I just received this great story today from a woman named Carol Roche.  Carol teaches students with learning disabilities and she has been using Dragon to help some of her students with writing.  The attached story was written by a gentleman by the name of Heraldo who recently finished her class.

Congratulations, Heraldo, and thanks for sharing your story!

Peter

Heraldo’s Story

Written By Heraldo 7/28/09 Using Dragon Naturally Speaking Software

I would like to invite you to take a look at the class from which I’m graduating.  I’ve never been very good at spelling but now, because of this class, I can do a lot of spelling, and different things that I never was able to do.  The class was hard, yes, I have several disabilities but the class was well worth it.  I really do feel that if there’s anyone out there listening who may have a disability like me or a series of disabilities, they really should take this class because it helps build self-esteem.  This class also gives them the tools that they need to do a lot of writing, so they can improve like me. 

Before this class, I couldn’t spell and I couldn’t hear the words clearly to learn.  Now Dragon Speak Naturally does most of that for me and now I can write letters and send email.  I can do my class assignments using spellchecker and also other tools I have in Dragon Speak Naturally or either in Word Perfect.  I’m very glad that I’ve been involved in this class. 

There was many jobs I really wanted but couldn’t get them.  I was quite capable of doing the jobs but I couldn’t put things down on paper because of a lack of spelling and writing skills.  I’m learning a lot of these things through this class and now that I’m graduating from this class, I plan to buy this program and I am also going to come back regularly.  I want to continue to learn to do things like what I’ve been doing in this class for a long time.

I went to many organizations in the school district and even went to adult rehabilitation and asked for help.  I couldn’t get any help at all.  I even went to the library and signed up for the special programs that they have.  I was put on the waiting list for a year and then I was sent a letter saying that there was no one there who could help me.

Now I have an outstanding teacher.  At the same time I am trying to acquire my GED.  One of my teachers believed enough in me to encourage me to take the Dragon Speak Naturally class out at Pikes Peak Community College.  She pushed me and after a bunch of tests and speaking with a lot of people, I finally came to Pikes Peak Community College.  I’m so glad that she pushed me and even drove me out here to speak to the people who know all the information to get into this class.  I’m so very glad that all of these things happened and she believed enough in me to push me. 

I’ve been trying for so long to learn how to spell and how to write and to learn about punctuation and writing.  I know I’m a lot closer than I used to be and I’m so glad I’ve come here.  I’ve had so many good and bad experiences in my life that I’ve always wanted to share with other people, but I wasn’t able to because I couldn’t spell out words.  I couldn’t put them on paper, but now I can and obviously it has allowed me to learn and I’m looking forward to learning more.

I’m so very happy that I’ve been a part of this class.  I worked hard and I will continue to work even harder to get better.  I want to thank everyone involved with me, especially the outstanding instructors who have helped me to get here.  Thank you so much and I’ll continue to work hard and make you proud of me.