Effective Scribing Using a Computer

Effective Scribing using a Computer

Scribing is an effective tool to help students with disabilities who need assistance with written expression due to fine motor difficulties. It is also helpful for students who are able to verbally express thoughts at a much higher level than they can write due to language disabilities. Scribing using a computer is an effective means of scribing because it minimizes the role of the scribe and accentuates the responsibility and ownership of the student for his work. Because the student can see the work as it is being scribed, language learning is enhanced. Scribing can lead to the future use of voice - to - text software as a method for text input. Best practice for scribing is as follows.

The scribe should sit well to the side of the computer with the keyboard in front of the scribe. If a laptop is being used, an external keyboard should be attached to the laptop so that the scribe can sit away from the computer screen. The student should sit directly in front of the screen with a good view of what is being typed. As the student talks, the scribe types exactly what is said. The student is in charge of monitoring the computer screen to see that the proper words are being entered and directing the scribe to make needed changes. The scribe should remain as silent as possible and should allow the student to initiate and control all aspects of the document. If the student's mind wanders or the student falters, care should be taken by the scribe to sit patiently and await the direction of the student. It is very important to avoid prompting the student thereby taking control of the writing process away from the student and causing an inaccurate account of what the student knows and is capable of. Students should be trained to use terminology that is standard to speech to text software as training for the possible use of text-to-speech software for text entry. Use of an auditory word processor and / or a word predictor can be used in conjunction with scribing to help students who have language disabilities which make it difficult for them to edit their work. Auditory word processors such as the Kurszweil Reader that is available in all Spotsylvania schools make it possible for students to check their work for errors even if they are not able to read. Use of word prediction gives additional control to students with language disabilities and helps them when spelling is a barrier.

Standard terminology for voice to text software.

Corrections: to make changes to a word or words say the following: *say "select" and then the word or words to be selected. *once the correct word or words is highlighted say, "correct that." * say the change that you want. If you want to delete the word say "Scratch that".

If the incorrect sentence was, "The dog has flies", the student would say the following. "Select FLIES, correct that FLEAS.

IF the incorrect sentence was, "The dog likes red cats." and the student wants to delete the word RED, then he says, Select RED, scratch that.