WordQ Writing Aid Software
www.wordq.com
WordQ software is a writing tool for people of all ages and levels of writing ability, including those who have learning difficulties, such as Dyslexia, or who are learning English as a second language. It is used along with standard Windows word processors and other applications. State-of-the-art word prediction suggests words for you to use and text-to-speech feedback provides helpful cues.
The design of WordQ software was driven by advice from educators to keep it simple and to focus on providing prompts or cues to help you choose words and self-detect writing errors. It is intended for use along with other compensation strategies that are taught.
As you type, WordQ continuously presents a list of correctly spelled words. When you see the word that you want to use, you can choose it with a single keystroke. You can also display the word with its different word endings. If you need help deciding which word to use, each word can be read aloud before you make a selection.
In addition to allowing you to see and hear word choices, you can have letters, words, and sentences spoken as you type. Any combination of these may be used:
· Letter echo helps you self-detect whether the letter just typed is the one that you wanted. When not paying attention to the screen, you can quickly hear a typing error.
· Word echo helps you self-detect two things. First, after selecting a suggested word, word echo helps you confirm your selection. Second, if you fully type out a word, then word echo helps you know whether it was spelled correctly; it won’t sound right if misspelled. If vowels are left out, the word will be spoken out letter-by-letter. This complements visual cues presented by some word processors that underline spelling errors.
· Sentence echo helps you hear the word flow and self-detect whether word order is correct, whether words are missing, and whether suitable punctuation is present. Also, if you never hear a sentence echoed, that is a cue in itself that you have left out sentence punctuation.
The last level of prompting is reading the text at a sentence level. When Microsoft Word, Outlook, WordPad, or Notepad is used, your text is highlighted and read word-by-word within that application. If you prefer to proofread at your own pace, you have the option to read a word or a sentence at a time. Web browsers and other applications can be spoken without highlighting word-by-word. Menus, lists, icons and buttons can also be spoken as you use them.
WordQ software has been developed by Bloorview MacMillan Children’s Centre, Toronto, Canada.
See www.wordq.com for further information and free demonstration software.