Your experiences of using a laptop in school for dyslexia please

[Niceweather]

I would be really interested to hear about your experiences of using a laptop for school. My Yr7 son has mild/moderate dyslexia and has just been given the go-ahead to use one and has been for a couple of weeks now. I'm feeling cautiously very optimistic.

How does the spelling part work for exams? At the moment he is using the spellchecker but would this have to be turned off for exams?

Does your school do touch typing lessons? I'm trying at home with him because school don't do it but I'm thinking of writing a letter suggesting they do it. What programme can you recommend? How long has it taken them to touch type? How long do you do every day? Is it worth it? Does it help with spelling?

I would love to hear about any success stories and how you child has improved since having the laptop. Have their levels in English writing gone up?

Have your children also been given study skills help?

Do they use it for maths, science, everything or just long writing tasks?

Do they print out their day's work at home and then stick it into their exercise books? I am forcing my son to go back and check his work when he gets home - this is the bit he hates but this is the bit he most needs to do. I try not to have any input into the content, just the punctuation and spelling and making sense but I am conscious that his work won't be a true reflection as I've had a hand in it. I think I should tell his tutor and the SENCO.

Many thanks and good luck to all our kids!

One of mine is mid transfer.

a) spellchecker in exams - don't know
b) they say they do, but they're useless (inadequately supervised, following a computer based programme, possible to learn bad habits). I paid a tutor: frigging expensive! But well worth it - being able to type well is such a life skill in this screen based world. Up to about 25wpm on one week intensive - now getting faster just by regular use.
c) not yet clear, but his attitude has improved enormously, and I suspect that will translate into harder work and better results idc.
d) not as such; some sort of handout about how to organise his work. He also has a recommended system of folders to organise work on the computer (don't see why they made a fuss about this - it's just one folder per subject)
e) pretty much everything which involves note-taking. I'm not completely sure and will ask.
f) yes, things are printed and stuck in (they have a computer at school they can use for this too, but 'encourage' printing at home presumably to save them paper). He can also email to teachers, or transfer via memory stick. Having it all printed out and stuck into a book ensures there is a record in the chronological order the work was covered, also it is easier to add drawn diagrams etc.

It's been really positive for him.

Thanks HR, I don't know anyone else who uses one so it's interesting to hear how it works for your son. Really pleased that it's been so positive for him. I am feeling cautiously optimistic. I thought I would have to battle with school but they agreed to him using one pretty quickly. He now needs to learn some study skills and to routinely go back and check everything. He hates doing that bit!

My son- "significantly" dyslexic- uses one he's Yr 9 and has only just started in Feb this year. He needs to get his speed up and tends to correct mistakes as they happen slowing his thought process.
He doesn't use it for science or maths, as he has booklets in science to fill in- although any longer pieces of work he'll type and stick in. Maths is very difficult to type for, and he prefers not to use it.
As for spell check - his English tutor at home said turn it off as it will be in exams , but his English teacher also deputy head, said leave it on and go back and alter things with him at the end explaining the mistakes (bit difficult when he's changing things as he goes). Turning it off during typing and then switching it on when they think it's finished can be helpful (and very colourful .

He can sometimes be hesitant to use it if a substitute teacher comes in, but I have put a copy of the email allowing him to use it on his desktop.
Can't think of anything else, but it certainly helps his levels. 6A in English at the moment and 6 in history (which he isn't taking as an option), they can actually read his work these days and it makes sense. Getting used to proof reading is the key as my DS will let the computer do it all, not a good idea as we adults know.
The other children hated him having it at first but they moan about his extra time in tests more- especially the Set 1 group (maths and science group) even though he doesn't finish in class and has to go back to finish at lunch -the extra time is just enough for him to finish and get a good mark.
Good luck I'm sure he'll soon improve and well done for getting it so early.

Thanks Lelly. I cannot believe school agreed so readily. I think he's the first in Yr7 to get one. I took in various reports, one of which recommended that he use one. Hopefully, they can see that there is a very big discrepancy going on. It's awesome that your son is a 6A in English. That is very encouraging to hear. If my son can overcome the dyslexic writing difficulties then he could shoot up a couple of levels overnight which would make me ecstatic. The content of his work is good.

Have you thought about a touch typing programme? English Type looks good but you have to pay. There's also BBC Dancemat Typing and some other ones that are free to download. I'm going to try and make my son learn with the hope that it might help spelling as well.

The SENCO said to leave the spellcheck on for now and to let him just get used to using the laptop. I thought he would be just using it for long writing assignments so I was surprised to see him using it for maths and science. The science work was accompanied by some nice arrows and pretty pictures and the maths consisted of some nice drawn tables - a bit worrying as it could all become a distraction from the actual work. Will keep an eye on it.

Yeah, I think some of the other kids are a bit curious and one has tried to bash it!

My DS has had laptop since he was 10, he is now 18. He has used it for long writing tasks but chose not to use it for science and maths.

He learnt to touch type one summer holiday with Mavis Beacon. The deal was he could take the laptop into school if he could type faster than 25 words per minute. He easily managed this but did practice for approx 5/10 mins each day. IMO I think it would new worth your son really practicing the touch typing this summer with a target as we found that the faster our DS got the more time he had to think about what he was actually writing.

School provided a place for him to securely leave his laptop at lunchtime. My DS was told from the start that he was in charge of making sure it was charged etc and if not excuses wouldn't be accepted. He had paper and pens in his laptop bag too so if the laptop failed he would just have to write.

Spell check has always been on in lessons and off in exams. Remember they have to be reasonably close to the correct spelling for the spell check to work. If not there will be a coloured squiggle under the incorrect word and it gives them IMO a chance to correct it.

I am glad your DS is finding it useful and I hope it continues. I know that without his laptop my son would not be about to take his A2 exams.

Have you a link for mavis?

If you google Mavis Beacon free you can download some free software.
We used a CD which we bought from Amazon.

Hi again,

Main issue at the moment is the proofreading.... Every day when he gets in, I am having to hassle him to find out if anything needs proofreading and printing - I don't think he would bother with either. We are sitting down for at least half an hour, just to proofread the notes he's made in the lessons. He will read back what he has intended to write, not what he has actually written and he whizzes through the spellchecker, clicking without properly checking he's inserting the right word. It certainly wasn't the word organism that appeared in the middle of his science notes yesterday!!!!!! It's needing a lot of input from me which I don't mind if we get there in the end. Long, writing, homework projects are still another issue altogether! Have you been through this and did your kids eventually become more independent?

Also, if your kids are reluctant readers, would you force them to do a few mins every day for their own good? My son listens to audio books which is great but it's not quite the same discipline as reading.

Can you increase the font size on the Mavis Beacon and are the spellings English?

Thanks

My ds is very dyslexic and at grammar school in Y 10. He can read accurately (to or above his age) but is very very slow. Spelling v bad,

He learnt to touch type in Y6 (did ttlr) because of his dyslexia, though we also made sure his older sisters could type at that age too.

He has opted not to use a laptop in school for exams etc and we've had to respect his wishes. He says it disturbs his thinking process. I do see what he means. Luckily, though not fast, his handwriting is pretty good and his spelling legible. I know other boys at school have had far more success.

Sorry, that's TTRS. If only I could touvh type....

My DC is same age and similar issues and I would comment as follows.

As someone else picked up, some subjects do not lend themselves to typing, so DS will need to improve his writing. We had to resort to OT and that over time has improved the clarity of writing, not brilliant but more easily read. Speed is always going to be an issue but it is better.

Both DH, DS and I all touch type. Of all the programs out there, Englishtype is by far the best, son used it and it works. Son now types at 50 words per minute and 95% accuracy so it can be done. He does have typing lessons at school but is at school for boys with "dys's", ie dyslexia, dyscalulia, dyspraxia and laptop is compulsory equipment.

I learnt to touch type at school and it does not help spelling. An element of spelling is hand memory and typing does not in my view take this away.

The approach that worked after many false starts is to do it over the summer holidays. Daily sessions are best and with hands obscured. To crack typing, need to train your brain to know where the letters are, speed comes later. Englishtype comes with pre-planned lessons but suggest child aims to complete bulk of it which covering the keys over the holidays. Promise it can be done.

Thanks for your very interesting comments. Initially, he was using it for every lesson but now he asks the teacher if he needs to. So, if there are just a few notes to be made then he can do them by hand.

Interesting that the laptop can disturb the thought process - a teacher did express this concern at parents' eve. It's something to watch out for.

I was really hoping that it would help with spellings... eg, common endings such as "tion". He also misses out letters when writing so hopefully words like "the" would become automatic on the keyboard.

I have downloaded the Englishtype Demo and am very impressed with it - thanks. Summer hols coming up so I will make him do it every day.

Thanks