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I believe that the problem is not with the 'read aloud' feature of textHELP - it is that TH also gives other benefits as well, such as the advanced spell checker, dictionary, etc., which other students wold not have access to. It would be possible to invigilate just one student individually, to make sure that only the read aloud feature was used, but what if this set a precedent, and more students wanted to use TH for exams in the future? How would this be 'policed?'
Is there perhaps an alternative program, that has the high quality 'Real Speak' voice of TH, but not the additional features? If so, and the student is specifically requesting TH Read & Write, but only for the 'read aloud' feature, perhaps she would accept the use of another program, without the spell checker, etc.
Mrs Becky Campbell
Assessment Officer
Disability Office, University of Wales Swansea
Singleton Park, Swansea,SA2 8PP.
Tel: 01792 513000
-----Original
Message-----
From: patz
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2005
1:35 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: textHELP in exams ?
...The student's disability - combination of mobility and dyslexia - insists that she needs the 'read-back' feature within TH to listen to what she has written - basically a sentence at a time...However the student is insisting that this is 'not quite the same'?? At present, the exams officer is not convinced and feels that the inclusion of textHELP would put the student at an advantage over the other students.
Hi Phil,
I wonder if the Exams officer fully understands the nature of TextHELP. It won't answer the exam questions for her or give her any clues.
In the official report, a "reader" is specified- it doesn't say whether this should be human or mechanical. All she is asking for is the ability to be able to read back what she has written as easily as others do.
How does enabling her to read back her work one sentence at a time give her an advantage over other students? If the others want to, as non-Dyslexic people, they can read back the sentences they have written for themselves, without recourse to aids of any kind. This is precisely the disadvantage that the provision was trying to compensate for.
That's my two-pennyworth, anyway. Best wishes,
Pat Costall
----- Original Message -----
From: [log in to unmask]">Phil Judd
Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2005 4:14 PM
Subject: textHELP in exams ?
Hi,
I have just had a phone call from an examinations officer from local college. They have a student, in receipt of the DSA, who is requesting the software textHELP Read and Write to be installed on to a computer for use in their examinations. The student's disability - combination of mobility and dyslexia - insists that she needs the 'read-back' feature within TH to listen to what she has written - basically a sentence at a time.
In the student's psychological report, for her examinations, she has been recommended 25% extra time (plus allowances for rest periods), a computer and a reader.
I was wondering whether any of you have had experiences of students either requesting or using textHELP Read and Write within an examination setting (in addition to Word) ?? In any case, I would have thought that the reader would be able to provide audible feedback of sentences and paragraphs in much the same way as the TH software.
However, the student is insisting that this is not 'quite the same ??'. At present, the exams officer is not convinced and feels that the inclusion of textHELP would put the student at an advantage over other students.
Any comments ?
Thanks
Phil Judd
Bridgend College