Adult Dyslexics – Follow Technology Trends

Posted by admin in dyslexia-assistive-technology - (0 Comments)

I am an adult dyslexic in his early 40′s. Personal desktop computers made their household entrance during the 80′s, about the time I was in high-school. So from high school onwards, computers have accompanied my life. Younger adults in their 20′s and 30′s may have had computers introduced into their lives since elementary school.

There is no arguing the fact that computer technology has leaped forward in the past 30 years. Moore’s Law that predicted that computer power would double itself every 2 years or so has proven it correct since the early 1970s till this very day. Current Cloud Computing paradigms, enabling consumers to purchase computing and storage resources based on a utility consumption model (such as the consumption of electricity) from huge computer farms owned by the likes of Google and Amazon forebodes the next revolution in computing technology.

From the software side, dramatic advances are also continuously taking place. Open Source Code has enabled core infrastructure software components such as Operating Systems, Databases, Development Environments etc. to be widely available at low cost. Software trends such as the publishing of Application Programmer’s Interfaces (APIs) and developing Software Oriented Architecture (SOA) has made external software components suddenly interoperable and “meshed”-enabled with other software components.

So what does all this have to do with adult dyslexics and giving their writing another chance?

Well, I know many adult dyslexics that have struggled with their writing for years (myself included). They have worked with various built-in Word Processors’ spell-checkers. Usually at certain points in their education or careers they have even investigated and tried specialized dyslexia text correction solutions.

However, at a certain point, these adults have settled into a self-defined routine of working around their spelling and writing limitations. Their disappointments in finding a real working solution for their writing turn them off from continuing to seek a working solution. In a sense, they have given up hope in finding a truly effective solution.

But here is where the technological advances listed above come to play. The new technological innovations being introduced at a phenomenal pace bring with them new capabilities that may dramatically change the quality and effectiveness of assistive technologies, and writing assistive technologies in particular.

Ghotit develops innovative writing software for people with dyslexia. As a founder of Ghotit, I can confidently say that an offering like Ghotit could not have been delivered to the market 2 years earlier, without the dramatic technological leaps described above.

It is difficult to change ones’ habits, even more so for somebody that has tried so in the past and has been disappointed…

But the reward here is great…

The reward is acquiring the capabilities to dramatically improve ones’ communication skills and to convert ones’ poorly spelled writing to mainstream writing.

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Do you reveal your dyslexia in a job interview?

Posted by admin in dyslexia-assistive-technology - (17 Comments)

I was recently quoted as saying that I do not recommend to reveal your dyslexia at a job interview. At the same time I have repeatedly stated that I am a Proud Dyslexic. Recently I was approached and asked to explain this contradiction.

How can I be a proud dyslexic and at the same time claim that during a job interview one should not reveal his dyslexia?

So the aim of this blog is to attempt to explain what I define as a “Proud and Realistic Dyslexic”…

So let’s start with the “Proud” part. Why am I proud? Why should one be proud of being a dyslexic? Well here are my main reasons:

- Dyslexics are on average highly intelligent people, so from an intelligence point of view I am in great company (Albert Einstein is just one genius example)…

- Dyslexics are innovative thinkers. From the dyslexic people I know, and from what I have read about people with dyslexia, we usually can boast of highly imaginative thinking. And to quote our friend Mr. Albert Einstein “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

- Dyslexics tend to just fight on and deal well with setbacks. Many of us have grown up in what I call “struggle mode”. From more or less age six and onwards we have to go every day to an institution that places the highest value on how you Read and Write. Exactly the two area points that we dyslexics have many difficulties. This may explain the “30% Entrepreneur are Dyslexics” study…

Okay, so where does the “Realistic” part come to play….

Well, even though we may be very proud of what we are and of where we have gotten to even though in many manners the ‘institutions’ were designed against us…we still live in a world where many people who see how slowly a dyslexic reads may get the impression that the reader is not too intelligent… or where people who see the spelling of a dyslexic may assume that he is not too scholarly or a sloppy thinker etc., etc.

The world is not an ideal place, and justice can not always be found. Therefore, I believe that a dyslexic must be realistic. There is a very high chance that your interviewer is not familiar at all about dyslexia. You usually have 10-60 minutes to convince your interviewer that you (out of many others) are best suited for the job. So is it realistic to start educating him in this time period that though you may have some writing and reading limitations you have these other great characteristics that simply outshine all other candidates…

No, I recommend being realistic. Of course do not lie, if the topic arises, you should be forthcoming on your dyslexia. But if it does not, then get the job, and once in the system, PROVE THEM ALL WRONG :-) .

BTW – If you have dyslexia, please cast your vote in Ghotit’s Blog “Do you reveal your dyslexia in a job interview?” Poll. It is located in the right frame of the Ghotit Blog…. Thanks.

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Dyslexia and Campus-aware Writing Technology

Posted by admin in dyslexia-assistive-technology - (2 Comments)

The student body, especially in colleges and universities has become mobile. Laptop penetration and wireless connectivity is very prevalent in many schools. This translates from a technological perspective, that any student can access the internet and the services it offers from anywhere in the school’s campus.

For a student with dyslexia, ESL or ADHD or any other student needing a writing assistive solution this can mean a dramatic change. Many schools today offer writing assistive solutions. But in order for the student to enjoy these services, the student usually needs to go to assistive technology/computer center since the assistive technology is installed only on the desktops found in these centers.

Now what if these very same assistive technologies would be available for all students and they can be accessed from anywhere in the campus?

Imagine the benefits to a student that can open and use the required assistive technology during class, in the library, or anywhere within the school’s campus?

There are some key challenges that need to be addressed by writing assistive solutions to make this a reality:

  • The current licensing models and pricing strategies of writing assistive solutions do not fit this mobile environment (this includes USB-based software licenses)
  • There are technical issues that must be supported within the assistive solution to enable “campus-wide” connectivity
  • Online upgrades must be supported by the assistive technology vendor to minimize maintenance issues
  • The IT department of schools must be open to these changing models.

It is because these challenges are not being addressed, there is today a grand miss of leveraging mobile technologies to benefit students with writing disabilities.

Ghotit, an innovative provider of writing assistive technology, addresses these issues and limitations with an innovative campus-aware licensing model that gives all students within a campus FREE USAGE of all of its services.

For more details on this subject you can read my article: Assistive Technology and the Mobile Student Body.

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Dyslexia, Writing Assistive Technology and Text-to-Speech

Posted by admin in dyslexia-assistive-technology - (1 Comments)

People with dyslexia usually have a hard time in both reading and writing. Letters and words get jumbled up in their minds during both reading and writing processes. Reading abilities may be affected by how tired the dyslexic reader is, or how much concentration is needed to comprehend the reading of a certain page.

Writing is usually a stressful process for a person with dyslexia. The person with dyslexia is aware of his problematic writing and knows that he must be on full alert in order to minimize his spelling mistakes. He must dedicate his full concentration to the writing process.

Writing Assistive Technologies focus on providing advanced spell checking algorithms for dyslexics. These are specially tuned algorithms that take into account that dyslexics usually spell really badly and that many times even when giving their full attention can not determine what is the correct spelling.

Integrating Text-to-Speech (TTS) to Writing Assistive Technologies can dramatically improve the writing experience of a dyslexic. There are two main benefits:

  • The first benefit is using Text-to-Speech as the dyslexic’s writing gatekeeper. Sometimes, a person with dyslexia just can not figure out himself the correct spelling of a word, even after proof-reading what he had just written. However, if the text can be read out loud to him, then usually by his understanding of what is being read, and by the pronunciation of the words that he is hearing he can confidently determine if what he had written is correct.
  • The other benefit is that the integrated Text-to-Speech feature enables a person with dyslexia to focus better on his writing. As mentioned above, reading for a dyslexic may also be a stressful event requiring his full attention. If the reading “effort” can be reduced then the person with dyslexia can be more “mentally free” to focus on his writing. The Writing Assistive Technology should have Text-to-Speech integrated at all levels of the product, enabling the user to decide, what he wants to be read out loud: the suspicious word, the meaning of the word (if provided), the full or part of the sentence he just corrected.

Ghotit Writing Assistive Technology solution has a fully integrated Text-to-Speech functionality. Today, whenever I write, I wear my headphones, and have the Text-to-Speech feature assist me in my writing.

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