Technology can be a boon for struggling readers and students with different learning styles. Here’s a look at how computers are helping one Virginia third grader, and how her family is preparing for the wired world ahead.
Caroline, a third grader in Alexandria, Virginia, struggles with reading comprehension and spelling. Although she’s strong in other subjects, she reads below grade level, shows signs of dyslexia, and her handwriting skills lag behind those of her classmates.
At the end of second grade, during a meeting to set Caroline’s Individual Education Plan (IEP)-which outlines the learning goals and approach for students who receive special services-one of her teachers suggested that she start using a computer to improve her reading comprehension, spelling and grammar.
“She turned to us and said, ‘Since she’s learning typing next year, let’s incorporate that into the IEP next year,’” says Marie. “We had no idea that third graders would start to learn typing.”
Typing class is part of the school district’s formal technology integration plan, designed to introduce students to the technology they will likely need as adults-and it set Caroline and her family on their own version of a technology integration plan.
Since starting third grade, Caroline has been using Microsoft Word to do her homework. She uses it with the auto-correction function turned off, so misspelled words are highlighted and underlined, but not automatically fixed. When she finishes a thought or paragraph, she can go back and look at the words she misspelled, and focus on those.
She practices for spelling tests by typing in her spelling words and then checking to see which are underlined with the familiar red squiggle indicating a misspelling.
“I think it’s a good idea, partly because she learns in a visual fashion; if she can see it or hear it, it’s mentally digestible, especially with abstract concepts like decoding words. Having it represented on a screen will speed up the process,” says Edward, who knows his daughter’s struggles first-hand: he labored for years with what he suspects is undiagnosed dyslexia.
Like many students, Caroline’s reading delays have taken a toll on her confidence. “She constantly compares herself with her friends and finds herself lacking, saying things like, ‘Amanda’s the smartest girl in class because she can read a chapter book.’ She never compares herself to anyone in math class, never worries about science or social studies or math because she’s succeeding in them,” says Marie.
Marie and Edward think that e-mail-the next stop on their technology journey-could help. “We’re looking for more opportunities to have a clear incentive to read, and a message from a friend or her grandparents seems like a good reward for doing the work,” says Edward.
Safety Considerations
Now that they’ve opened the door to computers and technology, Caroline’s parents are exploring ways to help her stay safer online. They’ve already begun talking about whether she should have her own email address, rather than use her Mom’s-she’s not pushing for her own yet, because few of her friends have email accounts-and whether to tell her that they’ll read her messages.
For now, Caroline doesn’t have a wireless phone, but when she reaches middle school, they may get her one so they can coordinate rides to and from school and activities. They’re already looking into renewing their plan as a family plan, to add a line for Caroline.
In fact, Edward and Marie are beginning to have a whole series of discussions about keeping Caroline safer online. They let us sit in on one of their talks-see the accompanying conversation [if on diff. page, please note].
Preparing for the Future: Edward and Marie’s Checklist [Can be in a box]
- Slowly introduce new technologies to their children, and help familiarize them with the uses and risks
- Talk with other parents about tech safety
- Look into Web and email filters, and discuss each other’s philosophies about what and how to monitor online activities
- Check out child-friendly search engines, such as KidsClick, a site used by librarians
- Set up the free key logger program to track computer activity and record IMs
- Keep the computer in the living room, where it’s visible, laptops are off limits to the kids
- Wireless phones are like “walking computers”-explore family plans and phone feature controls, so that’s ready to go when Caroline needs a phone
- Investigate supplemental parental control services for wireless phones, such as DisneyMobile, RADAR: Your Kids’ Mobile Watchdog, or Verizon’s Chaperone Service, to name just a few; these typically cost $10 a month and can limit and track activity
*To respect their daughter’s privacy, they asked to use only their middle names.
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How Much, and How Soon? A Parents’ Discussion
Edward and Marie let us sit in as they discussed their technology safety plan and approach as their third grader, Caroline, begins to use computers.
Marie: We should sit down with Caroline and teach her about search engines and how to do safer searches. We’ve also got to bookmark the sites she uses so she can go there without hitting any strange sites. And we need filtering software. Wow. She’s growing up fast.
Edward: There are points of vulnerability in things I never even dreamt of, like the X Box and PlayStation where you have the ability to chat with other people, and the small hand-held gaming devices like GameBoy that have WiFi and texting built in. Adults have used those to approach kids, which blew my mind. I never would have thought of that. How do you begin to get a handle on that without taking it away?
Marie: We’ve got to find a balance between liberty and control. No one thing is going to be enough; we need a combination of approaches and it’s still not going to be foolproof.
Edward: With e-mail, one option is to create a sub-account and actually set it to upload her emails on our Outlook, so if there’s any activity it’ll show up on our Outlook. Do we tell her that it’s showing up on our e-mail accounts or do we keep it quiet? Marie’s in the camp of “tell her.”
Marie: I don’t want to start with deception, she’s going to rebel against us sometime…
Edward: So we could set up the account but not the auto-preview to us, and if we have suspicions, we activate that.
Marie: And she can have her own password but if she changes it without telling us, the account gets shut down. We’ll check it, probably daily, and if we see anything that seems uncomfortable or deceptive, we’ll address it.
Edward: For IM and the Web, I found a keystroke logger software for parents who want to make sure their kids aren’t IMing in inappropriate ways. It’s a background stealth program that saves IMs as a text file and sends it to you. That’s more extreme, but if we’re getting worried about things outside email, it’s an option. Trust but verify.
Marie: It’s one of these things where, e-mail: no problem, that’s easy to control, but she’s going to find out about IM, Facebook all these things. So do I open the door slowly so she sees it and gets comfortable and builds up a relationship of trust with me, or pretend it doesn’t exist?
Edward: Since we have WiFi at home, we can run the key logger program on the family computer and have it send data to another computer-that way, we can log on from wherever and check the files, even from the office.
Marie: I have no problem with the keystroke logger running and not telling the kids, but I do have a problem with uploading her email to ours.
Edward: Yeah, I see the difference there, but I think we need to install the keystroke program. I’ll show you how to log on remotely.
Marie: (laughs) So I can find out where you’re surfing now too!
Edward: (laughs) Prepare to be very bored.
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“I have encountered several students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) that grant the student the right to use a word processing program for their writing assignments. This is an accommodation that can help address issues such as handwriting legibility, speed of writing, or other fine motor skill deficits.
I have two classroom computers (both about 10 years old), and my students frequently ask to use the computers to type papers, check email, surf or play games. For students who have limited motivation to complete class assignments, the computer can be good reward for completing assignments quickly and thoroughly.
Any time a student requests permission to use a computer, we specifically discuss the task they intend to complete. This makes it easier for me to monitor their safety, as I can walk by them and see if the content on the monitor reflects this stated purpose.”
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John Staubitz is a special education teacher in Santa Monica California, who teaches a “Special Day Class” for students with emotional or behavioral disorders. He has worked with students in grades 3 through 12.
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