Question and Answer...

I also offer advice on a forum for the website Netbuddy, below is a question and answer from the forum

Question...

Hi Chris
I have twin 14 year old ASD MLD boys who have very poor writing and they will not find it easy to access their senior education over the next 2 years. They do not have work stations at their desks at their special school and they would not find keyboarding very easy, Could you advise us of any adapted technology which would be available to support and open up the boys education which is reasonably priced and accessible. Thank you.

Answer...

Hi Virgomum – thanks for your question.

It is well worth having a look at Clicker 5 (I talk about this a lot!). Clicker 5 is a fantastic piece of software with a huge range of activities and supportive reading and writing tools. “Write on-line” is a Clicker 5 word processing tool that is designed for learners of your son’s age and incorporates word and symbol prediction along with auditory feedback. With Clicker 5 you can design bespoke “learning grids” for specific activities, tailoring them to an individual’s needs. There are many resources available to purchase covering many areas of the curriculum. There are also free resources available on-line created by other Clicker 5 users. If your sons find it difficult to use a keyboard then you could use an on-screen keyboard in Clicker 5 with the mouse pointer or touch-screen. To break this down even further, switches can be used with an auditory scan to simplify the sequencing process. This could be done with the on-screen keyboard or any of the learning grids. The RM Slate offers all the features of a Windows 7 computer but is easy to transport across the school and between home and school. It is £399 so very reasonably priced. Couple it with Clicker 5 and you have a really flexible, touch-screen, learning platform. Also check out the Intellikeys keyboard and accompanying software– I’m sure you have come across this but if not it may be something that would help.

Here are links to the various products

Clicker 5
http://www.cricksoft.com/uk/products/products/overview.aspx

The RM Slate
http://www.rm.com/shops/rmshop/product.aspx?cref=PD1787832

Intellikeys
 http://www.intellitools.com/default.html

All these products are available to purchase at Inclusive technology

http://www.inclusive.co.uk/

I hope this is of some help, please feel free to ask further questions.
Chris