Dyslexic funding / laptops

deb54

Hi all
My daughter is starting uni in london (central St Martin's art college) and she's dyslexic, she'll really need an apple mac and it's impossible for me to fund as I'm a single partent it's hard enought funding her myself during her foundation year. Does anyone know where she could get any funding towards a laptop or ANYTHING. thanks
Deb

Gingernutmeg

If you are dyslexic you can get some funding towards computers etc, but I'm not sure whether it's centrally administered or whether it comes from each uni individually. I know that a friend of mine, who has severe dyslexia, got a computer, printer and a 'book scanner' thing which read text back to her, as well as an allowance for paper and printing each year. The best thing to do is get in touch with the disability support service at the uni, as they can help with getting assessed and getting the technical support you need. I'm not sure that you can specify the type of computer though ... although what's provided may vary from place to place.

deb54

thanks i'll give them a ring next week in the half term.trouble is im a teacher and not on bad wages but still impossible to fund her. the thing is they go by my wages for her income, mad huh! so she doesn't get EMA

deb54

by the way she's going in hall of residence in Tooting, what's it like there? bad?

ROCKINGHAM

My daughter had an assessment at her Uni (Roehampton) and she was able to obtain over £5000 in Disabled Student Allowance. They highlighted and costed the hardware and software she needed plus the cost of further assessments to gain extra time at exams etc. The DSA comes from your local LEA.

Its a great pity that this help was not available in the state system when she was at school. Yet they throw money at you when you secure a place at Uni - she only spent £1500 of it.

Suggest you contact student services as by law they must make provision for disabled students. Dyslexia is regarded as a disability.

Gingernutmeg

Yes, Roehampton are REALLY good at getting disabled students the support they need - I've just finished there and so many of my friends have nothing but praise for the learning support. Good luck to both of your daughters!

Tooting isn't too bad - I've only been there once so I can't say much about it, but I have a few friends there who seem happy

Sammz

ROCKINGHAM wrote: »

Suggest you contact student services as by law they must make provision for disabled students. Dyslexia is regarded as a disability.

As far as I know, provision for dylexic students won't usually cover a laptop. Extra time in exams, allowances for bad spelling/grammar, coloured paper, overlays etc can be taken in to account but they provide PCs on campus for students to use.

I deal with 50 disabled students and none of them have been provided with a laptop.

To OP - laptops are coming way down in price now. £300 would get a decent one.

Blacksheep1979

Can I ask why you are under the impression that your daughter specifically needs an Apple Mac?

kr15snw

Blacksheep: If shes going into a design industry area then an apple will help her alot. The software is easier to get and there are generally a lot of cheap copies going around the colleges. We only use macs in our art college, although there are pcs in the building we are not shown how to use the software on them (and it is different).

deb: Im at the plymouth art college and couldnt live without my mac, so depending on her area it may be a def (Im studying graphic design, what will she be studying?) At our college we all do dyslexia tests on arrival. If we have it then we get a free Apple Macbook (the base range one). A few people on my course have recieved these. They also get special help with projects, but this is open to all of us aswell (getting things read through and can discuss essays etc). But they dont get anymore help. The colleges point of view is 'were giving you a laptop thats worth over £800, be happy'

Hope this helps

ROCKINGHAM

Provsion for Special Needs differs between Higher Education and Further Education. PCs on campus are available to all. However often dyslexic students require specialist software which would be inappropriate to have loaded on every PC on campus. The University concerned must make appropriate provision for each student with special needs. Dyslexia comes in many forms - so provision for one student would differ for another one.

The University must assess the student and identify the need. It was this report that enabled my daughter to obtain a Disabled Student Allowance. So if anyone feels that they do have a special need whether it is dyslexia or something else then request the Uni concerned to arrange the appropriate assessment.

I must be honest as someone who represented parents at The Special Educational Needs Tribunal trying to obtain the basic of provsion for the children in school, I was amazed how Roehampton bent over backwards to help my daughter without even asking. All she did was produce an Educational Psychologist Report, even if she didn't have one, then they would have arranged it.

Ytaya

You need to look into Disabled Students Allowance. They'll assess your daughter and fund any recommended equipment (up to published limits, check the website). It's not means tested and it doesn't need to be paid back, nor do you have to return the equipment at the end of the course. Your daughter should also contact the university's disability support people to arrange for things like extra time in exams and, if she needs it, lecture handouts in particular formats/in advance.