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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here.  DC is back in public school.  Has an IEP but gets no further reading instruction since 2 years at private SN school raised all reading assessments to 50%ile or above. IEP instruction is for dysgraphia and ADD, but TBH, DC is not really getting any instruction in those areas.....

For PP whose child used electronic textbooks with text-to-speech, is the voice natural enough to be understood?  The last time we tried electronic readers, the DC didn't like the computerized voice.  DC does like listening to audiobooks synced to text on Learning Ally, which can work for English class, but not sure about textbooks.  Even listening to a book is still a slower process than effective reading..

To other PP, what is the difference between "reading fluency" and "processing speed"?  Are you saying that RAVE-O only helps the kind of fluency that enables students to have a natural voice? comprehension? or speed?   Also, RAVE-O looks like it has a lot of different programs.  Is there something that is good for this skill and this age group (MS).

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I am the pp whose son uses the text to speech software, there are a number of voices to pick so that the student can find the one that is better for them. They still have a computer twang, but it is easier to understand these days. My DC has not really had a problem with them since 4th or 5th grade.  He uses Kurzweil for text to speech for PDF and Word handouts from the teachers. The Kurzweil is provided by the school.  He used to use Co-writer for word prediction but has found the Word's embedded word prediction to work best for him. The electronic textbooks have their own voice. He tried Dragon Naturally Speaking before 8th grade but despite a great start, it did not stick and was too cumbersome for him. Again, the week of training was provided by the school system, although daily, I had to transport him across the county for the halfday class.   Other students, however, prefer it.  He uses Learning Ally for more of his English literature books and Bookshare or Virginia AIM for his textbooks.  In FCPS, the history books are already electronic for all students and the text to speech is embedded for all students.  As I said, he also has dysgraphia (and ADHD) so our DC's are similar.  He gets teacher notes, so he doesn't have to take notes and can concentrate on the teacher's lecture.  He has a reader and scribe for all assessments.  Basically, except for math (which doesn't have much that needs to be read), he goes the LD office and someone there reads/scribes for him.  He also gets extra time on the assessments as having a reader and a scribe take a bit longer.

I recommend you apply for College Board accommodations in the spring of his freshman year to be able to get the accommodations for the fall 9th grade PSAT.  Once granted, the accommodations are good for the rest of the College Board tests for all of HS (SAT, Subject tests, and APs)  Since your DC has had a documented issue since ES, there sold be no problem getting them.  My DC receives 50% extra time, a scribe and a reader.

RAV-O has better outcomes prior to 3rd grade.  We investigated it when it came out and DC was already over that age, and we decided there wasn't enough bang for the buck/time.  However, in MS he took LANGUAGE ! in 7th grade and Rewards in 8th grade.  I think Rewards helped him the most at that point.  Prior to that he had Wilson from 2nd grade to the beginning of 7th grade.  He is now officially in "Low Average" for decoding and phoneme, but still in the 1%ile for RAN and near that for speed.  His Lexile score (which does not consider speed) is at the college level- mainly due to an excellent vocabulary, comprehension and background knowledge, but since it takes him so long to read it- it isn't practical for him to read his textbooks. [/quote]

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