Laptop for a dyslexic

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Handle9

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#305738 1-Jun-2023 00:04

Miss 11 will be starting high school in September and needs a laptop.

She's dyslexic so it's an important tool in her learning kitbag. Does anyone have any experience with apple vs windows for dyslexics?

I'm fine buying an M1 MacBook Air but she's madly into gaming as well so would probably prefer a windows machine for light gaming. My wife and I both use apple by preference but we also have a windows gaming machine so it doesn't really matter to us.

I'd be interested in anyones feedback.

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#3083064 1-Jun-2023 01:16

Least painful path would be to buy something that has an existing product for it like this Dyslexia Keyboard Stickers | Keyshorts

I figure sticking some new stickers on a keyboard every now and then is gonna be a lot less painful than trying to source a whole device adjusted to it.

Anything I say is the ramblings of an ill informed, opinionated so-and-so, and not representative of any of my past, present or future employers, and is also probably best disregarded.

Handle9

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#3083066 1-Jun-2023 01:45

toejam316:
Least painful path would be to buy something that has an existing product for it like this Dyslexia Keyboard Stickers | Keyshorts

I figure sticking some new stickers on a keyboard every now and then is gonna be a lot less painful than trying to source a whole device adjusted to it.

I’m not looking for something like that, more advice or experience on whether a Mac or windows machine would be more suitable or easier for her to use.

toejam316

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#3083067 1-Jun-2023 02:57

A brief Google search tells me Apple is the way to go, though it doesn't seem to be a well-covered topic - the top links are seemingly SEO machines, and this thread. Easiest method would be to let her test drive the gaming desktop and one of your Mac devices and see what feels more comfortable for her, surely? Seems a fairly subjective topic.

Anything I say is the ramblings of an ill informed, opinionated so-and-so, and not representative of any of my past, present or future employers, and is also probably best disregarded.

Handle9

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#3083068 1-Jun-2023 03:14

I’m really not looking for google-fu, more practical experience

SATTV

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#3083123 1-Jun-2023 07:38

First step - Talk to the school. See what they use / support. No point turning up with a device that the school does not support.

John

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Handle9

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#3083126 1-Jun-2023 07:51

SATTV:
First step - Talk to the school. See what they use / support. No point turning up with a device that the school does not support.

John

Any laptop we like.

blackjack17

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#3083127 1-Jun-2023 07:54

SATTV:
First step - Talk to the school. See what they use / support. No point turning up with a device that the school does not support.

John

Talk to the school and talk with the SAC.

Our year 7-10s use iPad pros while year 11s+ get a choice. 95% get a MacBook of some flavour while the rest stay with the iPad or some sort of surface.

Realistically there won't be a difference as most of what the kid will be doing is browser or word processing based and most of that will be in chrome. It won't be till senior levels (if ever) that they may need specific software.

Apple does come with some conveniences such as air drop and some of the software is quite polished but nothing that can't be replicated with a windows machine.

Depending what the school says I would be looking at something with touch interface.

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gbwelly

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#3083129 1-Jun-2023 07:57

Handle9: more advice or experience on whether a Mac or windows machine would be more suitable or easier for her to use.

No difference in it. I do rate that font (OpenDyslexic). Use it on the child's kindle and has made reading much faster and easier. Using that on whichever machine you choose could be a good help.

gehenna

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#3083130 1-Jun-2023 08:12

I doubt the OS makes any difference practically. I'd suggest it's more about the services running on top to supplement the learning experience for your daughter. And since a lot of those are web based (e.g. Bionic Reading) it doesn't matter which device you use. Aside from add on services, both OS have similar ways of managing fonts, scaling, spacing, etc. I'm coming from a practical suspected-ADHD background (diagnosis pending) and having used both platforms with services on top.

MarkM536

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#3083172 1-Jun-2023 10:11

This will show my age...

At 10 I got a laptop in primary school for my dyslexia, best thing ever to keep up with writing and generally getting thoughts written down.

I had a small touch screen laptop running Windows 8.

Keyboard font like mentioned above didn't matter to me, I learnt in a few months how to vaguely 'touch type'. I didn't particularly use the touch screen often.

I did try on-screen dyslexic fonts but there was always some compatibility issues across apps and you're never going to get everything into that font.... better off learning to read standard fonts than switching between them. Increasing font size helps those rivers & valley's between letters go away or even the blue-light filter mode so there is less contrast.

At intermediate school they had Apple (Macbooks and iMacs per class).

That a difficult OS to learn the quirks of and specialty learning assistant apps didn't work on it.

Looking back on it, a simplistic OS with clear visual instructions is all that is needed.

Rolling back to the mention of dyslexic fonts:

Go get her tested for Irlen tinting and Ceilfield program.

Irlen tint was the best thing I to read books and other paper resources like everyone else.

Then recently as an adult I've been through learning to read/write again through Ceilfield, that was awesome before I started university. The report I got from Ceilfield was far better than what a standard dyslexia assessment gave.

Handle9

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#3083395 1-Jun-2023 18:14

blackjack17:
SATTV:

First step - Talk to the school. See what they use / support. No point turning up with a device that the school does not support.

John

Talk to the school and talk with the SAC.

Our year 7-10s use iPad pros while year 11s+ get a choice. 95% get a MacBook of some flavour while the rest stay with the iPad or some sort of surface.

Realistically there won't be a difference as most of what the kid will be doing is browser or word processing based and most of that will be in chrome. It won't be till senior levels (if ever) that they may need specific software.

Apple does come with some conveniences such as air drop and some of the software is quite polished but nothing that can't be replicated with a windows machine.

Depending what the school says I would be looking at something with touch interface.

I talk to the school every night - my wife is a teacher on staff and the SENCO is our neighbour.

Edit: She's used an iPad since Grade 2 (she's in an IB program so equivalent of NZ Years 3) which has been great. The school requires laptops from grade 6.

Handle9

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#3083396 1-Jun-2023 18:15

MarkM536:

This will show my age...

At 10 I got a laptop in primary school for my dyslexia, best thing ever to keep up with writing and generally getting thoughts written down.

I had a small touch screen laptop running Windows 8.

Keyboard font like mentioned above didn't matter to me, I learnt in a few months how to vaguely 'touch type'. I didn't particularly use the touch screen often.

I did try on-screen dyslexic fonts but there was always some compatibility issues across apps and you're never going to get everything into that font.... better off learning to read standard fonts than switching between them. Increasing font size helps those rivers & valley's between letters go away or even the blue-light filter mode so there is less contrast.

At intermediate school they had Apple (Macbooks and iMacs per class).

That a difficult OS to learn the quirks of and specialty learning assistant apps didn't work on it.

Looking back on it, a simplistic OS with clear visual instructions is all that is needed.

Rolling back to the mention of dyslexic fonts:

Go get her tested for Irlen tinting and Ceilfield program.

Irlen tint was the best thing I to read books and other paper resources like everyone else.

Then recently as an adult I've been through learning to read/write again through Ceilfield, that was awesome before I started university. The report I got from Ceilfield was far better than what a standard dyslexia assessment gave.

Thanks, this is the sort of thing I was looking for.

She's had intervention since she was 6 and made great progress, I'm just looking for any practical feedback like this. I appreciate it.

Handle9

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#3083398 1-Jun-2023 18:20

gehenna:

I doubt the OS makes any difference practically. I'd suggest it's more about the services running on top to supplement the learning experience for your daughter. And since a lot of those are web based (e.g. Bionic Reading) it doesn't matter which device you use. Aside from add on services, both OS have similar ways of managing fonts, scaling, spacing, etc. I'm coming from a practical suspected-ADHD background (diagnosis pending) and having used both platforms with services on top.

I suspect that's the case but it's good to hear from people who have experience. She's the only dyslexic in the house so her lived experience is different to ours. There can be things we don't consider that can make a difference.

gehenna

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#3083461 1-Jun-2023 18:52

I can't recommend Bionic Reading highly enough, that might be worth a look. It's a free browser extension that runs over a page and changes the text to the bionic format, but there's also an app or website you can go to to copy/paste text into directly and get it outputted in bionic format. I did that with a few ebooks recently before i loaded on my kindle. I haven't read so much in years as since I got onto it.

blackjack17

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#3083462 1-Jun-2023 18:54

Handle9:

Edit: She's used an iPad since Grade 2 (she's in an IB program so equivalent of NZ Years 3) which has been great. The school requires laptops from grade 6.

Kristin?

If the school doesn't care then whatever fits the budget. What do most of the other students use? If your wife is on staff then she should know. Everything will be web based so OS won't make a difference. If she has the same OS as most then it will make it easier on the teacher.

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