Assessing Student's Needs for Assistive Technology (ASNAT)

Chapter 3 – Assistive Technology for Writing
Shorthand for Windows is a similar tool for a Windows word processor or text editor
application. Shorthand for Windows is not limited to word processing. It works just as well
with most Windows dialog boxes. It can be used to enter names, logins, passwords, and
Internet addresses directly into terminal windows.
Many of the word processing programs, such as AppleWorks 6 and Microsoft Word also offer
abbreviation/expansion through macros. Word prediction programs, such as Co:Writer ® 4000
and KeyRep also offer abbreviation/expansion.
♦ Word Processing with Writing Support
There are several software programs that provide support for the writing process. Word
prediction software is useful in the composing process because it suggests a list of potential
words. In many of the word prediction programs such as Co:Writer ® 4000 the teacher can
enter a list of vocabulary words that would not otherwise appear so that the predicted word
list will contain words related to the topic students are writing about.
Draft:Builder ® (Don Johnston Incorporated) software provides a framework for organizing
thoughts and information in order to develop detailed first drafts that are ready for editing
and revising. It incorporates three steps- outlining/mapping, note-taking and drafting-
enabling struggling writers to generate, manipulate, and connect ideas and information
through a process that results in authentic writing. The outline and notes are integrated so that
students can easily synthesize information and build a logically sequenced draft.
Draft:Builder ® has built in auditory feedback, and the Franklin spell checker, as well as
teacher-made and standard templates to help students overcome the barriers that interfere
with the writing process.
A key feature of Draft:Builder ® that has proven very effective for students who experience
difficulties with formatting of text is the bibliographer tool. This provides a visual example
of correct formatting for different types of media including articles, artwork, books,
electronic resources, interviews, letters and presentations.
Inspiration ® and Kidspiration ® are described in Chapter 5. They are excellent tools for
developing an outline or web of ideas.
Research Assistant for Students (and Teachers!) with Bibliography Generator is a
software program that allows students to gather information from any print or nonprint
source and store it in a searchable database right on the computer. With a click
of a button, all sources are referenced in proper bibliographical format.
Read and Write Gold from textHELP offers a completely integrated software application that
offers users speech feedback, word prediction and scanning functions in practically any
Windows program – your word processor, spreadsheet, encyclopedia, web page, help file, or
educational software program. Features include high-quality speech feedback, phonetic spell
checker, word prediction, dictionary, talking scientific calculator and voice recognition. Also
available within Read and Write Gold is one-click OCR scanning which allows you to
convert paper documents into editable word files at the click of a button; speechmaker
function that lets you convert text into audio files which can then be used on portable audio
devices and advanced research and internet search functions.
Assessing Students’ Needs for Assistive Technology (2004) 93