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
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