Can assistive technology for people with dyslexia be cheap?

Posted by admin in dyslexia-assistive-technology | Ghotit Blogs - (5 Comments)

Ghotit offers it’s Microsoft integrated Assistive Technology plug-in for just 9 cents a day…

According to Wikipedia “Assistive technology or adaptive technology (AT) is an umbrella term that includes assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices for people with disabilities and also includes the process used in selecting”.

From this definition it is clear that assistive technology is a technology which aims to help a targeted group of people (this technology might never be adopted by the general population).

The costs of Assistive Technologies, specifically those targeting people with dyslexia, can reach hundreds of dollars. If a guarantee can be given that an assistive technology solution would result in dramatic writing improvements– than even such a high price of several hundreds of dollars would be worth it. As a person with dyslexia, I know that dramatically improving ones’ writing is an invaluable benefit. But the truth of the matter is that not all assistive technologies are the same, and not all dyslexics are the same. Therefore not all writing assistive technology solutions can deliver on their promise to all dyslexics.

As a dyslexic who has spent in the past thousands of dollars trying to obtain the “right” solution that will improve my terrible writing and spelling, I am familiar with the disappointment when a writing assistive solution that costs close to a thousand dollars, simply does not deliver any real value.

Ghotit writing assistive technology was developed by dyslexics, for dyslexics. As one of the founders of Ghotit, I can confidently say that I have seen no other product in the market that delivers the writing improvements to dyslexics as does Ghotit. However, as stated above, not all dyslexics are the same. Ghotit understands that and is offering Microsoft integrated plug-in for extremely reasonable prices…

So can assistive technology for people with dyslexia be cheap? Yes, go to Ghotit and see how you can purchase Ghotit for only 9 cents a day…

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Dyslexia and Methodological Thinking

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

As long as I can remember myself I have always been good in solving mathematical problems.  I “credit” my advanced problem solving skills to my dyslexia, as I have a very good visual grasp of problems and their solutions.

I remember my school math classes when the math teacher started teaching a new topic. I was always one of the first ones to understand and solve the new problems. However, from that point onward I would begin to get bored, and instead of listening to the teacher‘s description regarding what was the structured algorithm to solve the problem, I would get bored and start day dreaming…

For every new problem that was presented; I set off to solve the problem and develop my own algorithm. I did not learn or deduce any formal methodology to my intuitive problem solving capabilities.  More so, sometimes even though I solved a problem correctly, the teacher would take off points for not providing a structured explanation of my work. I remember quite a few arguments with teachers explaining to them that what was important was the fact that I got the answer correct; that it did not matter the method that I used to solve the problem.

However, as time went by, and the problems got more complicated, I found myself falling behind. My classmates, though not so bright problem solvers, had learned the structured methodology and techniques to solve specific problems. I however continued to develop new algorithms for each new problem, sometimes solving the complicated problems correctly and sometimes not. Since I did a very poor job of documenting the steps of the solution, I usually got full credit deduction for a wrong answer. I did not provide the teacher the appropriate description that proved that though my algorithm of solving the problem was correct; the incorrect answer was due to an insignificant calculation error.

Today, as an adult dyslexic and parent I understand that having good problem solving skills is not enough.  It is important that you learn structured methodologies to solve problems. This may not be the natural course of action for some, but adopting structured and disciplined learning processes becomes critical as you advance in your studies and academic challenges.

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