[Athen] request for input

[Teresa Haven]

Aloha, all.  I'm seeking suggestions on technology that's rather out of my field because of the age of the user involved.  A student at my university approached me this week asking for suggestions on purchasing a laptop for his little brother, age 11.  The younger brother experienced near-drowning at the age of 15 months and has resulting difficulties with vision and motor control due to anoxic brain injury and epileptic activity.  Also significantly, he lives in Syria, not the US, although reportedly he can work well in English despite it being his second language.  Reportedly he learns well by listening and has already had limited exposure to computers, so the older brother was interested in something that would provide screen reading/speech output and screen magnification.  My first thought was a Mac of some sort, since they have screen readers, TTS utilities, and screen magnifiers built-in, but I think the older brother is hoping for something designed even more specifically for a child with a disability.  Does anyone have other suggestions they can make?
Many thanks in advance,
Teresa

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Teresa LW Haven, Ph.D.
Supervisor, Alternative Format Services
Disability Resource Center
Arizona State University
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