Resources, Tools, Apps to Support Writing

I was referred to a great blog post full of good links and resources to support writing skills from TeachThought. Check it out!
Lon


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New Study Published on Using Technology to Enhance Special Needs Writing Skills

Use some of the following facts and figures to support the purchase and implementation of writing support technology with your students...

New Research on Using Technology to Enhance the Writing Skills of Students with Special Needs Published by The Journal of Special Education Technology

Don Johnston announced the publication of a new and independent research study by The Journal of Special Education Technology (JSET), a Division of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC). The study "Using Software to Enhance the Writing Skills of Students with Special Needs" examines the impact of assistive technology on the writing skills of students with disabilities. This research compared students' writing outcomes using word prediction and talking word processor tools to their handwritten work samples.
Jennifer Cullen, Dayton Ohio Public Schools, Stephen B. Richards and Catherine Lawless-Frank; University of Dayton, performed the study to measure the impact of assistive technology writing tools on 5th graders' writing skills over a 7-week period at an urban elementary school. Don Johnston's Co:Writer(R) word prediction program and Write:OutLoud(R) talking word processor were chosen as the writing accommodations to support students during their daily district-mandated writing activities. The study demonstrated that the technology helped students improve their writing outcomes in four key measures: writing rubric scores, accuracy, spelling and number of words written.The complete research study is available in the October 2008 JSET Issue, Volume 23(2), pg. 33-43.
View the online summary:
www.donjohnston.com/products/cowriter/research.html

Ben Johnston, Director at Don Johnston, said, "A high percent (65%) of students referred for learning disabilities have a writing disability. (Mayes, Calhoun, Crowell, 2000). Many of these students have physical, cognitive, or learning differences and can't reach their potential with conventional writing tools. This study demonstrates that students can thrive in the right environment provided they have the right tools. Over 20% of school districts use Co:Writer and Write:OutLoud as accommodations to support students who struggle in writing. We are pleased that more research is being done to match students to the right environment where they can excel."

Results of a Previous Study:
In 2006, JSET published another study on the "Impact of Word Prediction Software on the Written Output of Students with Physical Disabilities", Volume 21, No. 3, prepared by Pat Mirenda and Kirsten Turoldo at the University of British Columbia and Constance McAvoy, Special Education Technology-British Columbia (SET-BC) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This research examined the impact of Co:Writer on the written output of 24 students with physical disabilities. The study included surveys from students, teachers and adults after observing ten-minute writing samples in three modalities: handwriting, word processing, and word rocessing with Co:Writer. Two-thirds of students and over half of the adults believed that Co:Writer helped students spell better; use a wider variety of words; write faster; produce neater, easier-to-read work; and write more correct sentences. Another two-thirds believed that Co:Writer helped students write more with less fatigue and frustration and read what they had written. This research concluded that using word processing and Co:Writer together resulted in higher percentages of legible words, correctly spelled words, correct word sequences; and longer lengths of consecutive sentence sequences than by writing by hand alone.

Additional research and case studies about the benefits of assistive technology to support students with disabilities can be found at the Don Johnston website at
http://www.donjohnston.com/
and at the Journal of Special Education Technology's website http://www.tamcec.org/jset/index.htm.

RESOURCE LINKS:Download this case study at: www.donjohnston.com/pdf/cowriter/cow_wol_research_study.pdf
Watch Co:Writer demo:
www.donjohnston.com/media/flash/product_demo/cowriter/index.html
Read a summary of this and other Co:Writer research and case studies: www.donjohnston.com/products/cowriter/research.html

All the best to you,

Lon



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Fusion Keyboard as Writing and Text to Speech Tool

I spent the day yesterday at our state AT Advisory Board meeting in Salem. I always enjoy listening to what other AT coordinators are using and what they are excited about. One of the pieces of equipment I heard several leaders mention was the Fusion Keyboard by Advanced Keyboard technologies.


I have been using an Alphasmart Neo coupled with Write Outloud To Go from Don Johnston. I bought a small set of speakers that plug in the headphone port and the students have been using it to type to talk. Although I like it, I have had trouble with the WOL To Go disappearing when the battery dies. I have to re-sync it every time. I also have trouble with the speakers not being attached. I like what I read and hear concerning the Fusion Keyboard.

Here's what the company says about it:

"In response to the specific requests from AT, OT and Special needs teachers from around the country, AKT developed the Fusion portable keyboard. Fusion offers the programs and features that Special Needs professionals have been asking for - for years: Text to Speech, excellent word prediction programming, a large LCD display with adjustable font size all on an easy to use, low-cost platform."

You can order a demo device for trial through the website. I like that it has a built-in speaker so carting around an external speaker (like I have been doing) isn't necessary. The cost is $369, but I have heard you can get them for less depending on where you order it.

I have ordered a demo device to look at. I will let you know what I think when I play with it awhile. The company has a cart that holds a lab set, and a charger. This might be a great support alternative so that the whole class has a choice to use this tool, not just one or two that need special support. We all know how kids hate to stand out - plus, we are offering that UDL principal of tools for everyone. Wouldn't this be a great tool to support accessibility to writing and editing for many of our students that don't qualify under traditional eligibilities, yet need the extra support?

All the best to you!

Lon



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Writing with Assistive Technology Supports

I have several students that are using writing supports. They are helpful for students that have difficulty writing because of finger deformities or injuries. These supports could as easily be used for folks that have arthtritis or conditions like dyslexia where the spelling is a challenge.
Some programs have a virtual on-screen keyboard like Click-n-Type which is free. Click n type has a word prediction feature built in (a separate downoad from the keyboard) that will give choices to select to cut down on the amount of typing.

A powerhorse program that does all of the above and has a text to speech feature as well is Co:Writer by Don Johnson. This program opens a text writing window that floats above a MS Word document or whatever word processing program you want to use. As you type, you get word prediction underneath and when you type a period, the sentence is transported up to the word processing page. You also hear it read back to you. You can turn the speech off if you prefer and you can set the size of the text window, the number of words in a prediction list and how you want to select them.

There are other features like word banks under topics to load as a source for word prediction that make this an excellent program. At $325.00, it is a spendy tool, but if you want or need to write or want to find a support for your child to do homework assignments and papers on a computer at home, it is a worthy investment.
Check these out.
All the best!
Lon