Best device for senior school (dyslexic)

[Notsureabouthis]

Hi

My son will need a laptop or iPad for senior school.

Can anyone give any advice please?

Main considerations:

• very slow writer and dyslexic
• will use for essays for English/History
• help for note taking in lessons
• particular worry about keeping organised notes in science /social subjects. Science lessons seem to have a lot of copying down.

Not too worried about cost for right device.

Older siblings have Macbooks which have been great for essay writing but not so good for keeping up with class notes/taking photos of teachers’ notes on board.

Any help would be great! Thanks. :-)

My DD has a visual processing disorder that makes her processing really slow so laptop is her normal method of working. I did a lot of research before I purchased hers.
What kept coming up was that dyslexics and those with visual processing disorders need a full HD screen ( there is HD and full HD). It is not for gaming so didn't need a fancy graphics card or the latest processor.
I went for an HP Pavillion in the end from John Lewis as they give two year warranty and often have discounted office with lap top sales.

@Lonecatwithkitten - that’s really helpful. Thank you!

How does she manage with taking notes for more science based subjects where there are diagrams/formulae?

I'm just researching the same thing for my dyslexic 11 year old. I'm looking at a Dell chromebook - under £200, small, good battery life, fast processing, robust in case it gets dropped. Interested to see what others can recommend before I press 'buy'.

Can your child touch type? As well as the device it’s worth asking the school if they offer any touch typing software. There’s a good bbc touch typing programme that’s designed for primary if they don’t. Word processing on a lap top also takes ages unless kids can type fast!
The teacher ought to be able to print off diagrams or make them available over email - we had to do this for a child where I work.

@Notsureabouthis

Ds has used a laptop as normal method of working for somme years. Many of his friends have HP Pavilions.

His advice is - if not needed for games or other stuff - get the lightest and most compact one which suits the brief. As in the pupil will have to lug it around with them & Pavilions ( as he recalls ) are not heavy but not particularly compact. All the laptop needs for school etc is word processing and being able to print stuff ( and looking things up on the internet ) i.e. not very much - doesn't need to be overly configured - so his advice is lighter and smaller

Not sure if that helps.

Oh for goodness sake - sorry re typing - some years - not the Somme