Hope Adams is a Graduate Intern working in the special education department at Stowupland High School, in Suffolk, England. Hope explains the successes they have had since trialling and purchasing DocsPlus for their students.
"DocsPlus offers so many benefits, but sometimes it’s the simplest things that make the most impact..."
The April/May 2019 edition of Closing The Gap Solutions contains a fantastic article looking at two students in separate high schools who were introduced to DocsPlus to improve their written expression.
"In both case studies, [the students with disabilities] gained confidence and improved their writing skills for challenging secondary school assignments. Both students demonstrated an increase in self-efficacy by taking on an increased responsibility for the steps of the writing process. As both students became more confident in their ability to plan, organize, construct and edit their written work, their confidence in completing writing assignments improved."
Karen Allum, Head of Learning Development at Culford School, has been using DocsPlus to support students across the school with their literacy development and in informal exams.
"There have been so many positive outcomes from embedding DocsPlus in our learning development strategies. The children’s writing output has increased, the work they are producing is more detailed and at a higher level than previously, and incorporates more sophisticated and relevant vocabulary."
The ASN team at Cathkin supports pupils with a wide range of needs, including learners with dyslexia, ADHD and autism.
Lorna Jensen told us of the difference it had made to the students’ literacy output in just a short amount of time.
"There’s no doubt that DocsPlus had a massive impact on the pupils during our trial. It improved their self-esteem, confidence and motivation with writing tasks. Certainly in the English department we found that their level of writing improved significantly."
Rachel Hinds, Head of Inclusion at Al Bateen Academy, has been using DocsPlus with her students to support them in the classroom, and also in exams. She is blown away with the success they've been experiencing!
"Recently I was teaching an 8th grade ELL class, and the second they sat down with a Wordbar they could just start writing. It was brilliant for me, and so good for their own self-esteem – being able to produce a whole sheet of paper, when they would’ve previously struggled to write even a few sentences without DocsPlus! They were all, obviously, proud of themselves."
Dr Abi James, Research Fellow and consultant, has reviewed DocsPlus.
"As with all Crick’s products it offers a range of tools to help students who need additional support, including text to speech, Wordbars, and a talking spell checker. DocsPlus’ accessibility settings cater to a variety of access needs (for example switch access, eye gaze, or on-screen keyboard) while the display preferences enable you to choose font and background colors, as well as select pre-configured high contrast modes."
Reviewer John Dabell gives his verdict on DocsPlus.
"...a super-intelligent ‘features galore’ word processing system that addresses a variety of learning needs, enabling students to think, act and engage with their writing autonomously, so they can learn with confidence."
Here's a new DocsPlus review from agent4change.net in the UK.
"Overall it is just what you would expect from Crick, a very inclusive, well thought out resource with the flexibility to provide valuable support for students with a diverse range of learning needs. The other thing you expect from Crick is fresh ideas with every new product. They never disappoint."
Carol Allen is an Education Advisor specializing in Technology and Inclusion, having taught in both mainstream schools and schools for students with severe, profound, and multiple learning difficulties. Here are her thoughts on DocsPlus.
"DocsPlus offers independence as a reader and writer. It offers scaffolded support which can be tailored to individual need AND it can cater for a flexible learning approach, whereby more support features are needed for some projects and fewer supports are needed for others. Most importantly, it offers control and success. Students are able to take control of their own learning and require less intervention from other adults or peers."