Assistive Technology and Writing

Assistive Technology and

Writing

Deborah Newton, Southern Connecticut State University

Amy G. Dell  The College of New Jersey

This article deals with the many assistive technologies available to help struggling writers.

For children with handwriting difficulties, there are simple low-tech adaptations such as pencil grips and slanted writing supports.   If the handwriting impairment is more significant, there are "portable word processors" - a term that sounds archaic now, in the time of iPads!   However, while many schools are not able to provide iPads for all students who may need them, most schools have keyboarding devices.  For students with severe handwriting impairments, there are various types of speech-recognition software that are now found on most computer operating systems.  I'm going to look for the one on my computer!

The other aspect to writing is the whole process of written expression, which involves organizing ones thoughts to get them down on paper in a comprehensible form.  This is what we teach when we teach the writing process in school.  The authors describe computer programs and iPad apps that can help struggling writers in all the stages of the writing process.

For pre-writing, Kidspiration and Inspiration provide graphic organizers that help children to get their ideas down quickly, and then arrange them to see patterns and connections.  Then there is a program called Draftbuilder that helps children go from the graphic organizers to an outline. WordQ will help students type more quickly, without worrying too much about spelling mistakes.  For revising and editing, there are programs such as Ginger and WriteOnline.

Throughout all of these steps the authors mention the use of speech-to-text and voice recording in instances where the physical act of writing is getting in the way of a student's expression.  They also mention the importance of text-to-speech.  Often, students may write something but may have trouble reading it back.  Being able to "hear" their writing read aloud will often help a child to notice errors and omissions, or to get ideas for revision.

Finally, the authors noted the power of multimedia for inspiring children to express themselves more fully, using a combination of text and other media.

In all, an interesting article.  What I like is that I already have most of these programs in my classroom, on our Netbooks!  And here is one limitation of the iPad:  typing on a keyboard is a lot easier than typing on an iPad!