I am either brilliant or not, time will tell

[crazymama30]

So difficult child has horrible handwriting. He cannot even read what he writes, he gets work turned back to him as the teachers cannot read it......not for petty reasons it truly is that bad.

I bought him a little 11 inch laptop. If he only plays on it? I will take it away. He can take it to school and use it in class. I bought trend micro (after renate it was only $5) and that had parental controls I can put on it. Bought the warranty thing that covers every thing except animal damage and intentional damage, so covers spills and drops, cracks, and all else.

I really hope he uses this to help him at school, I know he will play on it but I so hope he will use it ast school also.

I know I can push for the school to get him an alphasmart, but I can afford it, and who knows how long it will take the school to get one if they can? And then I don't know if he cream take it home. He had been really good with his new phone. Time will tell.

 

[susiestar]

Have you checked to see if the school will permit him to use it? Our district will not allow it, all assistive tech must be provided by them. It is a good idea, and I hope he uses it appropriately.

PLEASE take and etch your name into it in places wehre it is noticable. Yes, it will not be so pretty, but it also will be FAR harder to steal.

 

[TeDo]

That IS a good idea. I thought of that for difficult child 1 for several reasons but he gets VERY frustrated because he types SUPER slow. It just wasn't worth the increase in frustration/anxiety. In our case, it would probably get thrown the first day (in frustration) and the warranty wouldn't cover it. Oh well, his IEP gives him a scribe and Occupational Therapist (OT) to help with the writing. Too bad they don't invent something that reads brainwaves. difficult child 1 can't write or type as fast as his brain goes!! LOL

 

[Wiped Out]

I think it's a very good idea. I hope the school lets him use it. I'm not a big fan of the alpha smarts. I wish school districts had more technology (at least ours doesn't).

 

[InsaneCdn]

TeDo... there IS a way to read brainwaves... oops, I mean, soundwaves. The newer versions of MS Word have it built in - or at least the school version do - and otherwise there is Dragon - the voice recognition software that you train to type for you. It DOES take work to get it going. It has to learn your voice. Once you get it there... the tech evaluation fellow told us that he's seen senior-HS kids who are quad, taking notes this way faster than anyone else in the class can write OR type. If it means enough to you (i.e. the person using it), it can be worth it.

I agree about alphasmarts. They just aren't smart enough. On a real computer, you can load all sorts of other assistive technolgy - including math formatting programs (and science... chemical equations!), really artistic graphics programs (way beyond Paint), etc. A "real" computer is a far better answer.

The schools here have given up on Alphasmarts other than for really young kids who need something to start on (K, to about grade 2). "Keyboard technology" accommodations = laptop. And yes, the kids DO bring it home - in fact, are expected to, so they can do homework, AND keep it charged up...

 

[crazymama30]

I specifically asked the Special Education teacher and she said they would let him use out, and o plan on having it built into his iep also!

 

[AnnieO]

WHERE did you find a computer for $5?!?!

 

[crazymama30]

Step honey, the anti virus program was $5 after rebate.

 

[AnnieO]

OK... I just went back and reread and to me still looks like the laptop was $5 LOL!!! Still. If it helps him...

 

[buddy]

Q has started doing some voice to text stuff but what has helped him most is putting a word prediction program in when he types...

He gets frustrated when his words (because context is part of the word processing program) aren't found or picked right...

but when it is based on spelling errors he does better. the assistive tech folks came and added it to the computer Q uses alone in his private area along with the computer lab (the school is three wings of three floors and classes in a u shape around a computer lab on each floor. Two more bigger labs in the library. But Q has one in his "office"/sensory/isolation ward. (sorry)

He is actually liking it and his spelling is improving as a side benefit. He is getting 80% and higher on spelling tests and is able to do word ladders lately. for him, kind of cool

 

[keista]

I specifically asked the Special Education teacher and she said they would let him use out, and o plan on having it built into his iep also!

YES, YES, YES! Get it put in the IEP. And once it's there, the school district is supposed to provide the assisted technology.

We were VERY lucky that they did not have an Alphasmart available for son. Apparently it's a really small screen that only lets you see a very small portion of your work - not practical. The good news was that all son needed a laptop to run was notepad or wordpad (with spellcheck turned OFF) so any barely functioning old district laptop did the trick. Now in HS he needs, and has, a more current laptop so he can access internet for his virtual school and email assignments to the teachers instead of printing them out.


You might be able to find a parental controls program that blocks games and internet during school hours. Teachers can have the password if "playing time" is used as a reward for getting work done.