LD Resources

© Judith Sweeney
jsweeney@onionmountaintech.com

onionmountaintech.com/

I have a confession to make. I never read manuals if I can help it. I open software, install it, and just dive right in. I plug in peripheral devices and just experiment until they work or I am forced back into the manual to figure out the “finer details.”

My first experience with a scanning pen operated under these rules. After reading a glossy, slick ad which stated that my students with learning disabilities would be able to scan a word in text, hear it, and then get a dictionary definition almost instantly, I was sold. For slightly less than $300, I bought one immediately. I ripped open the box, installed the batteries, and just started using the device so that I could hear the word I scanned and see a definition.

It was a simple word, the word “complete.” I was scanning directly out of a Time Magazine. It made sense to me to scan as I read, left to right; but that wasn’t how the device then worked for right-handed users. Over and over again I tried to scan the word, and it didn’t work. I found that even more important was the angle at which I held the scanner and how smoothly and how straight I scanned over the word. Even the slightest hesitation and uneven scanning was an “error.” Eventually, I discovered that the size of the font in the article and the gloss on the paper were also working against me. By the end of these futile and frustrating attempts, I felt I never wanted to use a scanning pen again.

But I’m a “glutton for punishment” and over the years as scanning pens have improved and evolved, I’ve tried them again and again. Some I like much better than others; some work for a few but not all tasks. This is what I’d like to share in this issue of the Onion Mountain Technology newsletter.

Scanning Pens for Vocabulary
The original scanning pens were designed to provide students, who were struggling with the meaning of words, with a fast way to get a definition of a word. Students didn’t have to put down the book, find the dictionary, and look up the word. They simply ran the scanner over the word, pressed the button and saw the definition. (Today’s model will actually read the word and definition to the student). In theory, it is an excellent idea. However, the fine motor demands make this difficult for some students, and very often the definition (at a collegiate level) is more difficult to understand than the original word.

I came to the conclusion that there were a number of determining factors which made the vocabulary scanning pen a good to very poor choice for students with a variety of decoding and language based problems. My list includes the following “use factors.” The higher a student’s score, the more likely the pen will work for him or her:

Compensation for Decoding
If a student can’t decode a word but generally knows its meaning if he or she hears it, then the device offers good possibilities. My student has:

• 0 pts. – no decoding problems
• 2 pts. – decoding problems and the ability to define word is also below average
• 5 pts. – decoding problems, average or above word definition knowledge

Fine Motor Control
The student needs to be able to independently and reliably move the device over the text smoothly and in a straight line. Movement in a straight line (skew) is particularly vital and important and devices vary greatly! Most vocabulary scanning pens have very low skew tolerance, so straight scanning across the line is vital. My student has:

• -5 pts. – poor fine motor control or frustration when things don’t work perfectly every time
• 1 pt. – average fine motor skills
• 2 pts. – willing and/or able to use a ruler or straight edge to help alleviate skew
• 5 pts. – well above average fine motor skills and patience

Device Responsibility
The student can safely and consistently carry the device so that it is always with him or her and available for use when and where it is needed. This includes remembering to check batteries and actually remembering to take it out and use it without constant prompting. My student:

• 0 pts. – often breaks or loses “tools”
• 1 pt. – sometimes forgets to bring AT tools to class
• 2 pts. – uses a tool but not independent of teacher prompts; needs someone else to maintain the tool
• 5 pts. – is very responsible for bringing, taking care of, and using AT tools

Auditory Comprehension and Discrimination
Most of these pens now read text and definitions out loud, but they do so with synthesized speech and a very small speaker built into the device. Students need to be able to understand what the device is saying (discrimination), and may need to be willing to use the device with headphones so that others aren’t bothered by their speaking device. My student:

• 0 pts. – has a difficult time understanding synthetic speech
• 1 pt. – understands synthetic speech but doesn’t want to use a device in school with earphones
• 2 pts. – is willing and/or able to use headphones but not strong with auditory presentations
• 5 pts. – has good auditory skills, doesn’t need headphones (uses device only at home) or has no problems using device with headphones

Independent Vocabulary Level
Many students with special needs and language related disabilities not only need help with decoding words, but also have significant problems knowing what a given word means. Most of these devices depend on a collegiate level dictionary – often providing a definition for a given word that is more difficult to understand than the original word! My student:

• 0 pts. – has independent vocabulary level for definitions at less than grade 6 level
• 1 pt. – needs definitions for about half of the scanned words
• 2 pts. – has independent vocabulary level definitions at 6th – 8th grade level
• 4 pts. – never uses the definitions, just needs to hear the words
• 5 pts. – can understand most word’s definitions at grade 10 or above

Comfort in Using Device Around Peers
Many students with special needs want nothing to do with special education. Tools which would help them be more independent and successful aren’t even touched because they are seen as “special ed.” My student:

• 0 pts. – won’t use any tool that is used only by special needs students
• 1 pt. – will only use the device at home
• 2 pts. – will only use the tool at home and/or if no one else in resource sees him or her using it 5 pts. – will use the device when and where it is needed

Clearly, scores above 20 indicate chances for very good success with the device, but I rarely have students, regardless of age, ability level or need who approach these scores on this informal rating scale. All too often, even bright students with learning disabilities score 10 points or under (remember that there’s a minus 5 points for significant fine motor problems!) In those cases, the device virtually always becomes a frustration rather than a help.

Scanning Pens for Note-Taking
There is another entirely different group of scanning pens with a very different task in mind. These are scanning pens for note-taking. They are designed to scan text from print material into the computer line by line. Some add speech; most don’t. Some must be attached to the computer while scanning; others allow you to scan independent of the computer and later transfer the scanned text into the computer. All are using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to turn the “picture” of the line of text back into editable letters, words, phrases, lines, and paragraphs.

When I first started experimenting with these devices, I was surprised at how much better their “skew tolerance” was. In other words, my shaky, old hand didn’t constantly create “unable to scan” messages in the device’s window. I could draw the device over an entire line of text and the device could, most of the time, translate the scanned images into letters. However, like all OCR software, the accuracy of the process left something to be desired in the beginning. It wasn’t uncommon at all to have 3 or more mistakenly recognized letters in just one line of text. By the time I manually made the corrections on the screen, I decided I could have typed the line faster. This problem was also compounded when there was a period of time between my scanning of the material and its download to my computer. More than once, I stared at a word on a line with obvious multiple errors and couldn’t figure out or remember what the original text had said. For these two reasons, I primarily “shelved” these devices, deciding to wait for the next major generation of devices.

That improvement would prove to go well beyond my expectations…

Adding Speech to a Note-taking Pen – The Iris Pen II – Executive version
Several years ago, during a “buying frenzy” at the exhibits at Closing the Gap, I stumbled across a demonstration of the Iris Pen II – Executive version. I had been looking for the next generation of note-taking scanning pens, and this device looked like it might be what I wanted.

The device had to be attached to the computer (the only drawback in my opinion), but I learned that this was necessary because the computer’s processing power is what gave the device (through the installed software), its “oomph.” The first thing I noted was the skew tolerance. It was remarkable! With an almost 10% error tolerance of my movements across a line of text, this device let me hand scan with abandon! With the exception of an initial tendency to start my scan too close to the edge of the first word (I lost the first letter sometimes), I scanned with virtually no problems. It was interesting to see just how much each of my scanned lines looked like a gently rolling sea when I observed the result of my scanning in the software’s viewing window, and this scanner didn’t mind glossy pages, math symbols, small fonts or even italics.

Better yet, I had no problems with the accuracy of the OCR. I could count on scanning at least 5 lines of text with just one or two letter errors that needed correcting. At one point, I actually scanned over 25 lines without one OCR error! The more comfortable I got using the device, the faster I seemed able to scan and the easier it became to use.

However, my biggest surprise was the speech. I scanned a line, saw it appear in the window of the software, and then immediately heard it read out loud! I scanned a word; it was read. I scanned a line; it was repeated word by word. I learned that I could open a Word document, and using the scanner, listen to the words being said as they were scanned right into the blank document. My head started spinning with all the possibilities. The scanner could be a text reader, a note-taker, a way to modify texts. I tried scanning from a Spanish textbook and watched the letters appear on the screen with all the correct diacritical markings and heard my computer, with a Spanish voice loaded, read the line back perfectly! My “techno-lust” was in full blown exultation. I knew I finally had a hand-scanner that my students and their teachers could and would use.

From Note-taking to a Multi-Use Assistive Technology Miracle
Since then, I have had the opportunity to try this device for a variety of applications within the field of special education. It’s such a perfect tool for so many of our students – as well as for their teachers. At less than $200, it is affordable scanning and reading technology; and its size makes it an easily portable device. It isn’t associated with special education, so it doesn’t automatically come with attached “sped cooties” (the “germs” on tools that make students with special needs often reject them even if they do help). I’ve included below some of my favorite uses of this device that go well beyond its intended use for taking notes from books and other print materials:

Reading test questions
A student first suggested use of the device in this way. Seeing his teacher use the device for taking chapter notes, he asked if he could borrow it to take his bio test without help from the paraprofessional who usually read the questions to him. When he needed to hear (or rehear) a question, he scanned it (using headphones on the computer), thought about his answer, and then wrote his answer on the test itself. His primary problem was decoding, but when that problem was compensated for with the device, he was completely independent.

Summarizing Chapters
The use of the Iris Pen II (with or without speech models) for teachers is a major part of my workshops on modifying texts with technology. We show teachers how using the device to rewrite a chapter of information for a cognitively challenged student can save an incredible amount of time. They open a blank Word document, and then start reading the chapter. Chapter sub-headings are always scanned, and the teacher then scans the most important information in each section. Later, she’ll go back and shorten sentences, change vocabulary, and add transitions and easy examples.

Many experienced text-modifying teachers actually prefer this method to scanning and OCRing the entire chapter and then deleting over 50% of the text because it is too difficult. They say it is easier to start with a blank page and only add what will “work” for the student.

Recently, we’ve also been recommending that this is an ideal tool for regular and special education teacher collaboration. Many high school level special education teachers readily admit that they need help modifying chapters in upper level courses like science, foreign languages, and social studies. Because the device needs so little training, we’ve suggested that regular education teachers use the device and make their own decisions about the vital core information in every chapter. They scan that info into a Word document, and then the special educator changes sentence length, vocabulary level, wording, examples, and presentation mode (audio tape, text to speech, rebus text, print text, enlarged text) to meet the individual student needs.

Reading Word Problems
While some students with language based disabilities shine in math computations, everything falls apart when they have to solve word problems. All their decoding and comprehension problems create roadblocks before they can even commit a problem to paper. One easy way to help students gain independence in this area is to provide them with access to the Iris Pen II and have them use it to read the problems out loud.

Copying Foreign Languages
Bright students with learning disabilities still need to meet foreign language requirements. If they need to take notes, the pen can be set to accurately scan and store text in a wide variety of languages. Remember that the accuracy of the readback depends on having that voice file installed and available for use by the pen.

Hearing a Word or Phrase (definition not needed) Students who were introduced to the pen for note-taking soon discovered that it is also an ideal tool to use for decoding unknown or “unreadable” words within text. These students should be able to understand the meaning of most words they scan when they hear them.

Doing Chapter Questions
Many students seem to “miss” the fact that the answer to chapter questions is always somewhere in the text of the chapter. Having them answer chapter questions by finding and scanning the answer from the text into a Word document helps reinforce this fact as well as bypass the handwriting requirements that often sabotage their success or their ability to complete homework. In addition, when they scan the answers from the text into their homework paper on the computer, they not only see the answers but also hear them – vitally important for students who benefit from auditory or bimodal presentations.

The Future – Dreams to Come
The future of hand held scanners is just opening up. When we consider vocabulary pens, there are some immediate changes we need. We need vocabulary pens with much simpler dictionaries for many of our language impaired students with special needs, and we need pens with fewer fine motor demands.

Note-taking pens offer us much more today. The Iris Pen II software currently is capable of recognizing handwritten numbers and scanning, reading and putting them into a text file on the computer. The amount of information that is being scanned in one swipe is also increasing. The current Iris Pen II scans, stores, and reads two lines of average sized text at a time, and everyone is working to increase both skew tolerance and scanning / OCR accuracy. It would be great to have a pen with the power of the Iris Pen II without the tether to the computer while it’s being used. I can dream, and what I’ve found by working with these technologies through the years is this: Wait – all you want and more is just around the corner!