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Original poster

use of laptop in school?

37 replies

nuttyredhead · 26/02/2011 12:00

Hey all,
Ds age 9 diagnosis of Dyspraxia. I self referred ds to OT last year,is simply t best thing i ever did.Anyway they recognised he has significant problems with hand writing,in form,speed and fluency.They say he needs access to a laptop/computer.
I was wondering if any of you had children that used a laptop in the classroom.I was wondering how frequently they need to use it,should he use it for all written work? The dysraxia foundation say hand writing is not an essential skill and i tend to agree as handwriting causes such a problem for him.
School say they do not have funding for a laptop either,is it a case of hving t buy it ourselves!! All new territory for me.
Any advice or input would be great guys.Wink

Rgards
Justine

OP posts:
chachaheels234 · 01/03/2011 17:07

I have used the services of parent partnership before and they were very helpful indeed, I think you are right maybe time to make contact again.

tabulahrasa · 01/03/2011 17:14

schools who are doing all sorts of things they shouldn't be behave very differently when it's not just a parent there - which is pretty appalling really

SparkleRainbow · 01/03/2011 17:22

It really is appalling. I hope you feel you can tackle the school on this chacha.

chachaheels234 · 01/03/2011 17:43

I am expecting his proposed statement very soon, when I get it I am going straight to parent partnership to ask for help. I really want him in a special school somewhere that they understand his needs, but he is apparently too high functioning for this according to school and LEA agencies. because he is meeting the targets.I said I was more concerned about the social side of things and his anxiety , but they say there is no problem there either.IN fact SENCO once said to me many of the teachers here don't even know why he has a statement. But have no fear I am getting my fight back after talking to you all.Fingers crossed

SparkleRainbow · 02/03/2011 10:27

I actually support ms if appropriate, but the school and teachers specifically have a responsibility to make ms work, to facilitate the social side and reduce any anxiety issues he has. The fact that the senco says "many of the teachers here don't even know why he has a statement" is a credit to you and to your ds, but not an excuse for them to do nothing extra, or different to enable you ds to get the most out of school.

Having said all of that, you are his mum, and I strongly believe that as parents we are often the only people who see the whole and child and therefore have the best grasp on what is best for them. If you think ss is best, then you push for it all the way. We will stand behind you, virtually of course Wink

Neo2 · 03/03/2011 11:19

I need to declare an interest here in that I am Product Manager for AlphaSmart in the UK.

We are always more than happy to talk with parents and children about the ways in which we can support those with writing problems/issues.

You can find us here -
www.renlearn.co.uk/writing

There are tutorial videos and user guides, as well as contact details.

Always happy to help if we can

SparkleRainbow · 04/03/2011 13:23

Ds has now got a Neosmart, he just took to it like a duck to water. He has taken it into school to show it, he is so proud that he will be able to work like everyone else. Have tears in my eyes, just to see how excited he was to be able to access learning. Sorry having happy/sad moment. Blush

I will let you know how he gets on with it nuttyredhead, but first impressions are very good.

doitthisway · 04/03/2011 16:27

Nuttyredhead - Who diagnosed your ds with dyspraxia?
Was it a paediatrician ? I believe my 9 year old ds has dyspraxia and at the mo I'm finding it difficult to get help as to who to refer him to, to get a dx.

froot · 10/03/2011 08:50

My ds is in year 11 and has dyspraxic 'tendencies' and is using a wp to take his GCSE's. All his notes from the last 5 years are illegible. I have realised he is going to struggle at 6th form and am just in the process of forking out for a netbook that he can start to use in his last few remaining weeks at school so that he is up and running with it when he starts at 6th form. But I can't get my head around how you use it in a secondary situation - wraith what happens with diagrams and maths type things?

wraith · 10/03/2011 13:49

with what i used, a whole load of time with paper equations could be written out long hand but thesedays a paint program like gimp can do the diagram work still needs student to do the math (unless there alowed a calculator) but simplifys things

to save money
the following programs are free and will work on any windows netbook

if windows 7 the inbuilt paint program works well for diagrams

openoffice is a very complete ms office alternative.

math would be easier to deal with as theres far less writing and drawing lines with compus and i was fien with it was just text i couldnt write too much to painful and illegible

what model netbook if ican ask as with some theres a few things to keep in mind

froot · 10/03/2011 19:16

That's great advice thanx I have ordered a netbook with windows 7. The only other thing is it only has 1gb RAM. My husband says thats not enough but all the 10 inch screen ones seem to have 1mb RAM. My ds also has a 'proper' laptop to use at home (but it's too big and heavy to take to school), the netbook really will just be used for taking notes in class. What do you think?

IndigoBell · 10/03/2011 21:31

1gb RAM will be absolutely plenty. He's not going to be playing world of warcraft on it.....

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