Can you help me decide on technology?

[Love_to_Read]

I want this to be the year I get my stealth dyslexic teenager set up with appropriate technology, plus our current laptop is on its last legs anyhow.  So, can you help me decide what to get or what apps/software to add?  We do have a working Kindle Fire, if anyone has suggestions for using it, too.

 

First, I was thinking about Dragon Naturally Speaking, and maybe Ginger grammar/spelling checker, to promote her being able to increase her writing independence by using speech-to-text, but that's only going to work at home for privacy's sake.  So probably looking at putting that on a laptop or desktop, preferably with a CD drive to play audiobooks since we still use a lot of them to make sure she isn't mispronouncing new vocab. However, I saw Read, Write, Gold on sale...anyone know how that compares to Dragon and/or Ginger?  I do have some PDFs this year that I'm hoping to have the computer read aloud, again for accuracy's sake, even though she is a reader since the dyslexia is mild.  Oh, and I think we're adding Touch, Type, Spell because we've hit a wall on typing and phonics practice otherwise.

 

For co-op class, though, I'm thinking I want her to have something portable, so that she can type instead of writing by hand.  Speech to text isn't going to happen in a group setting like that, but maybe an app that gives word suggestions while she's writing so that she doesn't always have to spell out the whole word?  I'm thinking maybe a tablet with one of those flat little keyboards?  A netbook?  An iPad?  The big drawback here is that such a device still wouldn't play audiobook CDs, would it? (Or DVDs like our Math U See?) Do they make external players that I could plug in to it at home if I wanted her to use a CD-Rom instead of a download for something?  Do they even have enough memory? And while I don't want a super-bulky laptop for her to lug around, I do prefer that she have enough of a keyboard on a portable device to use 10-fingered typing...so probably more of a 10" or 11" device instead of 7"...but maybe we could use the Kindle for now until we can afford a permanent solution...

 

Money isn't unlimited, so if I could combine these two needs into one...get Dragon working on a device small enough to take it to class to type on, that would be awesome.  I just don't even know where to start on tablets and portability, or what apps to be looking at.  She's getting old enough that we have to come up with something to grant her more independence....I can't be scribing for her in class away from home, kwim?  What do you use for your teens in terms of devices and software?

[Heathermomster]

DS carries a Lenova laptop w/ DVD and an Echo Smartpen to class. For audio books, he uses CDs, Bookshare with the iPad Voice Dream app, YouTube, Kindle Touch with Whispersync, and Learning Ally on the iPad/iPod app. DS also uses Inspiration and a freeware mindmapping sw. During the day, he wears a nice set of headphones so we don't disturb him and he can listen to texts and/or watch videos and lectures.

 

DS learned to type in 5th grade and never took to Dragon sw.

[Plink]

For in-class use, DD really enjoys using her Livescribe. It records the lecture and allows you to tap anyplace on your handwritten notes to hear what the professor was saying at that moment. No more worries about missing things due to slow writing/typing. I did a lot of research comparing models - http://www.libertyhillhouse.com/2014/09/25/which-livescribe-for-dyslexic-students/

 

She is also using the apple speech to text and text to speech software that is built into all of their laptops and smart phones. It has been very accurate for her so far.

[Heathermomster]

Plink's blog inspired me to purchase the Echo Smartpen, and it is an awesome device to have when relistening to missed directions during lecture. :D 

[Love_to_Read]

What about typing essays in class?  I'm definitely thinking that a voice recorder such as a Livescribe pen will be awesome for notetaking, but what can we use for classes that expect students to write their answers in class?  We should be able to hand it in via email, but at least one class is providing time (and tutoring) for students to work on written assignments during the class period, so either we find software to help speed along that process, or we give her a pencil and paper and watch her feel embarrassed as she gets down a couple sentences in elementary-looking handwriting while everyone else productively completes a couple paragraphs.  I'm figuring she'll still need additional time after class to keep working on things other people finish there, but her limitations are mild enough to want to give this class her best shot rather than sit out and do nothing.

[Love_to_Read]

DS carries a Lenova laptop w/ DVD and an Echo Smartpen to class. For audio books, he uses CDs, Bookshare with the iPad Voice Dream app, YouTube, Kindle Touch with Whispersync, and Learning Ally on the iPad/iPod app. DS also uses Inspiration and a freeware mindmapping sw. During the day, he wears a nice set of headphones so we don't disturb him and he can listen to texts and/or watch videos and lectures.

 

DS learned to type in 5th grade and never took to Dragon sw.

 

Can I ask the name of that mindmapping software by chance?

[Heathermomster]

Can I ask the name of that mindmapping software by chance?

He has used Xmind and Inspiration.  

 

DS has network access in class.  I also make arrangements ahead of time for testing with son's teacher.  For Spanish and chemistry class, note taking with the PC and Smartpen is becoming too much, so DS will get notes from his friends.   Typing in class was never an issue last year during informal logic, Elegant Essay, and biology.  

[PeterPan]

Can I ask the name of that mindmapping software by chance?

 

Inspiration.

 

For the laptop, either a microsoft surface or a lenovo yoga.  Both are nice.  Don't need a cd drive in it, yuck.  You can get a drive for $30 by LG or whoever on amazon or bestbuy.  The surface and lenovo are both going to flip open and go between tablet and traditional very nicely.  I think for a teen I'd go surface, but I got my MIL the yoga, so there you go.  I think somebody said MIT is giving out the surface.  It's a little more portable, just a little, because it has that thinner cover.  The yoga pro is amazing though, that's for sure.  

 

Everybody will give you audiobooks as downloads.  If they aren't available that way because you're getting them through the library, then use that $30 drive that you plug in with a USB.  My dd has one and it works fine.  

[FairProspects]

What about typing essays in class?  I'm definitely thinking that a voice recorder such as a Livescribe pen will be awesome for notetaking, but what can we use for classes that expect students to write their answers in class?  We should be able to hand it in via email, but at least one class is providing time (and tutoring) for students to work on written assignments during the class period, so either we find software to help speed along that process, or we give her a pencil and paper and watch her feel embarrassed as she gets down a couple sentences in elementary-looking handwriting while everyone else productively completes a couple paragraphs.  I'm figuring she'll still need additional time after class to keep working on things other people finish there, but her limitations are mild enough to want to give this class her best shot rather than sit out and do nothing.

 

Our co-op allows typed responses for these kinds of assignments so students either bring and set up a laptop or attach a keyboard to an iPad. We've had students complete entire note-taking courses using technology (no handwriting).

[Plink]

This is one of my goals for my 7th grader this year as well.

 

 

 

The Livescribe has been on my radar for awhile. It's good to hear it's working well in practice. Can you tell me more about how you set up the Apple speech to text? Can you use it in any program you're using? All our computers are Macs, and I would really like dd to be able to try this.

Here you go (source):

 

Getting started with Dictation

Use these steps to turn Dictation on or off:

1. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
2. From the View menu, choose Dictation & Speech to view Dictation preferences.
3. Click On to enable Dication, or Off to disable it.

You can also choose a shortcut key, change your language, and select a microphone from Dictation preferences.  If your computer or display doesn't have a built-in microphone, you can connect an external microphone to use Dictation.

Using Dictation in an app

You can speak the text you want to enter in a text field, like a TextEdit or Pages document.

Use these steps to start dictating:

1. Click a text field or document window where you want to start typing.
2. Press the fn (Function) key twice, or choose Edit > Start Dictation.
3. Dictate (speak) what you want your Mac to type.
4. When finished, click Done or press the fn key again. Your spoken words then appear in the text field.

The input meter indicates how loud your voice is. If it's too quiet, try moving closer to your microphone or speaking louder.

• If the input meter does not fill when you speak, check that your microphone and sound input are set up correctly.
• If the input meter fills more than half of the microphone icon, there might be too much background noise, and Dictation might be less accurate.
• If the input meter barely fills when you speak, try moving closer to the microphone or speaking louder.

Your computer listens for up to 30 seconds at a time. If you need to dictate longer sentences, enable the option for Enhanced Dictation.

Enhanced Dictation

With Enhanced Dictation, text appears as you speak. This allows you to dictate continuously. Enhanced Dictation automatically stops listening when you switch to another window, press the Fn key again, or click Done.

Enhanced Dictation in OS X Mavericks and Yosemite also let you dictate without an active Internet connection. To use Dictation when you're offline, enable Enhanced Dictation in the Dictation & Speech pane of System Preferences while you are still connected to the Internet.

The first time you turn on Enhanced Dictation, your Mac downloads content that allows Dictation to work offline. The amount of free disk space required to download this content varies depending on the language you're using. After the additional software downloads, you can use Dictation even when an Internet connection isn't available.

Dictation requires an Internet connection in Mountain Lion

If you're using OS X Mountain Lion, you need to be connected to the Internet in order to use Dictation.  If your Internet connection is slow, it could cause delays between when you speak a word and when the word appears in a text field. If you're at a business or school and you have a proxy server on your network, Dictation might not be able to connect to the Internet. Have  your network administrator refer to "Well known TCP and UDP ports used by Apple software products" to learn which network ports Dictation uses.

Dictating commands

Dictation understands basic text-related commands such as “all caps,†“new paragraph,†and “new line.â€

When you say “period,†“comma,†“question mark,†or “exclamation point,†Dictation adds that punctuation in the current text field. When speaking a calendar date (like “January 30, 1983â€) you do not have to say "comma". The comma is automatically detected and entered for you. Insert emoticons into a text field by saying "smiley face" or "frowny face".

You can also enable additional Dictation commands in OS X Yosemite.

Accents, dialects and languages

The more you use Dictation, the better it understands you. Dictation learns the characteristics of your voice and adapts to your accent. For best results, select your dialect from the Language menu in the Dictation pane of System Preferences. Note that some languages (such as English) have multiple options available to choose from.

You can select which language to use for Dictation in the Dictation and Speech pane of System Preferences. If you don't see your language listed, you can add it. Make sure you are connected to the Internet, then follow these steps to add or remove a language for Dictation.

1. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
2. Click the Dictation & Speech icon.
3. Choose Add Language. from the Language pop-up menu.
4. Select any languages you want to add. Deselect languages you no longer want to use.

The software needed for each language you select downloads from Apple. In OS X Yosemite, you can recover the disk space used by an installed language when you remove it. If you need to use the language again, the software downloads the next time you select the language.

Dictation in OS X Mountain Lion and later supports English (U.S., UK, and Australia), French, German, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, Korean, Canadian English, Canadian French, and Italian. Enhanced Dictation supports even more languages. To see a complete list, enable Enhanced Dictation and select Add Language from the Language menu.

Learn more

You can also speak to your Mac to make it perform certain actions, like selecting text, or moving to the top of a document. Search for Dictation Commands in Mac Help for more information about how you can tell your Mac what you want it to do.

About Dictation and privacy

When you use Dictation, you can choose to have either your Mac or Apple’s servers perform the speech recognition for you. If you use Mac-based Dictation (Enhanced Dictation), your computer will convert what you say into text without sending your dictated speech to Apple.

If you use server-based Dictation, the things you dictate will be recorded and sent to Apple to convert what you say into text and your computer will also send Apple other information, such as your name and nickname; and the names, nicknames, and relationship with you (for example, “my dadâ€) of your address book contacts (collectively, your “User Dataâ€).  All of this data is used to help the dictation feature understand you better and recognize what you say. It is not linked to other data that Apple may have from your use of other Apple services.

Information collected by Apple is treated in accordance with Apple's Privacy Policy, which can be found at www.apple.com/privacy.

You can choose to turn off or change your preferences for Dictation at any time by going to the Dictation & Speech pane within System Preferences. If you turn off Dictation, or switch from using server-based Dictation to Mac-based Dictation (Enhanced Dictation), Apple will delete your User Data, as well as your recent voice input data, from Apple’s servers. Older voice input data that has been disassociated from you may be retained for a period of time to generally improve Dictation and Siri functionality in Apple products and services. This voice input data may include audio files and transcripts of what you said and related diagnostic data, such as hardware and operating system specifications and performance statistics.

You can restrict access to the Dictation feature on your computer in the Parental Controls pane of System Preferences.

 

Text to speech:

If you have trouble reading text on your screen, you can have your Mac speak text that’s on the screen when you press a key or set of keys.

1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Dictation & Speech, then click Text to Speech.
2. Select the “Speak selected text when the key is pressed†checkbox.

   By default, speaking is enabled when you press Option-Esc. To choose a different key, click Change Key, press one or more modifier keys (Command, Shift, Option, or Control) together with another key, then click OK.

3. To have your Mac start speaking, press the specified key. To stop the speaking, press the key again.

   If text is selected when you press the key, the selected text is spoken. Otherwise, available text items in the current window are spoken; for example, if Mail is the current window, an email message is read. If no text items are available, you hear a beep.

You can also use VoiceOver, the spoken interface for OS X, to hear descriptions of every item on the screen and to control your Mac using the keyboard.

[Pen]

We recently got a refurbished laptop running Windows 8.1 which seems to have a dictation program built in.  Not as good as Dragon says the Missing Manual for it, but quite good.  And maybe good enough.  The machine is not as good in many ways as our old Mac--but it is also only about 1/5 - 1/10 the price.  Pages on Mac has spelling, proofreading etc. options built in.  I cannot compare to Ginger or any other though.

 

We are taking our computers to a writing workshop, which is probably more or less the same as taking one to co-op would be.

 

I think both Pages on Mac and probably Word on either Mac or PC can be set up to give spelling / word / thesaurus suggestions.  My ds seems to use that at least some of the time,

and I did not get special software to do it.

 

He also has/had a Franklin dictionary / thesaurus / other things device, from IEW suggestions, which he has used a lot at certain times.  

 

A convertible tablet to laptop could be good, or just a lightweight laptop if the tablet part is not needed.

 

I have not used any of the programs you mention except Dragon.  Dragon is good, but I would suggest you try the internal dictation if there is one with whatever you get first and only get Dragon if the internal product is not good enough to do what you (your daughter) need it to do.  I find Dragon itself imperfect.

 

We have a small house and limited income. We try to use laptops and not to have too many devices.  I would say that one well chosen, not too heavy laptop with an external CD/DVD drive if it does not have one built-in, an external microphone/headset--makes any dictation work better and also adds some privacy, and Dragon if it turns out that whatever dictation is built in is not good enough, would probably do what is most needed.  

 

I got a 15.6" display with the new refurbished HP laptop which I like for movies etc. (we have no TV and see movies on our computers ), but a smaller less heavy thing could be nice for taking places. At less than $300, however, I've been satisfied with it so far.  I do not love it, but it basically does what needs to be done.  A student in a class my son was in had a what looked to be 17" Lenovo which had much better sound, picture, and speed. And I am sure was probably a lot more expensive than the HP, though probably still less $ than a Mac.

 

When I was toward the end of my own schooling, computers were bigger and heavier in general than now, and my roommate took hers to classes with her in a rolling backpack.  She was one of the first generation to be taking a computer to class back then, but a rolling pack and a somewhat larger/heavier laptop still could be a good option nowadays. The boy in my son's class with the big Lenovo was just carrying it, and seemed to be doing okay with that too.  Especially since nowadays there don't tend to be heavy textbooks to lug around any more. On even 17" computer is still probably a lot less heavy than several books used to be.  And if reading texts online, my guess is that the beautiful display and big screen he had would be a significant help to someone with some reading trouble.

[Pen]

PS I just checked the Pages Proofreader on my post above, and it picked up some, but by no means all, errors.

[PeterPan]

Fwiw, my dh uses the apple dictation and likes it very much.  Just puts you in the sticky question of deciding which machine (ipad pro which is obviously positioned to compete with the Surface, macbook air, etc.). 

[Pen]

One thing I just noticed is that the 15" screen allows the document that is being written to be seen completely at the same time as a window that shows the app's suggestions for proofreading changes--at least if I drag one to the far left and one to the far right of the screen, or a rough draft to be up and a second working draft along side to be seen almost completely, so long as both are portrait and neither has an added margin for comments open (I suppose 17" would allow complete view of two pages next to each other, and probably with comments space on at least one).

 

I do not know how much can be seen at once on a 13" or 11" screen.  It is nice to be able to see both at once instead of having to toggle back and forth.

 

But on the other hand, people get used to working using the tools available.

 

So far as I know both the Windows 8.1 we got and the Mac can read pdf or other material aloud, just as both can take dictation, but I have only actually done either on Mac.

 

BTW it may be because I am not used to them, but I find the computer making word suggestions is not especially fast for me to read them and choose one, and gets in the way of my train of thought. And sometimes causes me to choose a word I did not really mean in the first place.  For me it would be faster to type shrtnd frm of wrds nd go bk and fx ltr, bt mybe if I grw up w/ a word suggesting app I'd be used to it.  This is with regard to a laptop type keyboard.  If I had to deal for very long with a little mini tablet type pad I think I would go nuts especially since my fingers do not fit them at all well.  

 

This nxt wk ds has to write for frst time in a grp setting...don't know if he will choose to type or use pencil and paper.  

 

Also to note, some laptop computers and many tablet type devices can audio record a lecture.  And there are still old fashioned tape recorders possible too.

[PeterPan]

Hehe, since the newer mac OS are all free, you might as well upgrade, assuming your machine can run it.  :)

[Pen]

Can you go somewhere that has some tablets on display where she can try them out?

 

I personally strongly prefer laptops with keyboard keys that depress rather than touching a touch screen even if it is large enough for my fingers...but again, that may because it is just what I am used to.

 

Since she presumably cannot dictate to Siri or Echo or equiv in a public class setting, such a device seems to me like it would only help her if she is going to be comfortable typing on it.  If yes, then I guess there are now fairly inexpensive androids as well as more expensive iPads etc. which you could consider.  If not, you could give up that whole line of possible solutions.  Similar would be to actually try netbooks in a showroom if there is one you can go to.  See what they can do for her simulating the situation you want her to use it in.

 

 

 

But I tend to think a better solution is to use what you already have, or similar for the most part.  If your family already has two Macs and thus she is probably already used to them to some degree, could you just upgrade the one running an old OS and let her use one of the Macs you already have?  You can partition them to give different members of the family their own area. Then possibly the only new thing to buy would be a microphone.

 

If not, could you afford a used Mac laptop for her that could run a relatively new OS?  Or maybe replace the current on its last legs laptop with a newer one for the family and let her take the old one to classes, using the new one or an external HD to back things up so all is not lost when old one becomes deceased?

 

Also on notetaking, setting up a template on computer ahead of class time could help her.

[Love_to_Read]

Ok, so where we're at....

 

We went to Best Buy to look in person, and decided on a Windows-based 2-in-1...so basically it's small, lightweight laptop with a normal keyboard and processing power, but the screen can be used as a tablet when desired.  It's someone else in the thread who had Macs...I was hovering over trying out an iPad because there are so many good apps and features, but I finally decided that besides the cost, we just aren't used to Apple products, so it would be a rough transition.

 

Unfortunately, I've had nothing but problems the past few days trying to get the new laptop set up.  The mouse touchpad disables itself at random, it wouldn't recognize the charger this morning, and it's having sporadic issues starting up but finding nothing via the diagnostics that it wants to run.  It was an awesome clearance deal on an open-box floor model supposedly with no damage, but...I'm going to have to return it and try again.  Looking at Toshiba, Lenovo, Dell, HP...trying to read reviews and hoping a new-in-box model will work more reliably.

 

I think I figured out what I was trying to say earlier about word anticipation.  On the Kindle, I can post faster even with two-fingered touchscreen pecking at the letters because of the way it gives suggestions for the next word.  Some smart phones do the same while texting.  I don't think you really can use that feature while ten-finger typing, because you need to keep clicking on the words you want to select, so your hands don't stay on the keys for long.  But considering how dd does skim-read pretty fast with her stealth dyslexia, I wonder whether she could compose faster with that sort of feature.  So, that's still at war with my desire to make her really type with all ten fingers on a real keyboard using good old MS Word or such.  I'm hoping the 2-in-1 device will give her some time to play with both options...standard keyboarding versus two-finger pecking on a touchscreen with word anticipation.  I just have to figure out what sort of tablet app will offer that when she's supposed to be writing entire paragraphs instead of sending texts.  So, I downloaded a few Kindle word processing apps, and if any of them work well and have that feature, maybe we'll get the Windows version once we get a working laptop.

 

No progress yet on trying out software, since the hardware has been such a dismal failure thus far.  Co-op is this Friday already, and chances are slim of me getting this one returned/exchanged that fast. (And the old family laptop on its last legs is utterly dead now, so not an option until after some repairs...plus it's a big heavy beast.) On the plus side, I know she will definitely be ALLOWED to type in class.  It's a great group with a great teacher. However, the room is teeny tiny, with everyone crowded around a table instead of individual desks, so that was part of the motivation to pick the smallest option available, and there just isn't space available for her to wander off to use speech recognition, and her typing skills are still rudimentary despite previous efforts to learn.  So, it will be kind of a trial-by-fire trying to keep up in a writing workshop where she's supposed to compose during class time, using a new device and fledgling typing skills.  But this is exactly the kind of thing I want her acclimated to doing before we get into high school with the possibility of dual enrollment classes down the road.  The co-op is definitely a good, understanding, tolerant environment....it's just going to be more challenging this year than our usual art, music, etc., enrichment classes.

 

[Love_to_Read]

That was our experience with Windows 7 Speech Recognition. (It's free under Ease of Access on the Control Panel.)  I'm hoping Windows 10 with a decent microphone will be better.  I'm going to try the mic that Amazon tends to bundle with Dragon Naturally Speaking, and if that doesn't work well enough with Windows compared to our last hilariously inaccurate attempt to use dictation, then we'll try buying Dragon itself. (for written projects at home, that is...we've done most of school orally for years, but I'm trying to step it up to where we have more written evidence of her education for high school and more age-appropriate independence.)

[1shortmomto4]

My dd, second year of college, has stealth dyslexia (I've got a house full of dyslexics!) and the only thing that has made any difference for her is the ability to have the text become audible so it doesn't slow her down.  Note taking not a problem - just took a little practice.  She uses her iphone and her computer to ask how to spell things but even after a year she has improved and become stronger.

 

Just keep in mind that if you are using technology and plan to continue with the technology in college you will have to have formal written DX to use the stuff.  Gone are the days of laying down the recorder and listening to playback later.  I suppose you could use the technology without approval but if caught - well, could be a problem.  Many schools will actually provide the technology for free but again, all comes down to documentation.

[Heathermomster]

How is the technology going?

[Love_to_Read]

Well, we took back the glitchy floor model laptop and paid the difference to get one new-in-box from another brand.  :/  Not sure if it was the refurbished status, the brand, or Windows 10 to blame, but this one is running more smoothly.  I want to figure out how to make a restore disk to get it back to factory settings in case anything goes wrong before I start installing extra software, but I went ahead and bought Dragon after all ***see below***, with their cheapest USB microphone....but directly from them, so hopefully more accurate than our former attempts with a painfully junky mic and free speech-to-text on older Windows.  My goal is to get that done over the next few days so we can practice before co-op comes around again, but it's been crazy busy this month just keeping up with other stuff.

 

As far as the class...it's been a lot of good info so far but no actual writing.  Mostly lecture, some class participation activities such as evaluating samples of what they're discussing...but they haven't actually started their first essay yet.  Dd did type a few lecture notes...I helped her add some more while her memory was fresh, so it's not an efficient process yet for her, but I'm proud to see the initiative.

 

I found a typing-spelling program called Read, Write, and Type for younger kids that was cheaper than Touch-Type Read and Spell, even taking into consideration the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op discount.  It does have some mention of learning disabilities and describes spelling development in a way that is consistent with what I've read for research.   So, I'm wondering whether it's good enough, versus TTRS being very much for dyslexia specifically and geared toward older children or at least less juvenile-looking.  I need to buckle down and have the kids try the demos this week.  I'm thinking that ideally, TTRS for the oldest, RWT for the next oldest with similar issues, and a nice cheap subscription to HWOT's Keyboarding Without Tears for my natural speller and youngest, because they don't really need the spelling aspect but I need to include them to be "fair.".  But, there's a multi-student discount for both of the typing-spelling programs, and oldest has the right personality to possibly enjoy a more fun program even if it is for younger kids, and next oldest has enough dyslexia symptoms to make me wonder whether he might better have the stronger program if TTRS is more heavy-duty, so...decisions, decisions.

 

 

****The Dragon software we bought...they rolled out a new version, Professional Individual, and sent out a coupon to newsletter subscribers to get it for pretty much what we'd have paid for a lower version....67% off during that first week or two.  So, gulp...we're really doing this.  It's got all the bells and whistles, transfers easily between platforms, etc.  So, as long as it isn't too glitchy from being too new...I'm getting excited and praying it works smoothly for dd. I will definitely update in a week or two once we get started using it on actual assignments.  If her essay class doesn't assign one soon, I'm going to give her something to write from Bravewriter, history, or science.

[PeterPan]

I'll be following your experiences. My daughter is in very similar circumstances this year, including taking more challenging co-op classes for the first time.

 

I got dictation working on our Mac today, but was unfortunately not at all impressed. It made so many errors as to really be unusable. It would take longer to go back and fix the whole thing than for my DD to slowly type it herself anyway.

Did you download the full version?  And did you restart your machine to make sure it's fresh?  My friend's macbook air really struggled to run the dictation with Pages, but my dh's imac has NO trouble running it.  He types long, long papers for grad school using the dictation.  Seriously.  So keep working on it.  I think he also makes an effort to keep it quiet (closing the office door) and speaking a bit slowly.

[PeterPan]

He slows down quite a bit.  I'm not sure, but he may be using a microphone too.  I could ask him.  It took some work for him to get it.  

 

I feel your pain.  My ds has verbal apraxia, and voice technology doesn't understand him either.  So he can't talk to the amazon fire tv remote and get it to work, nor Siri.  I agree there could be situations where getting software that attempts to learn your speech would help.  I'm not looking forward to sorting that out when the time comes.  

 

I'll say this again.  To get accuracy, my dh slows down his speech QUITE A BIT.  He couldn't get Dragon to work for him years ago when he tried.  Maybe newer Dragon software is better.  Could be something about him and how he talks, dunno.  But if you aren't slowing down and aren't using some kind of mic like a headset mic ($20?), I'd start there. 

 

You know, it just occurred to me to wonder...  The dyslexia school year us gives everyone a macbook pro, or at least used to.  If they still do that, what software are they using for dictation?  Or maybe they switched over to pc to use Dragon?  That would be telling.

[Love_to_Read]

I think Dragon has a mac version if it came to that.