Struggling to get thoughts onto the page is not always a writing problem. Very often it is a working memory problem. When a student is spending all of their mental energy on spelling and handwriting, there is very little left for the thing they were actually trying to say.
This fall, Redwood Literacy is hosting two Saturday Assistive Technology for Writing workshops at our East Nashville learning center. They are taught by Redwood co-founders Kait and Andre Feriante, and they are built to do one thing: make homework and writing less painful at home.
Workshop Dates, Times, and Cost
- Saturday, October 3, 2026, 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM CT
- Saturday, November 7, 2026, 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM CT
- Three hours of hands on instruction
- $250 per seat
- $50 off for each additional family member who signs up
- Capped at 15 students per workshop, at a 5 to 1 student to adult ratio
- Location: Redwood Literacy, 1101 Chapel Avenue, Nashville, TN 37206
Students and parents can both sign up. We highly recommend that at least one parent attends with their child. Parents are not required, and we are glad to teach your child on their own, but the families who see the biggest change at home are the ones where a parent learned the tools alongside their student and can reinforce them on a Tuesday night.
What Your Child Will Learn
The goal of this workshop is not to replace learning with technology. The goal is to protect your child’s cognitive energy for the actual objective of the assignment, and to build independence so that homework is no longer a two hour negotiation every night.
- A written expression screener at the start of the morning, so we know where your child’s writing skills actually are
- Explicit written expression instruction built on what that screener shows
- How to independently type an essay using assistive technology, start to finish
- Setting up a student Google account and using Google Docs as a writing workspace
- Speech to text and voice typing, including Google Dictation
- Text to speech and read aloud tools for getting through assigned reading
- Word prediction and spelling supports that reduce transcription load
- How to use these tools during real homework, not just in a demo
- Study and organization routines that stick after the workshop ends
Before the workshop, every family completes a short intake form telling us what technology their child already uses at school. That way we teach the tools your child actually has access to on Monday morning, whether that is a school issued Chromebook, an iPad, or a family laptop.
Why Assistive Technology Only Works When It Is Taught
Research shows that tools like text to speech, speech to text, and word prediction can free up the mental energy students spend on spelling and mechanics, so they can focus on what they are actually trying to say (Silio and Barbetta, 2010). Students using word prediction, for example, have been shown to write longer, more organized compositions with fewer spelling errors, because the tool takes some of the load off decoding and transcription and leaves more room for higher level thinking (Evmenova, Graff, Jerome and Behrmann, 2010).
The research is just as clear on another point. These tools only work when they are paired with direct instruction. A landmark meta analysis found that read aloud and text to speech tools meaningfully improve reading comprehension for students with reading disabilities, but the benefit depends on how the tool is taught and used, not just whether it is turned on (Wood, Moxley, Tighe and Wagner, 2018). Skills like keyboarding need to come before word prediction is introduced, and students need real practice time before a tool is used for high stakes work (Evmenova et al., 2010).
That is the gap these two workshops are designed to close. Not just what assistive technology exists, but how to teach it so that it actually reduces cognitive load and supports homework completion, rather than becoming one more thing for a family to manage.
What This Looks Like in Real Student Writing
This is not theoretical for us. In our 2026 Summer Morning Intensives in East Nashville and Evanston, eleven students wrote a sample in their first days and another at the end of four weeks, with most of them working alongside decoding instruction and assistive technology. We published all eleven pairs, exactly as the students wrote them, in Eleven Students. Four Weeks. Here Is What Changed.
Read those pairs and you can see what tools plus instruction actually buys a student. Structure shows up first. A seven year old who used to cry about writing produced a full argument paragraph with a position, three reasons, and a conclusion. The ideas were already there in the first sample. What was missing was a way to get them onto the page in an order a reader could follow, and that is exactly the access problem assistive technology is built to solve.
Who This Is For
This workshop is a fit for students who can read and write, but for whom the physical act of writing is the bottleneck. That includes students with dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADHD, slow processing speed, or any child whose homework takes two and three times longer than it should. Families do not need to be current Redwood students to attend. Families in our Founding 30 attend at no additional cost, and seats still need to be reserved, because the 15 seat cap applies to everyone.
Both workshops are taught by Redwood co-founders Kait and Andre Feriante. Every session at our Nashville center is currently founder taught, which is not something we will be able to say forever.
Save the Date: Redwood Open House in East Nashville
Sunday, November 8, 2026, 3:00 to 7:00 PM. Come see the space at 1101 Chapel Avenue, meet the team, and find out how Redwood works. Details to follow.
How to Reserve a Seat
Seats are first come, first served. Tell us you are interested on our Nashville interest form, email admissions@redwoodliteracy.com, or call (773) 309-4524.
If you are not sure whether this workshop is the right fit for your child, book a free 15 minute consultation and ask first. There is no pressure and nothing to buy on the call.
You can see everything we offer at our Nashville center, including small group tutoring, 1:1 intensives, and the Homework Room, on our Nashville dyslexia and reading tutoring page.
