Content-free Software for Writing

Categories of Software Reinforcement (Drill & Practice Software) Interactive Books (Talking Stories) Content-free Software Exploratory Software Reference Software Assessment Software Access Tools / Software

Content-free Software Allows user to enter own content Benefits Use in many areas of curriculum Develop own materials to meet indiviual needs of students Helps students to overcome barriers to learning

Content-free Software Types: Word Processing Programs Writing Frames Talking Word Processing Programs Word Prediction Word Bank Planning and Organising Desktop Publishing / Art & Design Applications Multimedia Authoring Systems Presentation

Word Processing Programs Enables user to produce wide range of professional looking products Benefits: Writing can help students develop word recognition and reading skills Highly motivational as students can express themselves without being worried about appearance Text can be moved, changed and copied easily

Word Processing Programs Benefits (cont.): Facilitates drafting and rewriting processes Spellchecker allows students to concentrate on content rather than spelling Picture or graphic can facilitate those with reading difficulties

Word Processing Programs Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of sentence building, sequencing, punctuation, etc. Basic keyboard skills Some mouse skills

Word Processing Programs Examples include: Appleworks Creative Writer Microsoft Word Young Writer’s Workshop My World 2 Write on for Windows

Word Processing Programs (Writing Frames) Supports students through the writing process by providing prompts and sentence beginnings Highly motivational as students can use frameworks to structure and complete a piece of writing Students can concentrate on content Written work is relevant to given topic

Word Processing Programs (Writing Frames) Examples include: I Can Write 2 The Big Editor Frameworks

Talking Word Processing Programs Include an inbuilt speech synthesizer that reads back text Can be set to read every letter, word, line, sentence, paragraph or whole screen Benefits: Allows students to monitor their work Auditory feedback assists students in correcting their spelling, grammar, syntax

Talking Word Processing Programs Examples include: Clicker 4 Granada Writer Inclusive Writer Textease 2000 Texthelp! Type & Talk Write Outloud Writing with Symbols

Word Prediction Run in conjunction with a word processing program and suggests words as text is entered When user types first letter of a word, a list of words appear Benefits Suggests words so students can concentrate on context rather than spelling Remembers words that student uses most frequently

Word Prediction Examples include: Co: Writer Penfriend Predict IT PredictAbility TextHELP! Read and Write

Word Bank Allows the teacher to input lists of words Student can hear the word by pointing to it with the mouse Benefits Teacher can chose words that individual students have difficulty with Can input topic words, sentence starters, etc.

* Talking word processors that include word banks Examples include: Wordbar Granada Writer* Clicker* Textease 2000* * Talking word processors that include word banks