Teaching · Special Education

Find out, with timed trials, whether dictation lets the writing keep up.

Set up the tool, teach the student to say punctuation, plan a sentence and edit, then time short writing tasks by hand, by keyboard and by voice. The summary works out words per minute and how much needed fixing for each, so the team can see whether dictation is worth it.

Start a planWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Special Education toolkit, $99 for 100 items.

The speech-to-text plan

One plan per student; add trials as they happen. Use initials or a code, never a name. The example is made up.

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What you get

Teaching · Special Education$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
For each student, the reasons and settings, set-up and teaching steps, and timed trials by method, with words per minute, the share of words fixed and a comparison.
Who it is for
Special education teachers, occupational therapists and assistive technology specialists, with the classroom teachers who see the written work.
Format
Browser form with a trial table. Several saved records; printed with the summary or as a blank trial sheet; CSV of the trials; export and import a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Special Education toolkit ($99) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Special Education space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.
Drawn for this page. For some students the ideas come faster out loud than through a pencil; dictation lets the writing keep up.

How to use it

  1. Start a record with the student’s initials or a code.
  2. Mark what holds back the student’s writing and where dictation would help.
  3. Set up the tool and teach punctuation commands, sentence planning and editing.
  4. Time short writing tasks on similar prompts with each method and count words and fixes.
  5. Read the comparison, finish the set-up, and decide with the student where to use it.

Start a plan

What the plan is for

Why time it

Dictation can free students whose ideas outrun their handwriting or spelling, but it only helps if the words come out mostly right and the student can edit them. Timing a few short tasks by hand, by keyboard and by voice, on similar prompts, turns a hunch into numbers the team and the student can see.

Teach it like a skill

Students dictate better when they plan a sentence before speaking, say punctuation aloud and reread to fix errors. Without that teaching, early trials can make dictation look worse than it is. A headset microphone and a quiet spot cut errors sharply.

What this form is not

It is an implementation and trial record, not an assistive technology evaluation, and it does not decide accommodations. Use on state tests follows your state’s rules. Records use a code, never a name, and stay in this browser.

Sources

  1. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act regulations, 34 CFR 300.5 and 300.6 (assistive technology device and service) and 300.324(a)(2)(v) (consideration of assistive technology).
  2. MacArthur, C. A., & Cavalier, A. R. (2004). Dictation and speech recognition technology as test accommodations. Exceptional Children, 71(1), 43–58.
  3. Zabala, J. S. The SETT Framework: Student, Environments, Tasks and Tools, for assistive technology decisions (joyzabala.com).
  4. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 34 CFR Part 99.

The example student is made up. The organizer tracks a speech-to-text trial; decisions about accommodations belong to the IEP or 504 team. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.