Welcome to the website of the British Dyslexia Association New Technologies Committee!
B.D.A. NTC is a committee of the British Dyslexia Association (B.D.A.), who over many years have been concerned with all aspects of technology and how they can assist dyslexic people.
Do leave a reply at the bottom of a page, or send your questions about I.C.T. and dyslexia directly to bdatech@btinternet.com for a private, personal reply.
This page is only an introduction! Click on the Pages links to the right, to go straight to pages with lots more detailed information. If you have an iPad, use Menu to see the Site Map on the right. For iPods and iPhones, go to the bottom of the page and select ‘View Full Site’. Then you can see the menu and have the opportunity to search.
B.D.A. is a member of BATA British Assistive Technology Association
NTC members have a professional or personal interest in how people with dyslexia can use technology to help them develop strategies for coping with using literacy at school, college, work or everyday living.
The expertise of the members of the committee includes dyslexics, teachers, I.T. professionals and parents.
They look at new developments in hardware and software and attempt to evaluate how useful they are in helping dyslexic people to work more independently.
B.D.A. belongs to the Right to Read alliance.
This blog is complementary and additional to the main B.D.A. website, where you can find out about all other aspects concerning dyslexia.
Hi,
I’m looking to buy an Amazon Kindle or iPad to aid my son’s dyslexia – I was wondering if there is any extras/accessories I can purchase to aid the reading visibility of dark text on light background? I really think that an electronic book will get him back into reading again
I realise there is a Text to Speech function but as he is still young he needs to learn to read and not become lazy relying on this function……….
Any suggestions welcome
Some people find it helpful to put a coloured transparent sheet over the Kindle. You can change the font type and size to suit his needs – a larger font eg size 14, puts fewer words on the line and can make it easier. Don’t think of using the text to speech option as encouraging laziness – it will provide a dual sensory function- ie he can see and hear the text simultaneously and this will help him to follow the story and ‘stick at’ his reading. The more he reads, the greater his skill will become. There are thousands of books available on Amazon and you can scan parts of his school textbooks onto your computer and then transfer them to the Kindle. An iPad would give you colour, but it is heavier to carry around and there are a lot of other distractions available, if what you really want is a reading facility!
Hi, do you have any information on technology for HE students and academics who are Dyslexic?
A great deal depends on what the student is studying and the level of support they need! As a general rule of thumb most will benefit from having text on the screen read out to them – as individual difficult words and phrases or even whole passages, by means of a text reader. Many students benefit from using Dragon, especially in conjuction with a program like Text Help Read and Write Gold. If they need more specialised support look at http://www.jisctechdis.ac.uk/ or http://www.dyslexic.com for an overview of what is available.
Hi,
Just came across this while searching for research for my dissertation, which is about how technology is helping those with disabilities in which i will include about dyslexia. Just wondering if you could point me to the direction of finding resourceful information about this, articles of any kind.
A useful study aid is the use of mind maps which were developed by educational specialist Tony Buzan. You can create mind maps with nothing more than a pen and a piece of paper, linking thought bubbles from a main subject to any number of linked ideas. A lot of dyslexics think non-sequentially this is a very useful tool for the creation of essays. There is also software available to do this on the PC one version is called Inspiration. I used Inspiration at university and would highly recommend it (it also helps put your ideas in order). Another very useful piece of kit is a software package called read and writes which highlights the text and reads it back to you. As dyslexics often miss words out entirely especially small words so this can be very useful.
I am writing this with my chief study aid called Dragon naturally speaking (version number 11). Which I’m currently training it and with a strong north-west English accent this is not always an easy task! However it is considerably easier than touch typing which I manage to do with one finger. I never learned to type at school, most boys didn’t, we did wood and metal work instead in the 80s this seems an incredible oversight in this multimedia day and age. Although I’d like to be able to type, realistically I never had the time to do this at University whilst still covering my study load. Dragon NaturallySpeaking saved me a great deal of time and effort and I never would have completed my dissertation without it. Dragon NaturallySpeaking was not supplied to me by the University but was rather my own purchase (a purchase well worth making).nobody saw it coming information age and usefulness of as having typing skills. Although
Dragon NaturallySpeaking is advertised on television as a dictation device, you wear headphones and talk into a microphone you try to talk as naturally as possible and most of the time it gets the words right( I’d say about 75% of the time in my case but with training and continued usage this does improve). However it does get a little frustrating when it continually gets a word wrong at which point I switch off the microphone and type the word in (this only happens with certain words). This version most recent version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking cost me £50 from Amazon which I consider to be money very well spent.
When spending a long time dictating I would recommend the occasional short break as it can be quite mentally tiring if you are unused to it. Dragon has both improved in accuracy and dropped in price since the first version I used six years ago. If you are dyslexic or have dyslexic child who is struggling school this is one of the main products I would recommend. Having said that dyslexia is a syndrome and not a medical condition and it may not prove useful for all dyslexic individuals.
A useful study aid is the use of mind maps which were developed by educational specialist Tony Buzan. You can create mind maps with nothing more than a pen and a piece of paper, linking thought bubbles from a main subject to any number of linked ideas. A lot of dyslexics think non-sequentially this is a very useful tool for the creation of essays. There is also software available to do this on the PC one version is called Inspiration. I used Inspiration at university and would highly recommend it (it also helps put your ideas in order). Another very useful piece of kit is a software package called read and writes which highlights the text and reads it back to you. As dyslexics often miss words out entirely especially small words so this can be very useful. I am writing this with my chief study aid called Dragon naturally speaking (version number 11). Which I’m currently training it and with a strong north-west English accent this is not always an easy task! However it is considerably easier than touch typing which I manage to do with one finger. I never learned to type at school, most boys didn’t, we did wood and metal work instead in the 80s this seems an incredible oversight in this multimedia day and age. Although I’d like to be able to type, realistically I never had the time to do this at University whilst still covering my study load. Dragon NaturallySpeaking saved me a great deal of time and effort and I never would have completed my dissertation without it. Dragon NaturallySpeaking was not supplied to me by the University but was rather my own purchase (a purchase well worth making).nobody saw it coming information age and usefulness of as having typing skills. AlthoughDragon NaturallySpeaking is advertised on television as a dictation device, you wear headphones and talk into a microphone you try to talk as naturally as possible and most of the time it gets the words right( I’d say about 75% of the time in my case but with training and continued usage this does improve). However it does get a little frustrating when it continually gets a word wrong at which point I switch off the microphone and type the word in (this only happens with certain words). This version most recent version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking cost me £50 from Amazon which I consider to be money very well spent. When spending a long time dictating I would recommend the occasional short break as it can be quite mentally tiring if you are unused to it. Dragon has both improved in accuracy and dropped in price since the first version I used six years ago. If you are dyslexic or have dyslexic child who is struggling school this is one of the main products I would recommend. Having said that dyslexia is a syndrome and not a medical condition and it may not prove useful for all dyslexic individuals.In Summary is best to have an assessment of your needs as a dyslexic, weather at school or at college or university (or even just to give you peace of mind). After the assessment it is just a matter of trying different tools and methods and seeing what working best for you. Feel free to contact me by e-mail if you like at rob_wheeldon81@hotmail.com
This is really useful first hand information – thank you! Do you mind if we quote excerpts on other relevant pages?
No problem, I ll really keen to get the message out there about anything useful to dyslexic individuals
Hi, I am very excited to have found this wealth of information on using technology for Dyslexic children. I am just starting my journey with looking into getting our nine year old some IT support to assist him with his learning, and i can see as I start to read your posts and information pages that there is a wealth of information here, so thank you.
We get from 20 -120 hits a day, so I think google has got the message! We have no problems viewing the site here in UK and I dont think there are any ads on the page – we use Internet Explorer – what are you using?