Reading and Writing About Age Appropriate Literature ATAINS

Reading and Writing About Age Appropriate Literature ATAINS Conference Bridgewater, Nova Scotia April 3 -5, 2003 Elizabeth Pass, Assistive Technology Specialist Halifax Regional School Board Halifax, Nova Scotia

Start-to-Finish® Books Paperback book Computer book with built-in scanning for switch users Audiocassette

Start-to-Finish® Books: An Overview Excerpts from a paper by Jerry Stemach, Dorothy Tyacke, Gail Venable • Students significantly behind in reading require texts that minimize hurdles that impede decoding, fluency, comprehension and independent reading. • For the student, story content must be age-appropriate & very interesting. For the teacher, it must be tied to curriculum. • Start-to-Finish books are created using the “Written for Success” formula, a set of more than 50 guidelines for writing easy-to-read text. • The subject matter of Start-to-Finish books is appropriate for students from grade four through high school. • Each book contains links to curriculum. Ex: Nick Ford Mysteries contain material related to history, geography, social studies, biography & science. • Approximately 70 titles offer stories about history, famous people, sports, fictional mysteries, classic adventures

Start-to-Finish® Teacher Materials Pre / Post - Reading Resources Assessment and Tracking • key words, character & place names • computer based quizzes • plot and character development • graph generated for quiz results • vocabulary development activities • detailed progress reports for teacher viewing and printing

Two libraries for progressing students BLUE GOLD • • • grade 2/3 readability simpler syntax and vocabulary easily decodable words limited # of ideas per sentence limited # of complex sentences word-by-word highlighting 5000 to 7000 words per book 100 -150 words per page 10 to 12 chapters 450 -750 words per chapter full page illustrations • • • grade 4/5 readability complex or abstract vocabulary more ideas in longer sentences varied sentence structures varied word order sentence-by-sentence highlighting 10, 000 to 12, 000 words per book 150 -200 words per page 10 to 12 chapters 900 -1200 words per chapter smaller illustrations-various placements

Talking Word Processor Write: Out. Loud is a word processor that gives speech feedback as students type words, sentences and paragraphs. They can listen for word usage, tense inflections, omitted words and misspellings. • Emerging writers experience the connection between the spoken word and written word. • Struggling writers use appropriate words as they use editing tools. • Developing writers build confidence in their ability to express themselves. • All students improve spelling and vocabulary as they edit and revise.

Talking Word Processor • Individual writing templates can be personalized with features which best support the writer’s needs. • Reads and highlights text to assist student editing • Reads and highlights to assist student reading and comprehension • Talking toolbar, large buttons and keyboard shortcuts provide additional support for students with alternate access needs.

Talking Word Processor • Talking vocabulary tools offer spell & homonym checking and word definitions. • Provides auditory and visual cues of misspellings as students write • Imports and reads electronic text

Word Prediction Co: Writer 4000 generates possibilities for the word a student is beginning to type. It generates predictions by combining knowledge of spelling, grammar rules, context clues, student history and letter cues. Students overcome mechanical barriers which then allows them to focus on conveying ideas. • Emerging phonetic spellers get the word they want. • Struggling students find the right word with fewer cues. • Developing writers create good first sentences that are grammatically correct. • All students build vocabulary.

Word Prediction • Speaks predicted words and completed sentences • Grammar support fosters better sentences • Fewer keystrokes reduces fatigue • Flex. Spell™ offers traditional spelling predictions for phonetic spellers • Sends text to word processors, text fields and email programs.

Word Prediction • Select main dictionaries to meet student’s developing language needs • Select topic dictionaries included with Co: Writer to enhance task-specific writing • Create custom topic dictionaries from wordlists and text documents • Download additional topic dictionaries from DJ website

For more information http: //www. donjohnston. com/index. htm Download additional topic dictionaries http: //www. donjohnston. com/downloads. htm © Copyright Don Johnston Incorporated. Used with permission Permission to use/reproduce presentation and handouts is granted Please maintain credits. Elizabeth Pass, Assistive Technology Specialist Halifax Regional School Board, Halifax, Nova Scotia epass@staff. ednet. ns. ca