Storygirl Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 What do I need to do to make sure that my kids can get memberships to one or the other or both of these? We have our IEP finalization meetings for DS11 and DD10 in the morning. I mentioned to our case manager (who wrote a draft of the IEPs, which I have seen) that we are interested in membership to Learning Ally. She just wrote a line that says "parents would like to explore the use of electronic text resources." Does the IEP need to be more specific than that? DD10 has dyslexia, and DS11 has SLD reading comprehension. So I think they would both technically qualify. We go to a private school, so even though a public school might have to provide a Learning Ally membership (which has a fee), I'm not sure if we can successfully argue that the private school must do it. They may say that Bookshare (which is free) would be sufficient. I'm not sure what I should ask for in the IEP or how specific I need to be. Or even if it has to be in the IEP, because don't they qualify just by having diagnosed disabilities? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiramisu Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 What do I need to do to make sure that my kids can get memberships to one or the other or both of these? We have our IEP finalization meetings for DS11 and DD10 in the morning. I mentioned to our case manager (who wrote a draft of the IEPs, which I have seen) that we are interested in membership to Learning Ally. She just wrote a line that says "parents would like to explore the use of electronic text resources." Does the IEP need to be more specific than that? DD10 has dyslexia, and DS11 has SLD reading comprehension. So I think they would both technically qualify. We go to a private school, so even though a public school might have to provide a Learning Ally membership (which has a fee), I'm not sure if we can successfully argue that the private school must do it. They may say that Bookshare (which is free) would be sufficient. I'm not sure what I should ask for in the IEP or how specific I need to be. Or even if it has to be in the IEP, because don't they qualify just by having diagnosed disabilities? I was just looking at the Learning Ally website recently and there are a lot of options. It says you don't have to submit the full IEP just the page that identifies the disability along with the evaluator's contact info and signature. You can also print out a form for the evaluator to check the type of disability and sign. https://go.learningally.org/support-topic/how-does-one-obtain-proof-of-disability/ https://go.learningally.org/about-learning-ally/what-we-do/help-learning-disabilities/who-qualifies/ When I first looked at it, I didn't think we'd qualify but because of the new information we got today, I think we will. I'm incline to print out the form and send it to the np just to have it done. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 National Library Service (BARD) is the 3rd one, and I'm finally getting around to trying to get it for ds. They require a medical doctor's signature saying print disability, and dyslexia qualifies for that. It's free and has professional recordings of everything. LA and BS are blended and at least LA costs. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
City Mouse Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 Bookshare has an application process which requires a signature for someone lot verify the disability. I think once your are enrolled in bookshare the student can cross enroll In learning ally without addition resources. The iep is not going to specify Learning Ally as you have seen. It will say say the more generic "electronic text support" because schools do not want to be limited to only one option. Also, they will often not pay for a membership to Learing Ally when other options like bookshare are free, but there is nothing stopping you from signing him up for Learning Ally and paying for the membership your self. I just took the paper to the school and asked the special Ed teacher to sign it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Do any of these services offer something comparable to immersion reading? I'm trying to figure out if there's an advantage over using one of them versus just getting audiobooks from the library (we have access to a HUGE selection in our system). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Shiny, you can do immersion with your library audiobooks too. If they are with Overdrive, at least at our library, they check out through amazon. For the duration of the loan, it's as good as owning. You can buy the ebook at reduced price and do immersion reading with them, yes. And now FINALLY the ipad can do immersion using the kindle app. I haven't done the other services yet to know. I know they're working on it. My guess is they're using fragmented approaches, with their own formats, blah blah. If EVERYONE would just get on board and go kindle format, then it would all be in one app, brilliant. But no the gov't, everybody has to have their own apps, lol. So I think that's what it will boil down to. But I think they're all working on it, yes. Someone else will know for certain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
City Mouse Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Do any of these services offer something comparable to immersion reading? I'm trying to figure out if there's an advantage over using one of them versus just getting audiobooks from the library (we have access to a HUGE selection in our system). Bookshare text on the screen and highlights word by word along with the audio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 (edited) Do any of these services offer something comparable to immersion reading? I'm trying to figure out if there's an advantage over using one of them versus just getting audiobooks from the library (we have access to a HUGE selection in our system). Yes, close to all Learning Ally books are now Immersion style reading. We use LA often when a book is not whisper-synced on Audible. Edited March 21, 2016 by FairProspects 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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