March 17th, 2008
Google Docs and ReQal
In my work with special education students, I have found two tools that have been of great interest and help. They are free and while I don’t have a lot of data to support my impressions, I do have a number of students and families using Google Docs and ReQal.
Google Docs give me students one stop storage for their materials. For students on the autism spectrum or others how like order and predictability, having the same interface at home, at school and with any other Internet connect computer is of great benefit.
The number one dream out there for students who struggle with writing is the Holy Grail of “speech to text” software. Dragon Naturally Speaking is quite expensive and when I give students a chance to use it, 90% of them find the minutia of correcting details more trouble than it is worth. In many of my schools, SOLO Co:Writer, word predication software, is a credible alternative but again quite expensive. ReQall is a free web service where one registers a phone and an email address. After that 60 seconds of dictation on a registered phone can be transcribed and sent to the registered email address. It’s recognition is very good and I use it to had to my to do or great thoughts list as I drive.
I will continue to discuss these issues as I find students working through these tools.
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