How Assistive Technology Helped my Daughter
Assistive Technology
By Mrudula Govindaraju
One of the best things to have happened in our family’s journey in helping my daughter ‘find’ herself and navigate the everyday pitfalls of learning, is technology. As a family, we took to it like a duck takes to water. We introduced her to technology when my daughter was in class 6. She is now in class 12. She couldn’t read or write until she was 13-years-old. Until class 5, I would read stories to her every day at bedtime in English, and tell her stories in Telugu. We realised that eventually our daughter had to read independently. She used a scribe when she had to write the class 10 board exams.
To prepare for this, and for reading as a life-skill, what I did was to give her a Smartphone, and taught her how to use it judiciously. She could use the phone during a designated study time and for catching up with her friends at a particular time in the evening. All other times were dedicated to play and helping with chores at home. This routine was sacrosanct. The following apps have helped her a lot and some of them continue to do so:
1. Google Assistant and Siri – the voice to text feature helps you navigate the internet and get all information you need.
2. https://www.typingclub.com/ – free online typing app
3. https://www.bookshare.org/cms/bookshare-india – Read aloud books, both school textbooks and others, fiction and non-fiction. Subscription is free for one year, after which you can download books for a very reasonable subscription fee. Those with Specific Learning Disability are eligible for concessions and discounts.
4. https://www.mdachennai.com/about-mda/mdaavaz-reader – MDA-Avaz Reader app was especially useful when my daughter was in the lower classes. The app, among other features, has a wonderful feature where you can scan the page you want to read which the app will read aloud. It was very useful to study class notes before exams!
5. Audiobooks on YouTube