Session T1308 Assistive Technology for Handwriting - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Title: Session T1308 Assistive Technology for Handwriting


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Session T1308 Assistive Technology for
Handwriting

• Determining Optimal Supports for Students

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• Janice Swanger Reese OTR/L, ATP
• Little Tennessee Valley Educational
  Cooperative, Knoxville, TN
• Peggy J. Paulson OTR/L, ATP
• Assistive Technology 4 Kids
• mail_at_at4kids.com

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Common Causes for Poor Writing

• Poorly developed fine motor skills
• Physical disability
• Impaired cognitive functioning
• Perceptual-motor problems
• Dysgraphia

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Impaired Fine Motor Skills

• Mobility over stability
• Poor trunk control affects hand functioning.
• Gross motor skills and stability are required to
  develop fine motor skills and prehension.
• More children are entering school without the
  basic skills needed to effectively learn to read
  and write.
• Fine motor skills plateau about age 12.

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When There Is A Physical Disability

• First.assess positioning
• Are the feet firmly on floor or footrest of
  wheelchair?
• Is the upper body fully supported?
• Is the head stable?
• Does the student need a lap tray or angled
  surface?
• Is the writing surface accessible and secure?

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Impaired cognitive functioning

• No definitive studies

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DYSGRAPHIA

• Total inability to write.
• degrees of severity and writing skills may vary
  greatly.
• Dysgraphia is a processing disorder.

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COMMON INDICATORS OF DYSGRAPHIA

• Completely unable to hold pencil correctly
  (severe)
• Pencil grasp is ineffective floppy or tightly
  clenched
• Obvious difficulty with sequence of movements for
  letter formation
• Often confuses up/down, left/right, capital/lower
  case
• Difficulty replicating shapes reverses letters
  and numbers
• Clumsy, uncoordinated gross and fine motor skills

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Students With Dysgraphia

• expend twice the energy to complete half the work
• often exhibit avoidance behaviors
• are usually of average intelligence
• perform best when answers are provided as
  choices
• miss out on the information
• cannot translate information into writing

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Pencil grips
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Stabilizers
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Simple writing adaptations might include

• Melting crayons into large blocks, cones, or
  discs to improve grasp
• Inserting pencils into soft foam blocks
• Angling the work surface
• Using writing guides, graph paper, or raised
  lines
• Alphabet or number stamping onto worksheets
• Writing via wooden letters or word cards
• Using a simplified keyboard with writing tasks
• such as practicing spelling words

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Neurokinesthetic Handwriting Programs

• LOOPS AND OTHER GROUPS
• HANDWRITING WITHOUT TEARS
• Movement-based approaches for learning to write
• Letter introduction is not sequential
• Letters are grouped together by the similarity of
  movements required to form each
• Facilitate integration of motor patterns for
  writing
• Fun activities progress from gross motor into
  fine motor

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AT for Handwriting

• Where to start
• When to move to computer technology

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Handwriting issueswhen to stop!

• Consider the students physical abilities Are
  print or cursive really the most effective means
  of writing for this student?
• Student learning vs completing the assignment Is
  handwriting so laborious it ruins the learning
  opportunity?
• Do we really want High School level work done in
  cursive? (College level work?)
• We need to consider writing alternatives at
  earlier grade levels

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SETT Framework

• Student
• Environment
• Task
• Tools

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Where to begin.

• Kindergarten and first grade children need the
  keyboard in an alphabetical arrangement, as this
  early typing must align with K-1 instruction.
• Touch typing instruction is not warranted at this
  level. The initial goals are to promote letter
  recognition and introduce the keyboard as an
  alternative to pencil use.
• Students should be moved to a QWERTY keyboard in
  the 2nd grade.
• Keyboarding provides visual support and
  prompting.

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Accommodations for Younger Students

• Letter and number stamps
• Early introduction to keyboarding
• Picture-supported writing (PixWriter, Writing
  With Symbols, use of digital images or
  Boardmaker, Clicker 5)
• Cloze (word choice) activities in print or on
  computer
• (such as Wordbar, or ClozePro)

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• Begin keyboard training in the 3rd grade when
  possible. This allows sufficient time for most
  students to develop reasonable proficiency before
  Junior High School.
• Students who use a computer to do homework
  develop keyboarding skills faster
• Students in 5th and 6th grades make progress
  faster than younger students in 3rd and 4th
  grades.

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Adapted Keyboards
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Portable Word Processors
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Developmental Typing programs(only work with
Qwerty Keyboards)

• Roller Typing
• First Keys
• Built in keyboarding programs on portable word
  processors

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High Tech Ideas

• Expand computer use with appropriate programs for
  support with keyboarding
• Spelling and grammar checkers
• Word prediction programs
• Microsoft Accessibility Wizard features
• Supportive writing programs
• Scanning arrays
• Consider laptop use once programs are mastered
• Electronic Spellers/Dictionaries
• PDAs (for older students)

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Accommodations for Older Students

• Software-based supports
• Keyboarding and PC use (portable processors
  and/or PCs)
• Word prediction programs (such as WordQ,
  CoWriter, Penfriend, WYNN, and TextHelp)
• Literacy supports (such as those built into Word,
  WYNN, Read Write, Kurzweil)
• Organizational programs (such as Draft Builder,
  Inspiration/Kidspiration, or Sparkspace)
• Voice Recognition software (such as Dragon
  Naturally Speaking or Vista)

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Wordbar
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Clozepro
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WordQ
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CoWriter
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Write Out Loud
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• Other software supports for writing
• www.texthelp.com ReadWrite GOLD
• www.nuance.com Dragon Naturally Speaking 9
• www.slatersoftware.com Pix Writer
• www.cricksoft.com Penfriend, Clicker 5

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9
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Techmatrix.com

• Comparison matrix for device and program matrix

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Writing IEP goals

• Specific What do you want the student to do
• Measurable how will I know if he succeeds
• Achievable if not, break goal down into smaller
  steps
• Relevant how important is the goal to the
  students educational future
• Time Limited

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Writing measurable IEP goals for handwriting

• What do you want the student to do?
• Why cant he do it now?
• What is interfering with the accomplishment of
  this goal?
• What is the starting point of the skill?
• How will I know if he succeeds?
• How can I measure improvement?

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Thank You!
Thank you for attending this session and for
celebrating our 10th Anniversary at ATIA 2009
Orlando! Watch for us in Chicago this
October! Please help us improve the quality of
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