Does anyone know anything about AlphaSmart keyboards?

[Heavenly]

http://www.secrest.ca/index.php?main...roducts_id=122

My son has a learning disability in the area of writing. He is currently failing in spelling and writing in 3rd grade. We are still needing to get formal testing done to determine the exact nature of his disability but he also has bipolar disorder and anxiety disorder. I was looking at different things that can be used to help children with these problems and I found the Neo2 (AlphaSmart). Has anyone has any experience with these?

[jldumm]

I used them with kids in schools when i was an OT. they were great. easy to use and low profile for the kids with SN. We even had sets for whole classrooms.
They seemed to work the best for my kiddos with fine motor delay, that inhibited there ability to get ideas out onto paper... though they was a delay in the learning of the equipment.

[kathymuggle]

don't they only show the top line or two of print??? I may be mistaken - i hope someone chimes in. If not, call the company and ask.

If that is the case, a straight laptop would be better.

[PatchChild]

They have some Pros. Lots less stress about writing. You can fix mistakes without erasing a hole in your paper. High interest, keeps kids feeling unique. Cons, the screens are tiny. The spell check isn't that great, and kids have to spell well for it to know what to fix.

If the issues are around spelling, maybe a computer with assistive technology. There are a number of read aloud programs that can help. There's also predictive writing software. As you start to write a word, it displays words that you might be trying to use. Then you just click the word you want rather than typing it out. There are even some programs that spell by sound.

At this point, I'd focus more on making sure that he has a really good instructional program to teach the skills. Something Orton Gillingham based (Wilson reading, Project Read, etc.) I'd also, at this age, try to petition for him to use a scribe. dictating to someone else so he can see his own words on paper.

[Linda on the move]

We are working on this issue at our house too. My DD is 13 and has fine motor issues. The problems I see with a lap top:

• What with her backpack, text books, multiple 3 ring binders, etc., carrying something else seems problematic. She already has issues holding on to everything. I wonder if these would be easier to cart around than a lap top.

• A lap top with its screen would really stand out. These seem less obvious, more of a low profile.

• Battery length. I don't think her lap top could make it through the day if she were using it much.

• She changes for classes, so packing up and restarting need to be quick and easy. She already has problems with class change

• her school has wi fi, so the temptation to screw around would be far greater with a machine with an internet brower!

[KCMichigan]

I have used them with success with some of my kids (Spec.Ed.) teacher, but as the PP stated spelling needs to be fairly decent.

They also need a place to 'print' material and for older kids they have to learn to keep seperate files and have good typing abilities.

Does she have access to a Resource Room? I know we used a lot of voice recognition software for writing. It was a popular option and helped kids that ahd a hard time w/typing.