Ghotit offers it’s Microsoft integrated Assistive Technology plug-in for just 9 cents a day…
According to Wikipedia “Assistive technology or adaptive technology (AT) is an umbrella term that includes assistive, adaptive, and rehabilitative devices for people with disabilities and also includes the process used in selecting”.
From this definition it is clear that assistive technology is a technology which aims to help a targeted group of people (this technology might never be adopted by the general population).
The costs of Assistive Technologies, specifically those targeting people with dyslexia, can reach hundreds of dollars. If a guarantee can be given that an assistive technology solution would result in dramatic writing improvements– than even such a high price of several hundreds of dollars would be worth it. As a person with dyslexia, I know that dramatically improving ones’ writing is an invaluable benefit. But the truth of the matter is that not all assistive technologies are the same, and not all dyslexics are the same. Therefore not all writing assistive technology solutions can deliver on their promise to all dyslexics.
As a dyslexic who has spent in the past thousands of dollars trying to obtain the “right” solution that will improve my terrible writing and spelling, I am familiar with the disappointment when a writing assistive solution that costs close to a thousand dollars, simply does not deliver any real value.
Ghotit writing assistive technology was developed by dyslexics, for dyslexics. As one of the founders of Ghotit, I can confidently say that I have seen no other product in the market that delivers the writing improvements to dyslexics as does Ghotit. However, as stated above, not all dyslexics are the same. Ghotit understands that and is offering Microsoft integrated plug-in for extremely reasonable prices…
So can assistive technology for people with dyslexia be cheap? Yes, go to Ghotit and see how you can purchase Ghotit for only 9 cents a day…
I would have to catagorically disagree with that definition on wiki as I type this comment I am selecting words that the iPad is predicting as I type the second letter. Free (plugin). There are too numerous a list of other types of “assistance”… for a comment which help countless people in all “categories” this begs the question about these categories,definitions, justifications and prices paid for such services.
Hi,
Thanks for you comments.
As a heavy dyslexic I do not find predictive technologies very helpful, because it is very difficult for me to determine if the suggested word is correct or not (yes I am such a bad speller). This does not mean at all that you and many others may find much value in such solutions.
I think this is aligned with my belief that different solutions provide value to different people, and that some solutions provide value only for a very niche market.
For example, Ghotit suggestions is based on the context of the sentence, each suggested word has an accompanied dictionary explanation and integrated text-to-speech capabilities to make sure that what the person with dyslexia wrote is what he intended to write. For people with poor spelling (not really bad spelling) this may prove to be an overkill…
Thanks, Ofer
I can see the point of the other commenter. It is hard to use a predictive technology if you do not know how to spell very well. I can’t spell very well either.
My main problem is transposing letters, or holding the shift key down to long. SOmetimes word makes these corrections. I’m willing to work on spelling improvement. Transposing really slows me down.
There are some free assistive tech products. For example, user can improve pronunciation and listening skills by following Microsoft Anna’s speech on Windows 7 laptops and desktops. They only need to install text-to-speech freeware Panopreter Basic, then Microsoft Anna will read aloud any text clearly at various speed.
http://www.panopreter.com/en/products/panopreter_basic/index.php