Access to University Success for Dyslexic Students:

Mobiles, Old Computers, and Free Software

Ira David SocolMichigan State University College of Education

Bringing down the cost of technology supports:

Increases Access OpportunitiesIncreases Lifespan Success

Increases Independence

The Environment - Students

US Vocational RehabilitationTransition from Secondary to University

Specific Learning Disabilities and “Attentional Issues”

Reading Levels range – Age 8 – Age 13

The Environment - Students

No technology support in “K-12”(used teachers as readers and scribes)

10 of 20 had almost no interaction with “regular” course curriculum

The Environment – US Education

US 2-year college first-year persistence (complete 2 semesters) rates – 65%

US university first year course “drop, failure, and withdrawal”

rates 22% to 45%.

One measure of the impact of the College’s first year initiatives is the first-year retention rate. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, first-year persistence at public two-year colleges averages 65%

(NCES Report No. 1999087). One-year persistence rates at LaGuardia are substantially higher than the national average: over the past five years, first-year

persistence has averaged 65%.

Successful completion of introductory courses is critical for first-year students, but typical failure rates in these courses contribute heavily to overall institutional drop-

out rates between the first and second year. Although success rates vary by institutional type and by subject matter, Research I universities commonly cite a 15

percent DFW (drops, failures and withdrawals) rate in introductory courses. Comprehensive universities have DFW rates ranging from 22 percent to 45 percent

in these courses. Community colleges frequently experience DFW rates of 40 percent to 50 percent or more.

The Environment – US Education

for students with identified“disabilities”

these numbers are much lower

“the retention/completion rates of individuals with disabilities in higher education continues to lag substantially behind the

retention/completion rates of their non-labeled peers”University of Wisconsin 2004

Pre-Project Evaluation

Tested for functional literacyboth ‘ink-on-paper’ and computer reading.

Comparisons with differing fonts, colors, lines and words per page.

Writing and Keyboarding Skills.Notetaking Skills.

Organizational Strategies.

Pre-Project Literacy Evaluation

NAEP comprehension at “4th, 8th, 12th LevelsGiven both ‘ink-on-paper’ and in Microsoft Reader.

Reading “environment” evaluations – fonts, colors, size, spacing.

Evaluation of Alphabetic and Sight-Word Recognition Skills.

Evaluation of new vocabulary acquisition:what strategies used – efficiency

– effect on sentence comprehension.(National Assessment of Educational Progress, US Department of Education -

http://nationsreportcard.gov/reading_2007/r0020.asp)

Students

12 Community College (2-year)8 University (4-year)

Technologies

Software installed on rebuilt used WindowsXP computers included free

text-to-speech systems (WordTalk, NaturalReader), free web-based support

structures such as Google Docs, Calendar, and Notebook, and Click-Speak in the Firefox

Browser, as well as mobile-based speech-to-text systems.

Other tools included the Text-To-Speech Jott and Dial2Do systems, as well as ScanR text

conversion to digital text.

Training was one-on-one, multiple session, with extensive use of text interaction (Students put notes in text after every

paragraph, sometimes every sentence), in order to judge comprehension improvements.

Calendars and organizations tools were practiced, as were conversion systems.

Results

Persistence

After one year follow-ups 18 of 20 were continuing education: 90%

11of 12 Community College (2-year)7 of 8 University (4-year)

113 courses begun by 20 students96 completed (85%)

85 passed (75%)“drop, failure, and withdrawal”

rate 25%.

Community College68 courses begun by 12 students

57 completed (84%)53 passed (78%)

“drop, failure, and withdrawal” rate 22%.

University 45 courses begun by 8 students

39 completed (87%)32 passed (71%)

“drop, failure, and withdrawal” rate 29%.

Conclusions

Inexpensive technologies moved a group of post-secondary students with low success

expectations into the upper-end of the statistical model.

These students showed better than US national average persistence and better than

US national average success in courses, despite “disability” issues.

speedchange.blogspot.com

Access to University Success for Dyslexic Students:

Mobiles, Old Computers, and Free Software

Ira David SocolMichigan State University College of Education