Write: Outload and Co:Write

Both Co: Writer and Write: Outloud could help the same type of students. Really the software would be great for all students when they are younger and those who struggle with writing when they are older. The software’s ability to help students’ improve their writing can also be appreciated by all students but I do not believe that those that are proficient writers should use it when they are older as it may be unnecessarily leaned on.
The students who can most benefit from Co:Writer would be any students who have difficulty spelling or with limited mobility. For those who have trouble spelling, it can help them discern between similar sounding/spelled words. For those with mobility movement issues it can help limit the amount of typing that they need to do.
Write: Outloud can help students who have difficulty with proof-reading as they can hear from someone else what their writing sounds like. Often when students read their writing back to themselves they hear it as they intended to write it, not as it actual sounds. This software can also help those who are not motivated to do their best work because the do not like to proof read. It will encourage students to look over their work by again being able to hear it as they go through it.

Prisoners of Silence

The actions taken by those in the disability community that are shown in "Prisoners of Silence" are understandable and heartbreaking all in one. They were all searching for hope and they believe that they had found it. The disability community bought into facilitated communication whole heartily because they wanted to give those with Autism a voice. Their desire to be able to communicate with this population won out over their reasoning. They could not see that the responses to answers and questions that those with Autism were giving did not make sense. They could not see that it didn’t make sense that all of a sudden they could do complex math or understand Shakespeare. They were blinded by hope.
It is easy for those watching the video to see how the augmentative communication did not work and to think how silly those who believed in it were. Those who bought into the technology are not to be faulted though. They so deeply wanted a solution to the communication problems of those they cared about that this gave them hope and they ran with it. I feel particularly bad for the parents who were told by specialists and schools that it really was their children communicating with them. It gave the parents hope that they could finally find out what their children were thinking and then it was taken away from them. Many believed that their hopes and dreams were finally answered and who would want to believe in something if it was going to do that for you.