Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Has Anyone Used Ginger Software

We are still trying to find the delicate balance of giving my DS7 access to AT to enable him to write, but at the same time making sure it isn't too much help that he doesn't develop skills that he could if he continued to work at it. We saw this with handwriting that after a summer with a tutor he could write a few sentences without complaint. Before that it was kicking and screaming. I feel like we don't yet understand what is possible for him versus what is so difficult it is impossible for him.

I ran across Ginger Software today, and it looks wonderful. The spell correction looks fantastic, but I still want him to think about grammar and syntax as I think learning those skills are within his reach. Has anyone used it?

Does anyone have advice on how to find that line of just the right amount of help?

Hi BlessedMommy,

We had Ginger recommended for our dysgraphic ds when he was around 10 (5th grade) but chose not to purchase it at the time - not because of functionality or because it wouldn't be useful but because we didn't think it would work on his Mac laptop. I just took a quick peak since you mentioned it this morning and see that it's now available on Mac and iOS, which is where ds spends most of his time... so now I think I will look into it again for ds so thanks for the mention Re your question though - our ds is in high school, so that's a whole different world than a 7 year old who is learning to write. I have some thoughts on the issue for a 7 year old, but will start with why we would consider it for our now-high-school student: dysgraphia isn't just about sloppy handwriting (I realize you know this, just stating it for others who are reading and might not realize that). Even after a child is a proficient speller (when not writing) and understands grammar rules inside and out they still can have spelling, grammar, punctuation etc impacted *while* writing if they are dysgraphic. The issue is the load on working memory being taken up completely by the act of handwriting... and for my dysgraphic ds, these issues flow over into typing too (he has DCD impacting fine motor like I think I recall your ds has). It's a struggle for a dysgraphic person just to get their thoughts out to begin with, so adding in helper software accomplishes two things: it helps make output quicker and it reduces time spent on corrections which isn't *learning* time as much as just extra-work-time. And time spent on writing assignments can really get to be an issue for dysgraphic students as they move up in school. So for my ds, in high school, a competent speller who understands grammar but struggles with just getting the thoughts out of his head, yes, I'd consider this software. That doesn't mean *he'd* find it helpful - just that it's something I'd let him look at, consider, and try, without a second thought.

If my ds was still 7, whether or not I'd consider it depends on several factors. We had a ladder of goals that we wanted ds to go through before moving on, steps suggested by our neuropsych. Our ds was also 8 when diagnosed (latter part of 2nd grade). The first goal was learning how to form his letters before moving past handwriting. We had to give up on that goal until he went through handwriting OT due to pain, improper grip etc, so we moved on to the second goal while still working on that first goal with an OT. Second goal was learning how to keyboard, and that we considered accomplished once he was able to keyboard, not waiting for him to be an efficient quick typist. The reality was that due to his dysgraphia and DCD, he was typing faster than he was handwriting long before anyone would consider him to be an "efficiently quick" keyboardist. After he was able to keyboard the next goals had to do with AT. In the meantime he was on a parallel learning path to attempt to improve his written expression. We ignored spelling (because he was a good speller when given spelling tests... but spelling didn't work well at all... and still doesn't... when he was typing or handwriting something longer than putting down words for a spelling test - i.e., his spelling was impacted by his dysgraphia not because he didn't know how to spell). We also let him focus on grammar during grammar lessons at school but didn't do specific grammar-related work at home (outside of helping prompt him for edits during written expression assignments). Not sure I'm explaining this well, but because his challenge was getting his thoughts out (and eventually also summarizing what he read and organizing his work), we focused on the challenge and helped him with proofreading/correcting the other (spelling, grammar etc). So - at home, we were supporting not teaching grammar/spelling/etc. (Sorry this is getting long lol! - I am getting to a point... slowly...)

Soooo... we didn't purchase Ginger because we didn't think it would work on the computer setup we had at the time, but we did introduce Co-Writer to our ds at around 9 years old - and it was a *huge* help to him. Co-Writer is word-prediction - the student starts typing a word and a pull-down list appears to select the word from. This helped speed up ds' typing/writing and helped him get his thoughts out quicker, which in turn led to vastly increased written output and much less frustration because his work came out spelled correctly the first time around so he didn't have to go back and spend time correcting spelling when the focus was on the content of the thoughts in his writing assignment. So... that experience with Co-Writer leads me to believe that it *would* potentially be very useful to introduce and use Ginger for an elementary student that is working on written expression *content* - even if they are in the process of learning grammar/spelling separately. The one gotcha for your ds, I think, would be exactly where he's at re written expression. Is he writing independently at all yet, and what are the expectations at school? We really didn't need this type of support for our ds until around 4th grade, because that's when written expression expectations rose quite a bit in our school district. Prior to that he was able to use scribing when needed and there wasn't really a lot of written expression work required in class.. hence we were able to focus on letting him learn to keyboard and scribing when needed.

One other thing I'd point out that we've found all along with our ds (and with our not-dysgraphic other children) - having built in supports for spelling (and the minimal grammar supports in MSWord) have been *helpful* learning tools rather than things that prevented them from learning how to spell/write. They see while they are working what they are doing that isn't considered correct, and that is in and of itself a learning step.

Hope some of that makes sense!

Best wishes,

polarbear

ps - one other thing I meant to add - it was literally years before our ds was writing independently (fully) and I often wondered if he'd *get* those things such as grammar (ever) in his writing, but we simply didn't have time to worry about that above just working on written expression at home, and I knew he was getting good grades in grammar assignments at school. When he *did* start writing independently, the grammar piece was intact - it worked. Spelling, nope. He still can't spell worth a darn when writing, and he still mixes up words like there/their/they're etc. So he isn't ever going to get by without a combo of spelling auto-corrects or word prediction + a good proof-reader

pb

PolarBear-- Thanks for all the thoughts and great advice. Yes, my DS has DCD as well which has a huge impact on handwriting and other fine motor tasks. However, we have found that typing seems to be okay for him. He isn't a fast typist in anyway, but he is learning.

We tried out Ginger this weekend for his homework, and it seems to have made a huge difference from him. He isn't asking me to spell every other word, and he is writing more. Also he is using the text to speech to hear what he has written and find where he has left out words (something he does frequently). I'm hoping this allows him to be more independent and able to express himself. We will just have to watch that it doesn't become a crutch and keep him from developing his spelling and writing skills.