Co-writer/write out loud computer program

My son starting using Cowriter at school last year. He found it very frustrating because he couldn’t type. Still, he produced much higher quality work than he did without it.

This summer we worked on typing with Read, write, and type (a great program). But, following Interactive Metronome, he is doing much better with his handwriting output and we haven’t been using the computer at school. He actually can write a coherent paragraph!! So I really can’t tell you the before typing and after typing with cowriter..

I do know from reading other posts that once kids get quite good at typing, they find Cowriter to be a hinderance rather than a help. I need to look into getting a copy at home because that is where he has ended up using the computer.

Beth

Thanks, that is very helpful. I have been very interested in the Interactive metronome program, and I knew it helped in a lot of ways, but I didn’t know handwriting. Has your child been receiving ot, for handwriting? Could you speculate how this program has improved your son’s handwriting? I’m really interested, but hesistant to put him through any more stuff. Thanks Darlene

My daughter, age 9, began using an Alphasmart at the end of 2nd grade. She currently uses draftbuilder and cowriter, although she says cowriter is too slow now (she types about 20 wpm).

The AlphaSmart was some improvement, but she needs the auditory spellcheck feature that cowriter and draftbuilder provide.

We also have Kidspiration and she has used Inspiration. At this point draftbuilder is her favorite. She just used it to write a book report for school.
We still need to learn how to use it to its best potential, b/c we are not that proficient on it yet.

Cowriter is a great place to begin for the beginner typist. It has the great topic dictionaries..

My son has received OT since Kindergarten. He is in fourth grade. IM often improves handwriting but I think it depends what the underlying issues are. It most clearly improves handwriting due to motor planning problems. The therapist had him write a paragraph before and after IM. My son got through half of it and had a fit and said he was too tired. Now this was pretty typical behavior for him so I let it go. Afterwards, he easily wrote the whole paragraph, folded it up like a letter, and addressed it to me. Now he copy accurately (skipped a couple words, and didn’t capitalize beginning of sentence a couple times). The underlying causes of those issues obviously were not addressed in IM.

We did IM just as school was getting out so had little comparison with school. This fall I had a conference with his teacher to discuss his IEP. At that meeting she showed me the paragraph he had written in response to the prompt “What was your favorite thing about third grade”. I was shocked. It was well organized, had a topic sentence, details, and a conclusion. This was his IEP goal for the year and prior to IM we had made no progress. This is why we went to co-writer. This too was at the end of the year and while he was clearly doing better with co-writer, his lack of typing skills were interferring.

I had intended for him to use keyboarding in the classroom with co-writer. HIs teacher thinks he is doing fine without keyboarding so I haven’t pushed the issue. I have kept his typing up at home—he does his spelling assignments on the word processor, for example.

I highly recommend IM but it is a pretty intense therapy. If you and your child are feeling burned out, wait awhile. We did it at the end of the school year when homework was waning.

Beth

I agree with other posters Co-writer is good for slow new typist. Once you start typing it pops up a list of words and if the word you want is there you select it. It cuts down the number of key stroaks. Once the typing speed picks up it just gets in the way.

Helen

Thanks, that really was very helpful. I think IM is in our future, but right now we have to really work on keyboarding ( desperately needs it) and math. So many areas of weakness, just not enough time in the day to address everything, We just received our Cowriter/Write out loud, so I guess he will just jump in and hope for some positive results. Thanks Darlene

Thanks Leah, I am reassured that now is the time to use it, I am suprised that it is so slow, for anyone that has gained some proficiency. I am interested in draft builder and Inspiration. Can that be purchased on the internet? Hopefully some day, we will be at that point. I am very impressed that your daughter got an alphasmart in second grade. Has she been able to use it still, or do you proceed to something else? Thanks for your help and the information. Darlene