Improving English Reading and Writing Skills with Clicker 7 Jennifer Kenny Senior AT Specialist

Learning Objectives for this Session Have a knowledge of the features of Clicker 7 Understand how to access learning resources Understand how to use the different features to develop learning sessions Understand how learning sessions can be individualised to student’s needs

What is Clicker 7? A software for developing children’s reading and writing skills with a stimulating age-appropriate interface. It has built-in writing support tools that enable children to write independently whatever their level.

What can you do with it? Write a document Make a clicker board Make a clicker book Clicker sets: Sentence set Connect set Word bank Talk set Matching set

How Can it Help in the Classroom? Allows lessons to be tailored to each student. Supports students of all levels to work independently. Save class and individual profiles. Allows interactive group learning. Multisensory learning: visual, auditory, letters, words, pictures.

Practical Session

Accessible for all Clicker has always been the single most accessible educational software tool. Clicker 7 has more accessibility options than ever before, opening the door to an even wider group of learners.

SuperKeys Access for those who have difficulty with fine motor control.  Clusters keys into six large sections.  Tap the cluster containing the letter you want, and then choose the letter in the enlarged cluster. It also clusters the cells in Sentence Sets, Connect Sets and Word Banks, again providing much bigger, more accessible target areas.  SuperKeys works with all input methods – not only mouse and touch screen, but also eye gaze and switch access. Instead of having 30+ small keys to target, SuperKeys provides just six large clusters. 

SuperKeys

Eye gaze Eye Gaze setting that works with any eye gaze system. When you look at a Clicker 7 cell and pause, the pointer locks on to it, and shows a red blob that gets smaller as you dwell.  When the circle disappears, the cell is activated. The pointer is locked onto the cell unless you look completely outside of it.  Can change settings to optimise for individuals by adjusting the dwell time, by creating large target areas. e.g.mygaze, Tobii

Eye Gaze

Touch screen friendly With a touch screen monitor, everything is just as accessible as it is on your regular laptop or desktop computer. For example, to listen to a word in a grid, tap SoundShift, and then tap the word – it’s easier than trying to do a right-click.  There’s also a fingertip-sized touch- sensitive area around the resizing hooks in Clicker Board and Clicker Books.  To resize a writing grid, you can drag the red minimize button.

Switch Use Switch users have access to writing, reading and pre-reading activities to suit their own level, and have equal access to their classmates. Connect either one or two switches via the Crick USB Switch box, select switch access, and you’re ready.  In Clicker 7 the accessibility settings have been organised to make it easy to customise for individual needs, with a wide range of scanning options, including auditory scan. 

Clicker Apps for iPad Clicker Sentences Clicker Connect Clicker Docs Clicker Books

Clicker Sentences Clicker Connect Clicker Docs Clicker Books - Emergent writers - English language learners - Older children struggling to acquire basic literacy skills Clicker Sentences supports children to build their first sentences using words from a grid, with options for differentiated writing support.  Speech feedback  Model sentences  Illustrate writing with pictures  Crick Picture Library included   Clicker Connect - Developing writers - Struggling writers - Children moving on from using Clicker Sentences Clicker Connect scaffolds independent writing skills by offering words and phrases to support children as they build sentences and compose coherent text.  Colour-coded cells  Words and pictures within cells Clicker Docs - Primary pupils of all abilities - Pupils with dyslexia - Struggling spellers Clicker Docs transforms your device into a portable primary word processor and encourages independent writing with the support of word prediction and word banks.  Word banks  Word prediction  Talking spellchecker Clicker Books Clicker Books lets pupils create their own talking books, using a range of differentiated support. Teachers can also create reading books for pupils.  Sound recorder

Thank you! For further information and training resources please refer to www.cricksoft.com