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This is what I sent to Karen Wilson. I hope it is of interest. As you can see I am not a "techie" and students often appreciate a discussion about HOW they will use IT equipment and the options, in non-techie vocabulary. If you can help me to improve the content of my discussions with students I would be grateful. "I receive quite a lot of enquiries from students who say that they have had an assessment saying they are dyslexic. They want to know what computer equipment to ask for under the DSA. They have to be quite specific in their request to their LEAs. I think they expect me to reply instantly with a specific package - ask for this and this and this. It is not as simple as that, I wish it were. 1. *If the EP report has not said why IT would be helpful, the student has to give reasons:* . legibility, spellchecking, presentation, proof-reading, editing, usual means of written communication etc. . Scanning - not necessarily cheating/copying chunks. Scanning in quotations. Scanning in text that can then be read aloud by a text reader and heard. . Prediction software: TextHELP learns your vocabulary and predicts from a couple of letters what your word might be. This may be quicker, and may save you trying to think out the spelling. . Speech. TextHELP can speak your text after every word, sentence, marked block, to help proof-reading. It will even speak e-mail, and read the web (if you have a suitable browser.) . ASR. The ultimate is Talk to your computer Automatic Speech Recognition. It is expensive and not magic, but will be right for some students. 2. *Re which equipment, I ask:* . What course they are doing. (It is said that Apple Macs have the best facilities for graphic design work if that is needed for the course.) . What computers and software are used in their dept/available to them to use on campus. . Presumably they are asking for their own equipment because they cannot have enough access to the Univ. equipment. (e.g. a mature student recently had a young family and clearly could not stay on campus to do all her coursework.) . Do they need a computer and software compatible with campus ones - would they want to start work on campus and continue it at home. If they have the same software as their dept, they will be able to ask for help with using it. . Or what computer and software have they experience with, as that might be a reason for having the same again, e.g. what the family has at home (assuming they are living away from home) or what they used at school. . Do they want a desktop to have where they live, or a portable to take to lectures. For some a desktop and a cheap portable that could be linked would be suitable, for another a full PC portable (perhaps if they need science and graphics and tables facilities during lectures for science subjects) and a fullsized monitor at home/accommodation. . Have they typing skills or are they going to work at improving them in order to make good use of the IT. 3. *At the BDA Computer conference in Nottingham in April 1995, an adult discussion group made the following points about what they wished they had asked for, but had not thought of.* . They needed more computer hard disk space, and memory. . They wished they had had a scanner. . Portables would have been more useful than desktops. . They need support when things go wrong. University staff are not under any obligation to help students with equipment that does not belong to the college. They may be more willing if the equipment is the same as the department has - a point to be borne in mind when choosing. . A computer may have to be returned to the dealer for two weeks if it goes wrong - try to get on-site maintenance. . They need training in efficient use of all the facilities within the computer. . They need study skills efficiency - ways of using the computer for their course-work. . Maintenance contract fees and insurance fees should be requested and included in the grant application." Regards Jean Hutchins British Dyslexia Association Computer Committee Member %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%