How Speech-Feedback and Word-Prediction Software Can Help Students Write
By Williams, Sarah C.; Teaching Exceptional Children, Vol. 34, No. 3, pp. 72-78Publication Date: January/February 2002
Article providing insight on how two products, called Write: Outloud and Co: Writer, can be valuable writing tools for students with learning disabilities. A case study described in the article examines the experience of a seventh-grade student with learning disabilities in written expression, and his use of these technology options. Write: Outloud has a speech-feedback component that enables the computer to "read" selected sections of text to students. The software highlights each word as it is read aloud. These features were ideal for the student, as he could hear his written work read aloud. This feature was helpful when he was revising his work. Co: Writer was used for its word-prediction capabilities. After a student has typed the first letter or letters in a word, the software will predict what the student wants to write next. Words are predicted based on what letters are presented, type of word that would be grammatically correct, and word frequency based on what had been previously written.
Assistive Products Discussed: CO:WRITER 4000
WRITE:OUTLOUD
Published by:
Council for Exceptional Children (Web Site: http://www.cec.sped.org )
