Scenario 2 – Developing writing skills

Introduction

Pupils can use pictures and symbols, in addition to letters and words, to develop their writing skills. A computer can make any of these media accessible, enabling pupils of all abilities to participate in the process of writing. Overlay keyboards and on-screen grids are the tools most commonly used by pupils to write.

ICT can be used to help pupils to develop their writing skills through a wide variety of activities including:

• emergent writing activities for beginners
• writing for a purpose
• making books

2a – Emergent writing activities for beginners

Pupils can use a computer to explore and experiment with writing in the widest sense as they progress through the earliest stages of becoming a writer. Pupils can press letters, words or pictures on an overlay keyboard or on-screen grid, in order to write into a talking word processor. In the same way they can be given access to phrases and complete sentences.

Example 1 – Scribble writing with an overlay keyboard

When young children begin to write they go through a stage of scribble writing. They have understood that writing involves making marks on a page and that these marks carry meaning that can be read back. They imitate the acts of writing and reading that they have observed in others in a form of pretend play. Their writing does not yet carry meaning that can be shared with others.

One teacher uses an overlay keyboard to allow his pupils to do scribble writing. He uses an overlay containing a variety of different symbols with symbol-processing software. The pupils press the symbols on the overlay to write. Their writing appears on the computer screen and it is printed out for the pupils to ‘read’. Listening to their writing can also help the pupils enjoy their creation. Adding connecting words such as ‘and’ opens the way to creating phrases and can turn this scribble writing into a game.

Example 2 – Writing by building with complete sentences

One way to extend the experience of writing is by sequencing familiar phrases. This example allows the pupil to sequence lines of a familiar rhyme.

Example 3 – Writing by using symbol / word or phrases

Whole words and phrases can be illustrated with pictures or symbols and made available to pupils on an overlay keyboard or on-screen grid. Symbols and pictures can both support text, or, for some users, provide an alternative means of communicating meaning. There are three symbol sets in wide use in the UK. These can all be used with symbol software, enabling teachers to select images that meet the individual or class needs most appropriately. The inclusion of photographs also helps to increase communicability, especially photographs of familiar people.

On-screen grids can offer a structured approach to vocabulary. Only relevant words or phrases are presented, but the dynamic display changes as appropriate, so that the user is not presented with too many choices at any one time.

“We added a grid so Mike can click a symbol with the mouse and send the associated text to the writing area. Below is the main grid we have set up, again using symbol-processing software.

“Each symbol within the main grid branches to another grid with symbols. Here Mike clicks the symbols he wants to put into the writing area. Each grid includes a cell leading back to the main grid. “Mike can manoeuvre this independently. He helps in setting up the grids by suggesting pictures of family, friends and his pet, that he would like to have scanned and added. The symbol labelled ‘Say’ is Mike’s Rat Terrier dog. The ‘Say’ grid includes symbols for feeding, caring, and commands associated with Say.”

Adding clip art pictures from the school reading scheme allows pupils to explore some of the concepts using concrete images at a stage before they may be able to decode the text. Here the Oxford Reading Tree images (Sherston) have been added to word lists for Inclusive Writer or Writing with Symbols 2000. So either of these programs will automatically make use of the images.

Darren uses using Clicker 3 with PCS symbols to create some basic sentences to support his reading and communication. The school uses the Oxford reading scheme. Both PCS symbols and the Oxford Reading Tree pictures are on the computer, but the class teacher was finding it too slow to keep swapping between the two graphics directories when creating grids. The IT co-ordinator copied the main characters (Biff, Mum, Dad Kipper etc.) into the PCS library so they were accessible from the same library. Many more relevant grids are now being created for Darren.

It is hoped that the teacher’s skill in handling folders will grow faster than Darren’s requirement for a wider range of clip art alongside the PCS symbols in his grids.

These examples all use on-screen grids.

Single-level selections can be made on an overlay keyboard. Presenting symbols in a structured sequence on the overlay keyboard can make an even simpler presentation for first writing.

Example 4 – A story writing activity for a PMLD pupil

With the grid printed out, the pupil can point to each item wanted in turn; then a helper chooses the same image on the computer. This collaborative writing is equally valid to one where the pupil presses the keys or board but allows genuine composition when the pupil cannot write unaided.

Example 5 – Resources for developing reading skills

Overlay keyboards and on-screen grids can be used to create reading activities. This example shows an overlay containing words that rhyme. Pupils are asked to choose and press a word, then find the word that rhymes with it. The words are written into symbol-processing software as they are pressed. The computer reads them back and the pupils are encouraged to listen to see if they are correct. In a mixed ability group other pupils can use the same overlay to identify pictures or just to explore by pressing a picture.

Key skills and equipment

The key skills for the above examples are the ability to:

• use symbol-processing software
• make overlays for the overlay keyboard
• create on-screen grids
• use a digital camera and save the photos
• find photos, pictures and symbols on your computer
• incorporate the pictures and photographs into documents

The key equipment is:

• an overlay keyboard plus software
• on-screen grid-making software
• symbol-processing software

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