• Reads at a slow pace and reading level is below age or grade level
• Struggles to comprehend and retain what is read
• Has difficulties with handwriting, spelling, or taking good notes
• Lacks study skills
• Has trouble organizing thoughts and defining goals
• Struggles with starting projects, staying on task or completing projects
• Is disorganized with assignment information, materials, or calendar use
• When asked to provide verbal information about a topic the student can provide organized information using higher level and topic vocabulary and when asked to provide the same information with pen and paper or keyboarding there is a discrepancy between the oral and written work. Often the written work reflects less organization, shorter sentences lacking detail and may have spelling and grammar errors
  

Having a diagnosis or challenges with certain skill sets does not necessarily indicate the student is not intelligent or capable of achieving academic and life success. In fact, there are many individuals who are identified as talented and gifted who also experience challenges in some skill sets. Many famous people struggled with academics. NASA has several employes who have been diagnosed with dyslexia as often these individuals are known to think outside the box and excel in other areas.

Imagine going to your work every day knowing you are going to fail at some point with a required task that day. Many of the students I work with have struggled for years and may exhibit anxiety, depression, a lack of motivation, and even negative behavior traits in addition to a great dislike of school.

If you are an avid reader, what terms do you associate with reading? Perhaps you identified: relaxing, enjoyable, and learning. Perhaps you look forward to reading in bed or on vacation. Many of the students I work with view print as negative. They do not read for fun and several have never read a book for fun. Often parents start reading to children when they are babies as it is a time of bonding. There is a transition from learning to read to reading to learn at grade three. Unconsciously, many parents who have children who struggle with reading stop reading for fun with their children when they start to spend great amounts of time helping them read their required assignments. There are several red flags a child may have challenges with reading even as early as kindergarten. I encourage parents to be proactive in seeking professional advice and assessments to identify if their child has a reading disorder or dyslexia. Research studies indicate that providing specific styles of reading tutoring for children with certain diagnoses can greatly enhance the child's success. One should never replace reading tutoring or any skill set tutoring for that matter with assistive technology. The student should continue to hone their skill set; however, assistive technology can be implemented at the same time to help the student be more independent, productive, and achieve greater success. Think back to the child who struggles with reading and how he or she feels when the teacher states "we will take turns reading aloud now" or "everyone will read for the next 30 minutes and then we will have a class discussion". Alternative print paired with AT can allow the student to potentially have the same success their peers are in finishing the reading content in order to acquire the knowledge to participate in class.

I believe each child desires to grow and be independent. Think back to the time when your child decided he or she wanted to feed themselves even if more food ended up out of their mouth than in. Or when he or she demanded to dress themselves and pick out their own outfits. Often when students struggle there is a thought that the student should be provided with help rather than foster independence. Students are provided with peer notes or a para who scribes for them. Parents often help their child read and even type or hand-write assignments for them. However, there are several assistive technology tools that can allow the student to be more independent in reading, writing (thought organization, spelling, keyboarding), note-taking, and executive function (organization, thought processing, time management) skills. Given many of these students have the intellectual abilities to advance to college, we need to foster their independent success as they will most likely be required to be independent in completing the same requirements as their college peers.

AT is not a "crutch" and in my opinion, should be taken into consideration as early as second grade. Please note that THINK with Success specializes in working with students who have the intellectual capabilities to achieve academic success but are not doing so in the traditional setting. Many of the students who receive service from THINK with Success have been diagnosed with either ADD/HD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, LD, processing disorders, spectrum disorder, talented and gifted twice exceptional, traumatic brain injury (mild-moderate), or do not have a diagnoses but experience challenges with academics.