Rainy River District School Board staff underwent a day of training here Monday to familiarize themselves with computer programs designed to help students with learning disabilities.
This was the fourth in a series of training sessions to ensure educational assistants, special education resource teachers, classroom teachers, and administration know how to use the assistive software so they can help students when needed.
“Between 10-15 percent of the student population is affected by a neurological dysfunction that creates a specific learning disability,” Jane Tibbetts, the board’s special education services co-ordinator, noted in a report to the board last month.
Once a student is diagnosed with a learning disability by a psychologist, the Ministry of Education provides a computer and software “to enable students to compensate for their areas of academic deficit,” Tibbetts wrote.
All students diagnosed with a learning disability have access to all types of assistive software, she added.
Over the last two years, more than 55 units have been purchased at a cost of about $5,000-$6,000 each. A unit consists of a laptop computer, a scanner, printer, headphones, microphone, and software package.
The two most common programs the local board uses are “Kurzweil 3000” and “Dragon NaturallySpeaking.” The first assists students with reading difficulties while the second helps those with spelling difficulties.
Using Kurzweil 3000, a student can scan any piece of reading material—a book, magazine, or test—into the computer. It will show up on screen exactly as it does on the page, then the computer reads the document aloud to the student, highlighting each word as it goes along.
“It has helped improve their academic experience, their ability to function effectively in the workplace, and the quality of their daily lives,” Tibbetts wrote to the board.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking essentially takes dictation and writes what is spoken on screen.
“DNS spells correctly every time, and allows concentration on content, not on corrections,” Tibbetts explained.
Using a high-speed scanning device, the board also able to scan entire books onto compact disc so high school students may listen to assigned novels chapter by chapter.
While students cannot take the laptops and scanners home with them, they also have access to tools like the EZDAisy talking book player. It is a portable homework aid that can read aloud books scanned onto CD.
Students also have access to the Plextalk portable recorder, which converts speech to text. So a student can listen to the assigned chapter using the book player, then answer the assigned question by talking into the portable recorder.
They then can take the recorder into school, plug it into a computer, and print out their homework.
“It’s a life-changing thing for kids who would otherwise drop out,” Tibbetts said.
Students also have access to the Reading Pen—a device about the size of a marker that scans a document word by word and reads them aloud. The student can use headphones with the device for quiet reading.
“In the past two years, the number of educational assistants have nearly doubled and equipment purchases have quintupled,” Tibbetts noted.
She also said the board continues to make the academic success of learning disabled students a priority, and will be purchasing more of this equipment in the coming months.
Staff training also will continue.
In other news, members of the public board’s educational support staff attended non-violent crisis intervention training at Fort High on Monday.
The board partnered with the Fort Frances and District Association for Community Living to train staff to diffuse potentially-violent situations using active listening and assertive communication skills.
Kim LePine and Laureen Vandetti, as well as Christie Gushulak from the Atikokan ACL, provided the training for the 117 staff who registered.
“Our primary concern is safety—for student and staff—in dealing with any potentially-volatile situations,” Tibbetts said.
“The board provides staffing for two Living and Learning classrooms at the elementary level, and two Care, Treatment and Corrections classrooms where skills diffusing aggression are essential,” she added.
The training was paid for by Special Education Services.
Fort Frances Times
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