his choosing.  Sometimes he would listen to the book as he read along in the book, but most often he just listened to the book.  My DS preferred it when we could get the audiobook version from the library.  I think he found it easier to have the CD to pop in his computer or CD player rather than having to log in and navigate within LA. 

[Heathermomster]

My DS listens to LA while reading from his science and history text books.  The LA IPod/IPad app makes it very easy.  

[SandyKC]

The LA IPod/IPad app makes it very easy.  

We didn't ever have or use that.. They didn't have it available when my DS was using LA.  Good to know that option is easy to use! :-D

[Julie of KY]

Learning Ally has been much easier to use since we got an ipad. It makes a world of difference for my child to easily be able to access the books.

 

I would go through our literature for the year (I use Sonlight). I'd decide what read-alouds/readers were even available through Learning Ally. I'd make a list of everything I wanted my daughter to listen to for schoolwork. If there was something they had not recorded, but I really didn't want to read aloud, we'd request it and it would get recorded - we didn't do this much. Our science text was already recorded as well, so she listed to that.

 

For schoolwork, I'd say you have to listen to this book this week (on in two weeks or whatever). Same for science - I'd assign a chapter to listen to weekly.

 

For fun, I'd pick out a bunch of books I thought she might like as well as have her brose books at the library to find ones she thought she'd like. She really liked listening to several series (like 39 clues) on Learning Ally. This gave her the ability to listen to whatever fun stories she wanted without me having to read it all aloud.

 

She would often finish an assigned book quickly. Rather than assign a new book, I'd tell her she has to pick any book to listen to. She would spend hours drawing and listening to books.

[thundersweet]

Thank you ladies! Julie, I love the idea of sitting down and actually planning what books I want him to read for school and then he can have his own titles he wants to listen to. I wanted to start in with SOTW this year but just wasn't sure how to fit it all in. Sometimes I just don't feel like I have enough time to get it all in. My plan now is to require HIM to listen to his history on his own using SOTW on the LA app.

 

Thanks,

Sandy

[Heathermomster]

I did not mention this earlier...Starting in 4th grade when DS sat in a reg classroom, his teacher used to tell me what books the class would be reading.  She usually gave me a weeks notice so that I could download the books and DS could pre-listen ahead of his classmates.  DS could not have kept up with school work otherwise.  DS fell into the habit of telling me what titles he needed and automatically started listening without telling his teachers.  I doubt any of his 6th grade teachers knew, and I downloaded all of his text books. 

 

I discovered in 7th grade that not all books are available on Learning Ally.  I recall works by Dorothy Mills and Snedeker were unavailable as was a book about Norse mythology.

[FairProspects]

But as far as I can tell, 99% of what is not available on Learning Ally is available on Bookshare and with the VoiceDream app, can be read that way. Also, you can now use Bookscan.us and transfer any text to PDF, that can then be imported through Dropbox to VoiceDream. So really there should be minimal problems with getting books on text to speech if you have a iPad that will run VoiceDream (hopefully it will be compatible with other devices soon too).

[Tokyomarie]

But as far as I can tell, 99% of what is not available on Learning Ally is available on Bookshare and with the VoiceDream app, can be read that way. Also, you can now use Bookscan.us and transfer any text to PDF, that can then be imported through Dropbox to VoiceDream. So really there should be minimal problems with getting books on text to speech if you have a iPad that will run VoiceDream (hopefully it will be compatible with other devices soon too).

 

So how does Bookscan.us actually work?

 

My son was already in high school by the time we learned we could use Learning Ally and Bookshare. At that point, very few of his textbooks were actually already available on either service. The few that were available on Bookshare had to be secured through a school and he didn't want to deal with his school over it. Mostly though, he wasn't in the habit of using technology and his school discouraged him from using any 504 accommodations, so we never overcame the barriers to using either of these services.  

[FairProspects]

With Bookscan, you purchase the textbook you want scanned and send it in to their facility and pay a fee. They cut the book apart, scan all the pages, and send the PDF to your Dropbox. The remnants go into paper recycling and you do not get the textbook back. Essentially you are paying an additional fee for a PDF version of your printed textbook, but it would be worth it to us depending on the book.

[prairiewindmomma]

Thanks for letting me know about bookscan!!!

 

Our hangup with learning ally and bookshare is just getting the darn thing downloaded. He listens to a lot if I can preload it onto a mp3 player and just let him run with it. If we try to have him sit at the laptop, it just doesn't work.

[Tokyomarie]

With Bookscan, you purchase the textbook you want scanned and send it in to their facility and pay a fee. They cut the book apart, scan all the pages, and send the PDF to your Dropbox. The remnants go into paper recycling and you do not get the textbook back. Essentially you are paying an additional fee for a PDF version of your printed textbook, but it would be worth it to us depending on the book.

It's definitely something to keep in mind for a book that's not already available in digital format.

 

Since my son is a STEM major and has a lot of his gen eds out of the way, he won't be reading many more works of literature for school. However, when he does have to read something, he often gets it on Audible, if it's available, because he likes listening to the professional readers.

[FairProspects]

My kids definitely prefer the Audible voice actors too. But since they really benefit from the audio, I'm hoping that getting them used to the digital voice for some books at least will pay off as they get older.

[Heathermomster]

But as far as I can tell, 99% of what is not available on Learning Ally is available on Bookshare and with the VoiceDream app, can be read that way. Also, you can now use Bookscan.us and transfer any text to PDF, that can then be imported through Dropbox to VoiceDream. So really there should be minimal problems with getting books on text to speech if you have a iPad that will run VoiceDream (hopefully it will be compatible with other devices soon too).

I'm amazed.  Thank-you for the info.

 

This is funny, but DS prefers digital voice to LA readers.