Perhaps the school's educational team has suggested integrating technological tools into your child's learning journey. Here's a short article that attempts to explain what they are, what they're used for, why they were suggested, and the winning conditions for optimizing these tools.
In what contexts are they used?
Reading and writing are complex processes that require various skills and competencies. For some students, despite good teaching, support at home, and even professional assistance, decoding in reading and encoding in writing remain challenging. They may have no trouble understanding a text read to them, but decoding words requires so much cognitive energy that they cannot, or very slowly, read a text.
As students progress in their grade levels, there are fewer images in the texts provided, the words become more complex, and the texts become longer. Although the content complexity is adjusted to the student's academic level, the decoding level prevents easy access to meaning.
Therefore, integrating the technological tools described below is often proposed to support decoding and encoding in writing so that your child can access the meaning of the text. It's also beneficial to use these tools in all other school subjects that require reading and writing.
What are they?
There are several platforms or software programs that serve as aids for reading and writing. Two well-known examples in Canada are Word Q and Lexibar. However, it's important not to confuse the software with the aid functions.
Main aid functions:
Text-to-speech and speech feedback: Allows selected text or words in the prediction tool to be read aloud.
Word prediction tool: By typing the first letters of a word, the word prediction tool suggests words that start with the same sound or spelling.
Corrector: The correction tool will underline certain errors, such as adjective and verb agreement errors, spelling errors, etc.
Aid functions are provided according to your child's needs. There are also several ways to customize the tools and support your child, including the use of reminders.
Optimizing the tool
I often tell my students that, although they are very useful, software programs are not intelligent. STUDENTS are intelligent. Therefore, they need to know how to use the tools effectively and be critical of these tools that are not, unfortunately, magical. Thus, learning spelling and grammar rules is essential to accompany the use of technological tools. The software will not correct everything. One of the most prominent examples is the correction of homophones. Whether you write "son" or "sont," the tool will not always find the error. That's why it's important to help children develop good knowledge and critical thinking skills. The tool also won't correct syntax and sentence construction errors, for example. But there are good strategies to train students.
This reinforces the argument that using technological tools is not cheating. The tool doesn't do the work for the student. Would we say a child who doesn't see well is cheating by wearing glasses? Of course not. This comparison is of the same nature for a student with persistent reading and writing difficulties. The software doesn't provide answers, doesn't think for your child, but helps them access the meaning of the text in reading and concentrate on high-level writing skills.
If your child needs support in this area, I can help them become independent with these tools so they can gain confidence in these areas.
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