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More Stories to Keep Us Motivated

We have received permission to post a few more stories that are heartwarming, interesting, and encouraging. Such stories of success with Dragon NaturallySpeaking keep us motivated and working in the DigiTools movement.

In the past months (02/05-03/05) these inspiring stories have come in, and we really want to share them:

Gerry, a professor of Anthropology, inspired us with this e-mail:

"Dragon 7 permits me as a disabled person (quadriplegic) to carry-on teaching and writing... Without the use of Dragon NaturallySpeaking I would have been obliged to stop teaching several years ago. I am a university professor with seven books to my credit and have just finished the eighth book, using Dragon NaturallySpeaking."

Amy has cerebral palsy. She attended a session led by Bonnie in Oklahoma. Amy took the time to dictate and share her story. If, after you read this short excerpt, you want to read the rest of the story in her own voice-typing, click the picture or click this link.

"My name is Amy Brown. I am 28 years old and have cerebral palsy, which affects my right arm, both my legs, and my vision. I use a power chair to get around. As a child growing up, I always wanted my independence to prove that I could do things on my own. ...

"In August 2004, I changed to the Business Technology Program with Carolyn Eacret as my instructor. I knew Mrs. Eacret would help me become successful because she knew about the newest voice recognition program, Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8.0. Recently, I was able to attend a voice-recognition workshop with her in Oklahoma City that Speaking Solutions was holding for instructors. In the training workshop, I was able to voice type at 67 words a minute. My typing speed using my hands was 3 words per minute. You can imagine how excited I was! ...

"After returning to class from the workshop, I took the same keyboarding book I had used the previous year and did the lessons over again using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8.0. I finished the entire 20 lessons in a week and a half. Without this software, it would have taken me months. ..."

Last semester, Julia had 100% of the special-education students enrolled in speech-recognition training. She works with both learning-disabled and severe emotional at risk students. Here are a few of her comments:

"At the end of the semester the lowest words per minute a student was typing was 115 words per minute. The fastest was 165. The low student only had an accuracy of 88% at 115 WPM but this is a student that had someone to transcribe for him in other classes frequently.

"This semester, after three weeks of voice, my 13 students are all are doing great. I have two students with severe graphomotor function disabilities.

"One student, after four weeks of working on keyboarding last semester, achieved a high of 8 words per minute. When he has to write on paper, sometimes, he can not get it from thought to paper. He now types entirely using voice. He only uses a mouse to start Dragon or to turn the microphone back on. After two weeks of training on Dragon Version 7.3 his speed is 150 words per minute with a 94% accuracy. That is a long way up from 8%.

"In fact, my class average is an accuracy rate of 94.375% at a rate of 149.375 WPM. These students are all classified as "At Risk" and run across ethnic backgrounds as well almost all are from poor socio-economic backgrounds. They have been placed in an alternative school due to at-risk performance or behavior."

Jeanne King from Virginia sent this very insightful story.

"Many students have special challenges when they sit down at a keyboard to compose something. For those with special needs, these challenges are magnified. A student with dyslexia found learning to compose at the keyboard very difficult. We would discuss his topic and clarify what he wanted to say then he would begin. Because he was very conscientious, he would never think of using the wrong finger, so he moved along at 10 words a minute-- it was a slow process at best. He would diligently concentrate on the location of the appropriate key before striking each one. At the same time, he was formulating a thought, holding words in his head, and making the best possible attempt to spell the words correctly, a near impossible task in itself.

"Just imagine--a student who has difficulty reading and writing anyway, juggling all these tasks in his head at one time.

"DragonNaturally Speaking software came to his rescue. Some students may find the multi-tasking of dictating and composing to be difficult, but my student found it much easier than composing and keying in the text. One of my proudest moments was when he came to ask me if he could dictate his college essay on my computer. He did! And he was accepted!"

Carl Fielder started an initiative to bring Dragon training to the Nebraska School for the Visually Handicapped. And while we know speech-recognition is a tool for everyone -- to increase productivity and avoid debilitating computer-related injuries -- it's these cases that keep up our enthusiasm.

This semester I have a student with a form of brittle bone disease. She has broken one arm six times and the other twice during her lifetime. The resulting arthritis makes typing difficult. She is a fabulous speaker and within a day became the best typist at school! She loves Dragon. (~160 WPM @ 96-98%)

In the spring of 1997, a student with cerebral palsy needed an accommodation to compete with all the two-handed typists in the world. Within a few weeks the young man was the fastest typist in school. (See also www.speakingsolutions.com/news/art07.html and www.speakingsolutions.com/news/art11.htm)

We hope you are also having such wonderful experiences teaching Dragon. And if you have a story to share, please e-mail us at info@SpeakingSolutions.com. We would love to hear from you!