Patrick Donohue

Eleventh grader

Batavia High School

Last year, Patrick Donohue was a frustrated tenth grader with great ideas but difficulty getting the words down on paper. Today, he is a thriving eleventh grader who has become adept at using Dragon Naturally Speaking software to read and write his assignments. The difference is remarkable, says his special education teacher, Lorrie Gammack, who worked with Patrick last year.

In tenth grade, Patrick expressed himself verbally without difficulty, says Lorrie, but converting those words to written text was the challenge, so he had someone read the material to him and then scribe it for him. However, after seeing a presentation about the product, the Batavia School Districtdecided to invest in Dragon Naturally Speaking, to see if speech recognition software could assist Patrick's learning. It did, and then some.

Now Patrick can speak his assignments to transfer his thoughts to paper, and has the program read material back to him, giving him independence he's never had. He's also become the resident expert on using the software and has been asked to help teach some of his classmates.

Lorrie has seen other changes, too. "In the past, we couldn't work on his writing skills because we were always working on the physical mechanics," she says. But almost immediately after he started using the program, Patrick's required daily journal entries increased from 25 or 30 words a day to 100 or more – tripling or quadrupling his previous output.

Most importantly, says Lorrie, Patrick's demeanor, attitude, and facial expressions have been transformed. "His whole outlook has changed." Instead of coming to school sullen and downcast, this year Patrick burst through the front doors on the first day with a smile, excited to be there.

Interview by Marcia Layton Turner, Layton & Co.
 

Information on Speech Recognition Training for Kids