Re: [school-discuss] Dyslexia and Programming

[Joel Kahn <jj2kk4@xxxxxxxxx>]

Ania Lesca wrote:
> Scratch is great, but our "productions" cannot be used
> outside scratch.

This is true, and the same limitation applies to BASIC-256, Alice, VPython, and a number of other programming environments that are aimed at teaching programming to novices. When we are talking about students who are just starting to learn the way that computers really work, it may be a bit premature to think about stand-alone apps resulting from this process, especially if the students are facing their own special challenges. What kinds of programs should children write at what stages? That will have to be worked out.

In connection with this, I strongly encourage everyone to read the *entire* text of a 2006 article by David Brin:

http://www.salon.com/2006/09/14/basic_2/

Ian Larsen credits this article with inspiring him to develop BASIC-256 in the first place, and expands on the ideas here:

http://basic256.org/whybasic

While it's certainly possible to debate Brin's and Larsen's arguments in various ways, I would ask: How do they apply to students with dyslexia, autism, attention deficit disorder, &c, &c? Maybe such kids will not grow up to be professional programmers, but decisions still need to be made about what kind of "technology" education they should have.

Joel

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