Hi, all!
Some background—
It isn’t on his IEP but my son was given an AlphaSmart two years ago. There was no formal training in keyboarding or on the machine itself. At the time, he didn’t want to be different, didn’t used it, and we let it pass. The teacher forwarded it to his fourth grade teacher. Son decided it was a good idea and he and the teacher spent the year playing with it. It was never really *used*. They never figured out how to get it to print. Son did do quite a few assignments on the computer at home. We decided to spend the summer learning keyboarding and how to work the darn thing so he’d be ready next year. Keyboarding I can handle but I’m somewhat afraid to touch the AlphaSmart ‘cause I’m not very good with machines. I called our schools’ AT center to see if I could get help with the AlphaSmart or a manual. It was then that I found out the machine isn’t assigned to him; it must have been one somehow lost in the system. Since it isn’t “thier” machine and it is not on his IEP, they will not help. I guess the up side is that they didn’t make us give it back!
My question (finally) is how do I get a manual for this rogue machine?
We could call an IEP meeting and get it written into his IEP but there has got to be an easier way!
Thanks for your help!
[%sig%]
Re: Help with AlphaSmartHi, all!
Barb -
There’s just not a whole lot of functionality to an AlphaSmart, so I wouldn’t worry too much about getting a manual for it. There is so little too it, you think there has got to be more. But it is just a keyboard input device, and not much else.
Haven’t had one in our house for a while, but I think each F key represents one working file. F1 - File 1, F2 - File 2, etc. When you want to create/edit a file, you just choose the appropriate F key. I don’t think there is a Save key, whatever you have entered is stored. No filenames. But as I said, it’s been a while.
As Andrea said, you need a cable to output any file he’s written to a computer application like Word, WordPad, or some other word processor. You are outputting whatever F-file you currently have displayed. Then once it’s in the computer, you print your document from the computer. I think one cable was about $20.00. You have to get the right kind of cable, Mac vs. Windows. Check what type of computer he would offload it to at school; he might need a Mac cable for school and Windows cable for home. Seems like there was a SEND key (or something similar) to initiate the file output.
I believe there is a trick to getting SpellCheck turned on. Apparently they come from the factory with this feature turned off. Someone at the school is supposed to put in the code to turn spell check on if the child is authorized to have that feature. Our SpED teacher asked us to call the AlphaSmart support desk to get it, and they are somewhat secretive about it, but they did give it to us. They told us they turn off this feature in case multiple students share an AlphaSmart. Wasn’t sure what that had to do with anything.
Can you tell if SpellCheck is working? There must be a button for it, but I’ve forgotten that too. It’s been 3 years.
~aj
Re: Help with AlphaSmartHi, all!
Please do not be intimidated by this tool. The AlphaSmart is the easiest tool of all to use. In fact, the directions are printed on the bottom of the AlphaSmart! (Of course, there is a lengthier manual available)
In many schools, an AlphaSmart is considered an educational tool available to everyone. It’s not even considered assistive technology.
You said,
“We could call an IEP meeting and get it written into his IEP but there has got to be an easier way!”
There has to be an easier way to get the school to cooperate. I can’t believe that there isn’t someone who will help you. Can you explain your plight to the prinicipal? You are just asking for a little cooperation.
AS 2000 User Guide
Go to http://www2.alphasmart.com/support/user_guide.html and in the lower right corner you will see AlphaSmart 2000 and it will open the user guide in .pdf format
Barb,
I think you could get a manual from the alphasmart company, www. alphasmart.com. The machines are super easy to use. It is possible to print directly from the alphasmart by attaching a cable between the machine and a printer. At home, you attach the alphasmart to your computer with a cable (available from the website), open your word processing software and press the send button on the alphasmart. The alphasmart document will be uploaded to your computer and you can edit and print from there. If you wanted to purchase an alphasmart, I think they run between $250 and $400, depending on the model.
Andrea