Assistive Technology Tools to Support Students With Special Needs in Writing

1. Assistive TechnologyTools to Support Students With Special Needs in Writing Overview Presentation for K – 8 Classroom Teachers Click on the Screen to proceed to the next screen. Rebecca, Melissa & Pamela

2. Click on the Screen to proceed to the next screen. Rationale “Assistive technology is any technology that allows one to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of an individual with special learning needs (Edyburn, 2000). Its applications and adaptations can help open doors to previously inaccessible learning opportunities for many children with special needs (Judge, 2001).” 1 Learning Disabilities are life-long conditions that do not go away but can be compensated for using areas of strength and with successful use of accommodations such as technology.2 1Education For All, 2005 page 127 2 Learning Disabilities Association of Ontario

3. OSAPAC (Ontario Software Acquisition Program Advisory Committee) Click on the Screen to proceed to the next screen. • OSAPAC is a committee of English and French representatives from across Ontario who advise the Ministry of Education on the acquisition of licenses for publicly funded schools in Ontario. • All schools in Ontario receive approved software titles from the provincial licensing, OESS (Ontario Educational Software Service) provided by TVO. • The software selected are available in disk form from school teacher or technology resource services. Many software will already be available on school networks.

4. How Assistive Technology Can Benefit Learning Disabled Students • Students gain motivation and confidence • Students enjoy using it • Students accomplish higher rates of learning and improved achievement • It builds on individual strengths • Students complete academic tasks independently, including tasks they might not otherwise be able to handle unaided, leading to a greater sense of self-worth • It builds skills applicable to future studies and careers Click on the Screen to proceed to the next screen. Education for All, p 129

5. Assistive Technology Software Programs Speech recognition software that transposes user speech into typed text by use of a floating tooltip. (Gr. 4 – 12) • Dragon Naturally Speaking • Write: Out Loud A simple talking word processor providing speech feedback for students as they type. (Gr. 1 – 8) • Clicker 5 A powerful talking word processor and multimedia tool to support student reading and writing. (Gr. 1 – 8) • Kid Pix 4 A publishing program with the ability to produce a slideshow or for teachers to insert forms for student use. (K – 8) A word prediction software and vocabulary tool that is used along with standard processing software. It provides assistance with vocabulary, sentence construction, and spelling. ( K – 8) • Co: Writer 4000 • SMART Ideas Concept Mapping Software that can be used to create graphic organizers such as Venn Diagrams, Fish Bones, Family Tree & Mind Maps. It is powerful when used as templates for organizing writing. (K – 12) Click on any of the Software Titles to get more information or THIS BOX to proceed to the end of the slide show.

6. Dragon Naturally Speaking • Benefits to LD students: • Reduces the need to type (Ideal for fine motor, dysgraphia, dyslexia issues) • Allows students with high verbal skills to put their ideas into written form effectively (autistic, gifted/LD) • Once trained, it functions faster and more accurately than typing even for fast talkers and those with speech issues • Making corrections to documents is relatively easy • Can be used with other digital media to have text read aloud F11 Corrections box allows the student to hear what was dictated, and then choose an option for hands-free corrections The ‘spell it’ box allows the student to train words for the software to recognize Click on the Screen to proceed to the next screen.

7. Dragon Naturally Speaking • Considerations: • It is essential that each student train the Dragon program to recognize his/her individual voice. Initial voice file activation requires generally 1 – 1.5 hours and voice file training takes between 10 – 15 minutes at the beginning of the first 8 – 10 sessions and 1 – 2 minutes thereafter • Each student must be able to save his/her voice file individually and have a high quality headset. This may require individual memory sticks. • Software must be used in a relatively quiet location (often a regular classroom has too much background noise) • There are a number of commands that need to be remembered and used for Dragon to work effectively (see the next screen) This is a video clip showing Dragon Naturally Speaking in Action (4 minutes) Click on the Screen to proceed to the next screen.

8. Dragon Naturally Speaking Voice Commands Click on this Bar to return to the Assistive Technology Software Programs

9. Write: Outloud Write Outloud is a text-to-speech software application that uses realistic synthesized voices. Students receive speech feedback as they write.  Write Outloud has the basic functions of any word processor along with many helpful features to help individual students in the writing process.  Use the Read function as a communication tool, or use the Speech Feedback to check spelling as you type.  Students with learning disabilities may find the Talking Dictionary helpful to have word definitions read to them.  Many students benefit significantly from listening to the words being spoken as they read, and Write Outloud enhances the experience further by highlighting each word as it is spoken. Click on the Screen to proceed to the next screen.

10. Write: Out Loud • Benefits to LD students: • Overall appearance can be modified as needed (visual impairment) • Simple to learn with no distractions • For use with high functioning LD students, those with spelling issues, fine motor or dysgraphia • Use during assessments (teacher inputs text) • Can import materials from internet and other digital sources to have text read aloud to the student Easily cycle through font and background colours for students with visual impairments Speed and voices can be changed. Font size and colour can be changed Teachers can import files for students to type directly into (assessments) Teachers can import files for students to listen to aloud (any digital text) • Considerations: • Students need to be able to type and generate ideas • Not as effective for use by non-verbal LD or those who have difficulty generating ideas Click on the Screen to proceed to the next screen.

11. Write: Outloud Tutorials Adjusting the Appearance  (1 min, 58 seconds) Prepare the writing environment by adjusting the font size, style and colour, and establishing the cue for misspelled words. Using the Talking Dictionary  (32 seconds) Learn how to use the Talking Dictionary tool Spell Check  (56 seconds) Learn the different functions of the Spell Check tool. Reading e-Text  (1 min, 14 seconds) Learn how to read any piece of text from the Internet, a scanner, or a typed document.  Click on this Bar to return to the Assistive Technology Software Programs

12. Clicker 5 • Benefits to LD students: • Useful for lower functioning (DD, MID, Autistic) or primary-age non-verbal LD students who have trouble generating vocabulary / ideas • Use the pictures and words for context clues when writing • Teachers can create / change word lists to make them level, grade, or subject specific • Older non-verbal LD students could use Clicker 5 for subject specific writing (history, geography, science, social studies) • Students with fine motor issues • Can import other pictures from other digital sources Teachers can create and/or change word lists from which students use to create written materials. Click on the Screen to proceed to the next screen.

13. Clicker 5 • This link will take you to a website to watch a demonstration video showing how to create a simple word bank grid and link it to a writing file. Click on the Clicker 5 graphic to connect to the Video(6:30 min) You can also access a 10 minute Clicker 4 tutorial (as a power point show) downloaded from OSAPAC Learning Materials on our main Power Point view #3194 Clicker4 PowerPoint Show (see in view #3194) Click on this Bar to return to the Assistive Technology Software Programs

14. Kid Pix Deluxe 4 for Schools • Benefits to LD students: • Multi-media includes pictures, animations, voice, colours, sounds, music and read-back features and the ability to connect all together in one visual form • The teacher can create templates for students to use • Teacher can control graphic libraries (limit some choices so as not to overwhelm) • The teacher can add verbal instructions for LD student to listen to at each individual pace (& relisten for clarification) • Available help movies provide assistance at each child’s pace • Slideshows can be exported as QuickTime movies to allow for presentations (ie story books). User’s Guide: Kid Pix Deluxe 4 for Schools p. 3 Click on the Screen to proceed to the next screen.

15. This is an example of an available template for teachers to use. Kid Pix 4 Keep clicking on the screen to see all the features Stamp feature Backgrounds Animations Sticker feature Sounds / Music Paint feature Click on the Screen to proceed to the next screen.

16. Kid Pix If you have downloaded the KP.exe from our main slideshow view (#3194), you can then view an example of a 6 year old’s story (Amy’s Story) as a slideshow with animation and sound by clicking on the link called Amy’s story.kpp (view #3194) • You can then play around in Kid Pix and create your own show. Amy’s Story.kpp Click on this Bar to return to the Assistive Technology Software Programs

17. Benefits to LD students: • Software works on top of other processing software then the student deals with additional appearance features – the ideas come first • Topic dictionaries provide word drop down windows for vocabulary assistance and idea generation • Students hear back their typed words and ideas (good for verbal LD) • Assists any writer who struggles with the mechanics of written output and students who have spelling, vocabulary or written expression issues Co: Writer 4000 Sentences are first typed into the support box at the bottom of the document and then inserted into the main document above after it is read back aloud. Can customize the number of words suggested (1 – 10) & frequency of suggestions. Click on the Screen to proceed to the next screen.

18. Co: Writer 4000 The main feature of Co: Writer 4000 is that it alllows the user to write complete sentences with very few key strokes. It produces a list of predicted words that grows and changes as you add typed letters to each word. It is has a 1000 word core dictionary and over 40 000 words in the Advanced Writers’ Dictionary. There are also many topic specific dictionaries such as Dinosaurs or Harry Potter. Click on any of these tutorials to become more familiar with this software Using Writer Files  Introduction to CoWriter  Using Topic Dictionaries  (2 mins, 6 seconds) (3 mins, 27 seconds) (2 mins, 50 seconds) You can access a 7 page (pdf) Co: Writer Getting Started Guide from our the Power Point Show Course View (Note # 3194) Click to see a Reference Guide for Co: Writer 4000 & Write: Outloud Click on this Bar to return to the Assistive Technology Software Programs

19. Write: Outloud & Co: Writer References Co: Writer – Write Outloud Reference Manual (15 pgs PDF) Provides instructions for use and special features including those for special needs students Click on this Bar to return to the Assistive Technology Software Programs

20. SMART Ideas Concept Mapping • Benefits to LD students: • Concept mapping helps non-verbal LD learners to pictorially represent the organization of their written ideas BEFORE needing to create sentences (I.e.idea generation) • Teachers create templates like the one shown using beneficial colour and shape features to help students see groupings/ ideas and arrow lines that show students the organization/direction of the ideas. Students then directly type their ideas into each shape. • Assists all writers who struggle to organize their ideas or with the connection between ideas This mapping template is for students to use to organize job notes for an opinion paper Arrows teach the connection between ideas and toward the conclusion Each shape box pops open to allow the student to directly type in ideas Click on the Screen to proceed to the next screen.

21. This is a powerpoint that shows what two teachers did in their classroom using SMART Ideas Concept Mapping. Their junior students wrote stories that were a twist on traditional folk tales. They used Smart Ideas and AppleWorks Presentations to create their stories. They could have used KidPix (for a slide show) or EasyBook (for a printed book) just as easily. SMART Ideas Concept Mapping Applications for the Classroom The Real Story – PowerPoint Show is available from the main Power Point Show (View #3194) Click on this Bar to return to the Assistive Technology Software Programs

22. OSAPAC Assistive Technology The resource locator screen provides teachers with grade specific, cross curricular resources that link to the Ontario Curriculum Expectations. www.osapac.org/dbOESS/ResourceBrowse.asp These resources can be downloaded easily. Click on the Screen to proceed to the next screen.

23. Other OSAPAC Software for Use with Learning Disabled Students in Areas of Writing Grolier Online: Six database reference collection Cross Curricular Library Gr. 1 – 12 On-line access from home and school for students & teacher EasyBook Deluxe: Book publishing tool Cross Curricular Writing & Visual Arts Gr. 1 – 6 Write, design, illustrate stories and reports and print in book formats Click on the Screen to proceed to the next screen.

24. Click on the Screen to proceed to the next screen. “The successful use of technology in the classroom will depend on the characteristics of individual students; the outcomes that students need to accomplish; the task that meets the needs of a particular student; and the functional use of the hardware and software.”3 Special Education and classroom teachers need to work together to identify the software program(s) that would best assist each individual student. They need to carefully look at student needs and the results they are trying to achieve. 3Education for All p. 129

25. If you have not taken the opportunity to view one or more of the OSAPAC software, please click below and do so. Click Here to go back to OSAPAC Software Click Here to go to the end slide of the presentation

26. Thank you for your interest We trust this presentation was helpful in providing you with some time to experience a few of the OSAPAC software programs available to Support Students With Special Needs in Writing. Click on the screen to return to main view. Rebecca, Melissa & Pamela