Favorite Writing Activities
We have found several software programs that you can use with students with differing abilities in your classroom. They all contribute to writing skill development by including elements of speech output. This allows students to hear the computer read aloud what they write. They are fun for kids since they also use pictures, drawing utilities, animated words and other visual enhancements to help students write.
As literacy development includes writing, reading, speaking and listening, speech input and output clearly enhances the quality of learning. Some programs include a microphone allowing children to input their own voices for storytelling and sound effects.
Examples
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Clicker 4 (Crick Software) |
Sunbuddy Writer (Sunburst/Houghton-Mifflin) |
Writing with Symbols + Text
Several program not only offer text-to-speech features but, like the ones above, promote writing by including symbols and text together:
Writing with Symbols 2000 (Mayer- Johnson)
PixWriter (Slater Software)
Email Penpals
Using a computer and an Internet connection, children can practice writing and communication skills and acquaint with other students as email penpals. Several websites help to connect children and support their use of this new medium.
Ability Online This site connects kids with special needs on email for friendship and support.
ePals More than 60,000 classroom profiles bring people in 191 countries together as cross-cultural learning partners and friends. Meet and correspond with international students in Kindergarten through 12th grade, schools, teachers, keypals and pen pals.
KeyPals Club This club helps students connect with students. There are over 25,000 registered users from 76 countries.
Email Help There are several products available that assist students with disabilities with creating and reading email messages among other supports.
V3 Mail This software offers voice messages (MP3) as well as TTS (text to speech) options for students. The TTS features also includes translation from several languages
I Can Email (R J Cooper) Designed for students with cognitive, visual, and/or physical challenges. In addition to reading any email message, it guides the user through the email process asking one question at a time, such as "Who would you like to send this to?"
