How many times has this happened to you? A student is stuck on how to write something. You ask them what they think about a question and they provide an in-depth, verbal analysis of their thoughts. You tell them to write it down, and they give you a blank, sometimes panicked stare.
While most students feel this disconnect every once in a while, there are some students who are more likely than others to get “stuck” while trying to write responses. One population that is disproportionately impacted by this is students with dysgraphia. Dysgraphia not only inhibits a person’s ability to physically write words on paper, but also their ability to express those ideas on a computer (Hen-Herbst & Rosenblum, 2019). Dysgraphia often exists along with other conditions, such as ADHD, autism, reading disabilities, and math disabilities (Mayes et al., 2018). Therefore, finding a technological solution to help students with dysgraphia can be helpful for a large subset of students. A very straightforward assistive technology that can be used to make writing more accessible for students with dysgraphia is voice-to-text style software. These types of softwares allow students to express their ideas verbally, and then manipulate the already written down ideas to form their writing assignment. In my search for the best web app to help students in my classroom, I discovered that GSuite has added a new “Voice typing” tool that is compatible with both Google Docs and Google Slides. After playing around with this tool, I found that it is extremely easy to use, and is fully compatible with other tools that my students already use in Google Docs such as the dictionary tool and the Grammarly add-on. I am very excited to start integrating this technology into my classroom to help my students to express their ideas! Google Voice Typing Tool, Dana Russell, CC BY-NC-SA
Sources
Hen-Herbst, L., & Rosenblum, S. (2019). Which characteristics predict writing capabilities among adolescents with dysgraphia? Pattern Recognition Letters, 121, 6–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patrec.2018.04.021
Mayes, S. D., Frye, S. S., Breaux, R. P., & Calhoun, S. L. (2018). Diagnostic, Demographic, and Neurocognitive Correlates of Dysgraphia in Students with ADHD, Autism, Learning Disabilities, and Neurotypical Development. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 30(4), 489–507. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-018-9598-9 Russell, D. (2020, July 10). Google Voice Typing. [video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAuZZuEzR-A
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