Holmes, A., & Silvestri, R. (2012). Assistive technology use by students with LD in postsecondary education: A case of application before investigation ? Canadian Journal of School Psychology , 27 (1), 81–97. https://doi.org/10.1177/0829573512437018

From a journal (Canadian Journal of School Psychology) only available via Interlibrary Loan to U of M.

This study specifies the use of various presentation and response accommodations, specifically assistive technology (AT), used in U.S. and Canadian postsecondary institutions. The researchers also summarized findings of several studies regarding AT's effects for students with learning disabilities (LD) in postsecondary settings.

The numbers and characteristics of research participants varied across the studies reviewed; research centered on students with learning disabilities (LD) at the postsecondary level in the United States and Canada.

The nature of the effects data varied across the studies reviewed; research centered on supporting reading and writing.

The researchers indicated that assistive technology for reading could include software programs with functions such as text-to-speech, optical character recognition (OCR), and synthesized speech; for writing, software functions could include: speech- or voice-recognition, word-prediction, and mind-mapping and outlining. More research attention was paid to AT studies examining impacts on reading, and little or none on writing. Word-processing assisted writing, including spelling error detection, increased GPAs, and improved course completion to a rate similar to students without disabilities, assisted spelling error detection, and increased GPAs. Text-to-speech supported reading, benefiting comprehension, reading rate, task persistence. The degree of benefit in some areas depended on the degree of reading disabilities, in that those with more difficulties exhibited improvements more than those with fewer difficulties. For instance, people with phonological processing challenges were aided more than others. Future research directions were suggested.