1. Assistive Technology of Alaska Writing Supports Mystie Rail, ATLA

2. HOUSEKEEPING Sign-In Sheet Evaluation s Give-Away

3. ATLA Federal Tech Act Project –Information –Demonstrations –Training –Loans –Re-use and recycle Other Activities –Ordering AT devices and products –AT workshops –AT assessments

4. OBJECTIVES Today we hope you learn – new strategies to support the writing process. new strategies to support the physical process of writing. new resources that you can begin using TODAY!

5. ASSISTIVE WRITING SUPPORTS WHAT IS ASSISTIVE WRITING TECHNOLOGY? takes the place of pen/pencil still able to produce a hard copy may need to be portable is a tool to allow students to meet the writing requirements of the curriculum WHAT ASSISTIVE WRITING TECHNOLOGY IS NOT! not computer-aided instruction not the only tool to be considered not the answer to all writing situations/needs

6. SETT Tools EnvironmentStudentTasks

7. STUDENT Who are students that experience barriers to writing? NEUROLOGICAL EXAMPLES –Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder –Traumatic Brain Injury –Graphomotor –Dysgraphia –Learning Disabled –Autism

8. STUDENT Who are students that experience barriers to writing? PHYSICAL EXAMPLES –Cerebral Palsy –Tremors and Ataxia –Spinal Cord Injury –Muscular Dystrophy –Blind / Visually Impaired

9. ENVIRONMENT What are the structural and physical arrangements of the environment? What supports are available to both student and staff? What materials and equipment are currently available? What are the physical, instructional, and technological access issues? What are the attitudes and expectations of the staff and family?

10. TASKS What are we expecting the student to accomplish? EXAMPLES What SPECIFIC tasks occur in the student’s natural environments that enable progress toward mastery of IEP goals and objectives? What SPECIFIC tasks are required for active involvement in identified environments? (related to communication, instruction, participation, productivity, environmental control)

11. TOOLS LOW to MID TECH IDEAS Adapted writing tools Alternative input devices special keyboards, mice, switches Writing Guides Slant board Handheld voice recorder any other ideas?

12. TOOLS HIGH TECH Handheld devices Livescribe Pulse Pen Headmouse + OnScreen Keyboard Talking Word Processor Software: Speech-to-text Word Prediction Mindmapping

13. DRAGON: The Other White Meat

14. FEATURES What do you want to do? Dictate into all applications Control menus Format & edit by voice Mouse control by voice Web & browser links by voice Smart formatting Ability to create scripts & macros creation Different modes (Spell, Numbers, Dictation, Command)

15. AM I A GOOD DRAGON SLAYER? Motivation is KEY! Speak fairly clearly Can’t mumble or slur Accents are not a problem Cognitive Impairments Print Impairments

16. PREPLAN DRAGON EXECUTION USER – Are they able to use DNS independently DRAGON – Which version is going to be the best & most flexible MICROPHONE Compatible Environment Durable Comfortable Purpose of Dragon? COMPUTER Speed, Memory, plenty of Space ENVIRONMENT – Where will they be using Dragon? SET UP

17. INITIAL SET UP

21. LIMITATIONS & PITFALLS Nuance Tech Support – charges $10 fee on website to credit card before any useful dialogue Voice files and libraries are a game of cat & mouse to find

22. New in DNS 10 Accents now available Version 10 starts & launches applications faster Dragon Voice Shortcuts – natural language Example: “Search web for Plantronics” “Search desktop for Dragon Presentation” “Search Amazon for Foot Bath” “Search YouTube for Dragon videos” Option to not train after initial setup And the best one yet! New third option for “special” training specifically for people with impaired speech or children

23. WORD-PREDICTION Uses knowledge of syntax and word frequencies to predict the next word in a sentence as the sentence is being entered, and updates this prediction as the word is typed.

24. MIND-MAPPING HELP FLIP THE SWITCH

25. MIND-MAPPING HELP FLIP THE SWITCH Brainstorming Mind mapping Clustering Graphic organizers Response journal Free writing Answering questions www.bubbl.us www.webspiration.com http://freemind.sourceforge.net FREE

27. WHAT’S IN THE LAB? LEARN HOW TO USE AND APPLY THE FOLLOWING TOOLS FOR READERS OF ALL AGES.. PULSE PEN WEB 2.0 APPLICATIONS IPOD TOUCHES DRAGON OR MACSPEECH CO:WRITER

28. THANK YOU! WWW.ATLAAK.ORG CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE INFO ATLAAK.WORDPRESS.COM FOLLOW US…. TWITTER @ATLAAK FACEBOOK.COM/ATLAAK Thank you for attending this session! Please help us improve the quality of our presentations by completing your session evaluation form. Completed evaluation forms should be submitted as you exit.

29. Assistive Technology of Alaska Writing Supports Lab

30. READ IT RIGHT… www.dropboks.com user: akmrail@atlaak.org pass: assec10