Malcolm, a 12-year-old seventh-grader, has difficulty processing language, which is reflected in reading, spelling and writing. He keeps four high-tech gadgets at his elbow to help him capture lectures and write reports.<\/p>\n
Grace Sheehan, 19, is in the Pathways to Independence program at Durango High School where special-needs students can stay until they\u2019re 21.<\/p>\n
Grace, whose sensory processing is faulty for reasons that medicine can\u2019t fully explain, hears but doesn\u2019t speak. But an iPad loaded with an app called Speak It! gives her a voice in classroom conversations.<\/p>\n
Malcolm and Grace are among scores of students in Durango schools who have their special needs ameliorated or solved by turning to technology.<\/p>\n
Megan Shanley is an occupational therapist who works with children in Albuquerque schools and patients at a neuropsychology clinic. She also is a certified assistive technology practitioner who evaluates computer use for people with disabilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cHigh-tech gadgets have been around for some time, but they\u2019ve been prohibitively expensive,\u201d Shanley said. \u201cBut over the last three years, they\u2019ve become cheaper and more available.\u201d<\/p>\n
They produce fantastic results, Shanley said.<\/p>\n
Malcolm has at his fingertips:<\/p>\n
A Livescribe smart pen not much larger than the standard writing instrument that has a computer inside that records the spoken word as Malcolm takes notes. Later, if he needs to hear again what the speaker said, Malcolm places the tip of the pen on a word and the computer returns to the same point in the lecture so Malcolm can hear what he missed.<\/p>\n
WordQ is an app on his laptop that monitors what he\u2019s writing, checks spelling and grammar and suggests vocabulary that he can use.<\/p>\n
Dragon Speak records spoken language and types it so the user can consult a written text later.<\/p>\n
An iPad app that photographs a text and produces voice output.<\/p>\n
Grace uses Speak It!, a text-to-voice app.<\/p>\n
In a group discussion last week in teacher Devon Parson\u2019s classroom, her left index finger darted around the keypad pecking out answers to questions about hobbies. She would type a word, press a key and a reasonably human voice would say \u201cwater aerobics\u201d or \u201cjigsaw puzzles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Such high-tech gadgets have revolutionized learning for Malcolm and other special-needs students. But they\u2019re handy for anyone who works with words.<\/p>\n
Now, laptops, iPads and smartphones come right out of the box with built-in apps, Shanley said. The ability of apps to enlarge text for the vision-impaired, turn text to speech, turn speech to text or coach the user on grammar or vocabulary is fantastic, she said.<\/p>\n
At The Liberty School, an entire student body of 24 youngsters who are dyslexic, gifted or both, use high tech, said director Bill O\u2019Flanagan.<\/p>\n
In math class, students no longer use just pencil and paper, he said. They write on an iPad with their finger.<\/p>\n
They play games that reinforce fractions, timetables and percentages.<\/p>\n