MyStudyBar, A Case Study

New College Nottingham: Using My Study Bar with learners

An Excellence Gateway case study

"New College Nottingham has adopted the My Study Bar package to help all of its learners with planning, reading, writing and additional visual support. It is a free and simple to use collection of tools that can be copied to a USB stick or saved on a computer's desktop. Both staff and learners have shown great enthusiasm for this reliable and flexible software package and the College is looking at ways to ensure that it has the biggest impact possible across the whole organisation."

Further reading:

http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/page.aspx?o=303718

Free Assistive Software, MyStudyBar, Video Tutorials and Download

MyStudyBar step-by-step video tutorials

To get started with MSB its designers have provided some useful video tutorials covering all components.

Click on this link to view tutorials:
http://eduapps.org/?page_id=7#MyStudyBar+step-by-step+guides

Features of MyStudyBar

MSB provides a range of tools for people with dyslexia, literacy difficulties and visual impairments. They have been designed to support the complete study cycle from research, planning and structuring to getting across a written or spoken message.
MSB has 6 sections; each has a drop down menu of apps (individual programmes) offering personal choice and flexibility for independent learning.
Apps include: Orato for text-to-speech; Xmind for planning and organisation; T-Bar for customising fonts and colour backgrounds; Lingoes for when you need a talking dictionary; LetMeType for help with text input; and Balabolka for converting text to live audio and MP3s from most file formats, including pdfs. There’s also a speech-to-text app which allows you to talk to your computer.

You can use MSB straight from a USB stick if you are using a computer that is not your own, or you can install it directly to the desktop. Technical staff in colleges and universities can install it on a network for everyone to use.

Finally...

Text-to-speech apps such as Orato and Balabolka require a pre-installed computer voice. Microsoft Sam is installed by default in Windows XP and Microsoft Anna in Windows Vista and Windows 7 (Anna is much clearer). Alternatively, high quality SAPI5 voices can be purchased from Cereproc. Scottish Heather sounds very natural, and you can try before you buy. Cereproc: http://www.cereproc.com/en/store

Before running MSB please install the English dictionary to your computer from the file
“English spell check Balabolka”.

Apps opened from MSB will need to be closed in the taskbar at the bottom right-hand side of your screen.

Click on link to download MyStudyBar: http://eduapps.org/?page_id=67

Alternative link to MyStudyBar for Windows Vista/7

MyStudyBar, Free assistive software

The download link to MyStudyBar has now moved so this post provides a brief overview of the product and a new download link for the software and associated video tutorials.

StudyBar is a tool which helps overcome problems that students commonly experience with studying, reading and writing. The tool consists of a set of portable open source and freeware applications, assembled into one convenient package. Easy to install, simple to use, handy and effective, MyStudyBar provides comprehensive learning support at the desktop, where it is needed. And if this is not already attractive enough, a further eye-catching feature of MyStudyBar is that it is completely FREE to download and free to use.

Download link for MyStudyBar includes video tutorials http://eduapps.org/?page_id=7

Dyslexie: A new typeface for dyslexics

A team led by Christian Boer from the University of Twente, in the Netherlands, has developed a new ‘Dyslexie’ typeface, designed to help dyslexic people read more easily.

The font incorporates a number of typographical features that make it harder for the brains of dyslexics to rotate, swap, mirror, and otherwise confuse letters while they're reading.



Further reading and to purchase

http://io9.com/5853588/check-out-dyslexie-a-new-font-that-helps-dyslexics-read-with-ease

http://www.studiostudio.nl/bestellen/

Study Finds No Link Between Dyslexia and IQ

"A new study that found no association between dyslexia and IQ calls into question the widespread practice of classifying children as dyslexic based on differences between their reading abilities and their IQ scores, researchers report" (HealthDay News 2011).

Further reading: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/managing-your-healthcare/policy/articles/2011/11/03/study-finds-no-link-between-dyslexia-and-iq

Phonological Loop Test for Children with Language Impairments and Dyslexia

Helping Children with Dyslexia

After talking about my experience of living with dyslexia on The Peter Levy Show, BBC Radio Lincolnshire, 28th September 2011, I have given some thought to the question on what advice I would give to a parent who suspects their child is having difficulties with literacy. There wasn't much time to be specific so I've posted the following link to a resource for helping children with dyslexia. More to follow........

Click here to view the resource: http://www.interventionsforliteracy.org.uk/information-for-parents/