Success Strategies &

Assistive TechnologyNeil Cottrell

BDA International Conference, 11th March 2016

Timing and Questions

Overview

• Personal Perspective

• Assistive technology as success strategies

• How I chose strategies• Reading

• Organisation

• Memory

• Spelling

• Practical examples

Background

• Dyslexic

• Age 15:

• Reading speed: 7 years, 3 months

• Spelling: 8.5-9 years

• Support and success strategies

• Cardiff University

• Graduated top of my class in psychology (2009)

Background

• Founded LexAble

•

• British Dyslexia Association

• Young achiever of the year (2010)

• Technology committee (2012-)

• Cardiff University

• Entrepreneur in residence (2014-)

• I rely on assistive technology

Why Success Strategies

• Specific learning difficulty

• Important to work on key skills

• But don’t let higher level skills get left behind

Example: Critique a journal article

Example: Critique a journal article

Why Success Strategies?

• What’s important in:• Education?

• The workplace?

• Individual• Strengths and weaknesses

Assistive Technology

• Tackling a specific issue for the individual

• Simplicity

Assistive Technology

Individual Success

Strategies

Stress/Worry Independence/Confidence

Last time …

Errands (iOS) Livescribe

Reading

• My issues• Reading is slow and stressful

• Text-to-speech on laptop is great

• Handouts in the middle of a seminar

• What I needed• Access all written information

• Independent

• Instant

KNFB Reader (iOS & Android)

• Alternatives:

• Prizmo (iOS)

• ClaroSpeak (with “Capture Text From Photo” add-on) (iOS)

• Capturatalk (iOS & Android)

Staying on top of things (email)

• My issues

Staying on top of things (email)

• My issues• Stressful to maintain things in my head

• Remembering to follow-up people who don’t reply to

emails

• Re-reading email subjects each time I log-in

• What I needed• Only being presented with things that need dealing

with

• Not have to maintain anything in my head

Inbox by Google

Inbox by Google

Staying on top of things (email)

Email notifications

Memory

• My issues• Unrelated but potentially important thoughts

• Focus on the thought: Lose the flow in current task

• Focus on the task: Lose the thought forever

• What I needed• Quickly note down my thought

• Without getting distracted

• Get straight back to the task in hand

Do Note (by IFTTT) (iOS &

Android)

Also see: Do Camera & Do Button

Outsourcing short-term memory

iOS: Siri

Android: Google Now (“OK Google”)

Spelling

• My issues• Distracted by spelling mistakes and typos

• Red underlines

• Reports and emails weren’t well written

• Spell-checking was long & disheartening

• What I needed• Stop worrying about spelling

• Focus on content

• Less time spellchecking

No Solution

• Failed strategies

• Ignoring mistakes

• Spell-checking was long and disheartening

• AutoCorrect

• Not for email, mind maps, online

• At age 15

• Frustrated while writing

• Developed my own assistive software

In 2009, 6 years later …

Global AutoCorrect

• How it helped me• Focus on content

• Fewer red underlines

• Reduced workload

• Less time spent spell-checking

• Learning spelling

• I knew which words to work on

• (Subject-specific terminology from Oxford University

Press)

• My best strategy yet!

Global AutoCorrect

• Cardiff University (Dr Trevor Humby)

• Dyslexic participants

• Remembered 18% more of what they had written

• 10% more confident in the accuracy of their answers

There was a significant interaction between group (dyslexia / non dyslexia) and condition (told to work normally / told to ignore

spelling / Global AutoCorrect activated) (F2, 94= 3.83, p<0.025, 97.5% statistical certainty). This was driven by the effect of condition

in the dyslexia group (F2, 42=3.34, p<0.05, 95% statistical certainty), which was due to increased recall between the "Work Normally"

and the "Global AutoCorrect" conditions (p<0.033, 96.7% statistical certainty, Bonferroni post-hoc test). The graph illustrates

statistically significant effects. Mean scores for the "Work Normally" and "Global AutoCorrect" conditions, +/- standard error.

Assistive Technology

• Tackling a specific issue for the individual

• Simplicity

Assistive Technology

Individual Success

Strategies

Stress/Worry Independence/Confidence

Resources

• Getting around my dyslexia: A personal evaluation of coping strategies• Published in the PATOSS Bulletin (Winter 2010)

• http://www.lexable.com/getting-around-my-dyslexia-a-personal-evaluation-of-coping-strategies

• Choosing, evaluating and using assistive technology• Published in British Dyslexia Association’s book, “Dyslexia and Useful

Technology” (October 2012)

• http://download.LexAble.com/articles/BDA_Chapter-Choosing_Evaluating_Using_Assistive_Technology.pdf

• Ability Magazine article• My story

• http://download.LexAble.com/articles/Ability_Magazine_Autumn_2012-Neil_Cottrell_Interview.pdf

Conclusions

Keep up the good work!

neil.cottrell@LexAble.com

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