This blog is intended to introduce you to the writing process and specific assistive technology, both high tech and low tech, that can be used to aid someone for who the process of writing has broken down in some way.







The Physical Aspect of Writing


For some students the actual physical act of writing, holding a pencil, forming the letters on a page, may get in the way of the writing process.

A website with some ideas and resources on heping students learn how to form the letters using a multisensory approach:

http://www.hwtears.com/hwt

http://www.hwtears.com/hwt/learning-lounge/videos



The following links and video show you some technology that can be used in the classroom to support these students.

Low Tech Assistance







For some students holding a pencil correctly might not be enough.  If they are slower at producing written work (writing the letters on paper) you may want to switch to higher technology to help out, keyboards/computers.
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Alternative keyboards

Some students may have difficulty accessing a standard keyboard due to physical limitations such as sight and coordination.

The following links are to a website offering products for alternate access to keyboards:
http://www.labresources-assistivetechnology.com/Alternative-Access.html

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Alternative+Keyboards-a053984771

http://www.speechgeneratingdevices.com/alternativeaccess.html

Below are some videos that demonstrate some of the products used for alternate access to writing:
Intellikeys



Customizing intellikeys




Braille keyboard- a new technology (AMAZING)



A Braille keyboard




Some advice on using Word with quick controls




Abbreviation Programs
Programs that allow you to assign abbreviations to commonly used words to make typing faster.

ActiveWords
The link below will take you to a site where you can watch a video on how to use this software.

http://www.activewords.com/default.html


Some other abbreviation software you may want to research about:

 Speech to Text

For some students, whose phsical limitations so not allow them access to a keyboard, speech recognition software may assist in them getting their ideas on paper independently. There are many different speech to text software to choose from. See the links below:

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