Writing with Symbols 2000

Transcription

1 Writing with Symbols 2000 For Windows TM 95, 98, NT4, 2000 and XP The inclusive writing tool for supporting literacy and access to learning Manual for version 2.5 with Rebus and PCS Symbols 124 Cambridge Science Park Tel +44 (0) Milton Road Fax +44 (0) Cambridge CB4 0ZS Web:

2 Acknowledgements Writing with Symbols 2000 has grown out of many years of development of symbol software. Widgit are very grateful to the many users and practitioners, too many to name individually, who have contributed to this process. The symbol sets included with the program are The Rebus Symbol Collection, developed from Learning With Rebuses and more recently by Widgit Software, and The Picture Communication Symbols developed by Mayer-Johnson Co. Information on these two sets are given in Section E of this manual, including full acknowledgement of the various contributions to these sets. Copyright Writing with Symbols 2000 Widgit Software Ltd The Rebus Symbol Collection Widgit Software Ltd The Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) Mayer-Johnson Co International ProofReader TM text proofing software Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V Windows TM is a trademark of the Microsoft Corporation Portions of the graphic rendering software used by Writing with Symbols 2000 is provided by ImageMagickStudio. These portions are 2002 ImageMagickStudio, a non-profit organisation dedicated to making software imaging solutions freely available. Published by Widgit Software Ltd Licence Terms This program and documentation is provided with a full licence statement. This statement gives the full terms and conditions under which the licence to use the software and any symbols included with it has been granted to the user. All users must comply totally and completely with this licence statement Cambridge Science Park Tel +44 (0) Milton Road Fax +44 (0) Cambridge [email protected] CB4 0ZS Web:

3 Contents Section A: Installation A1 CD versus Hard disk installation... A2 Installation instructions for new installations... A3 Updating previous installations... A4 Occasional installation problems with Windows 95:... A5 Uninstalling Writing with Symbols A6 Getting Started.... Useful short-cuts and reminders... Section B: Worksheets B1 Getting started and using the on-screen tutorial... B2 The Symbol Processor... B3 The Word Processor... B4 Grids for printing... B5 Grids for writing... B6 Switch access Section C - Reference C1 Understanding screen resolution... C2 Files and folders used by Writing with Symbols C3 Wordlists What is a wordlist Which wordlist to use Changing wordlists Changing the default list Using more than one list Modifying and creating wordlists... C4 Handling graphics in WWS Finding the right graphic for the word Graphic matching Special characters / 4.4 Viewing words in the wordlist Using wordlist colours... C5 Writing in text and graphic mode Introduction Changing modes (F10) Changing symbols (F12) Renaming a graphic (F11) Saving F11 changes Saceing between lines Making text documents Hiding text Undo Saving pages of HTML... C6 Using the Spell Checker Audible feedback of spelling errors Visual feedback of spelling errors Spell checker dialog box Adding extra alternatives... C7 Graphics features Appearance of graphics Line thickness and auto thicken Adding your own pictures Types of graphic files that you can use Adding a new graphic permanently to the system C8 Qualifiers C9 Saving documents and settings Saving settings

4 4 9.2 Styles Saving your work Saving speech settings... C10 Speech Using speech feedback Changing speech voices... C11 Sound Adding sounds in the program Using sound for feedback... C12 Grids: layout and formatting Introduction Grid set-up Writing in a grid cell Clearing a cell Highlighting cells Grouping and ungrouping cells Inserting/deleting rows and columns Grid walls and outlines Print margins Cell alignment Show/hide text Grid templates... C13 Grids for writing Types of environments Opening an environment Seeing which cells have links Making an environment in the wizard Cell properties menu Formatting cells Colouring cell backgrounds Setting the key grid C14 Macros What is a macro? Adding macros to cells Using macros to link grids Creating additional macro commands C15 Editing an environment Editing an environment in the wizard Editing the environment while you are writing C16 Other environments Single grid and window Cloning grids Saving other environments Locking and unlocking windows Making a send document Using example environments... C17 Storing and moving environments... C18 Tips on making environments... C19 Switch access Setting up switches Scan modes Auditory scan Scan colour Cell select settings Scanning irregular grids C20 Other switch features Using switch input with keyboard devices Swap switch function User profiles Using example environments C21 Advice on using switches

5 C22 HTML and Web links Saving pages of HTML Web link from front screen Web link Macro... Section D: Resource Manager D1 Loading the Resource Manager... D2 Managing wordlists Viewing words in a wordlist Altering words in a wordlist and creating synonyms Removing words from a wordlist Adding words from one list to another Merging wordlists Setting the colour for black line symbols Setting the F12 order Hiding a symbol in WWS Making a text file from a wordlist... D3 Constructing wordlists Creating a new wordlist Adding a graphic to a wordlist Adding sound to a graphic Adding a qualifier to a symbol... D4 Copying files into Resource Drawers Adding a new graphic (or other resource) to the system Creating a new resource folder... Section E: Symbols included with WWS2000 E1 The Rebus Symbol Collection... E2 The Mayer-Johnson PCS Symbols... E3 Other symbols and wordlists... E4 Using other symbol sets... E5 New developments to the Rebus Symbol Collection... Section F: Getting more information F1 The WWS2000 Training pack F2 Web site 71 F3 services Widgit Announce Symbol Forum F4 Publications Introduction to Symbols Literacy Through Symbols Symbols Now Symbol Indexes Section G: Example materials G1 Wizard environments G2 Other environments G3 Grids My grids Grid templates Example writing documents... Section H: Additional material H1 Network installation of WWS H2 Utility programs ChangeUser.exe Acrobat Reader comupd.exe H3 Documents Rebus 99.doc and PCS 99.doc RemovingWWS2.doc Help Sheets Section I: Commands provided by the Macro Editor

6 Section A - Installation These are the instructions for installing to a standalone computer. Please refer to the separate instructions for Network installation provided in H1. Note you may only install to a network if you have the appropriate network licence. The main application, WWS2000, and the associated support files will be installed onto your hard drive. You can choose whether to install the Symbol Resources to Hard Drive, or to use them from CD. The next section explains this in more detail. If you are updating from an earlier version of WWS2000 (before version 1.5) then you should see the paragraph in this section: Updating previous installations. If you have the old Writing with Symbols and want to clean this off your hard disk, you should do this BEFORE installing WWS2000. There is an information sheet on the CD that explains how to do this. (See Section H3.2). If you want to keep your old version and continue to use it, then just proceed with installing WWS2000. A 1 CD versus hard disk installation of symbols To install WWS2000 you will need about 13Mb of hard disk space on the drive to which Windows is installed. You will also need approximately 30Mb of space on your hard drive for the application and associated work files, and approximately 130Mb for the symbols. It is now standard practice to also install all of the symbols to the hard drive for the fastest and most eficient access. However, if you have a machine with very small storage space on the hard drive you can install the program so that the symbols are accessed direct from the CD. (Technical Note: You may also wish to access the symbols from the CD if you are using a machine with a FAT16 filing system, as the symbols will take up something mroe like 550Mb. More recent machines tend to use FAT32 or NTFS and will not have this problem. The installer will try to warn you if this is the case.) If you do not have enough space on your hard drive, and need to access the symbols from the CD you will need to request additional CDs. These are supplied on request up to the limit of machines for which you have a licence. We suggest you make a full installation, with the resources on the hard drive if possible. You can 6 reinstall without losing a licence if you change your mind later. A 2 Installation instructions for new installations Before installation you will need: the installation floppy the CD your licence number Put the CD into the CD drive and the floppy in the floppy drive. Click on the Start button, then on Run. Follow the instructions on the installation disc. During installation you will be asked a number of questions. If you have a standard machine and are installing to the c: drive you can accept the defaults. Extra information is provided for others who may need it. First you will need to choose the Application Directory. This is where the program and all the associated files are stored, for example for speech and the spell checker. By default this is set to be C:\WWS2000. You can change this if you wish but there is no need to. Next you will be asked to choose the Teacher Resource Area. This is where to store all the example files and files which a teacher will use to create their own examples. By default this is set to be C:\WWS2000 Work. You can change this if you wish but there is no need to. Next you will be asked for a place where the computer can set-up a folder for saving the students own work. By default this is set to C:\Widgit Work. You can change this if you wish. The program can store personal settings in two ways. Unless you have a computer with restricted access for students simply accept the default for the next question. Otherwise take the ini file option. If you chose the ini file option you will be asked where you want the ini file to be stored. If in doubt accept the default. Next the program will create folders where you can store imported graphics and sounds. By default these are put in the Work area, but you can choose a different place if you wish. Finally you will be asked whether you wish to install to hard disk, or to use the symbol resources from CD-ROM. The pros and cons for this decision have been discussed earlier. If you choose to install the graphics to hard disk you will

7 be asked where you want them to go. Accept the default if you have no reason not to. The copying process will take quite a few minutes as it is copying a very large number of files. The progress bar remains static while the symbols are installing. For CD use the process takes just a few moments. The installer places icons for Writing with Symbols 2000 and the Resource Manager into the Widgit Program group. You can then access the programs by clicking on the Start button, then Programs, then Widgit and click on the program you wish to run. Laptop users If you use a laptop that does not support having a floppy disk drive and a CD-ROM drive simultaneously, you should follow these instructions for installing the software. Create a folder on your hard disk called Widgit and copy the three files from your floppy disk into this folder. Then follow the installation instructions as above, but run the appropriate setup.exe from your hard disk instead of the floppy disk. You will need to copy the file data.inf back onto your floppy disk when you have completed the installation. A 3 Updating previous installations You should follow the general installations to install this new version. It will not destroy any of your own writing files or wordlists. Do not forget to have your licence number with you for installation. The new CD has improved graphics, which now take less hard disk space. There are also over 1000 additional graphics and there are new wordlists which access them. If you have edited the original wordlists then they will have a more recent date than those being copied and your changes will not be overwritten. A 4 Occasional installation problems with Windows 95: Version 2 of Writing with Symbols 2000 needs a recent Microsoft file when running in Windows 95 (comctl32.dll). If you are working with Windows 95 (ONLY) and after installation of Writing with Symbols Version 2 you get a message about comctl32.dll, then you need to run the Microsoft redistributable file 50comupd.exe. This is on the WWS2000 CD for convenience in the Utilities folder. This will update your computer to a more recent version. ONLY use this file on machines working under Windows 95. A 4 Uninstalling Writing with Symbols 2000 In order not to exceed the terms of your licence you must uninstall WWS2000 on a machine if the program is no longer used on that machine. You must uninstall WWS2000 using the original floppy disk used to install the program - do NOT try to uninstall the programs in any other way. To uninstall you should Click on the Start button, then on Browse to your Floppy drive (usually A:) and double click on the file with unsetup in the name. A6 Getting started Don t forget to complete and return your registration form. This will enable us to inform you of updates and free resources. We recommend that you work through the first worksheet B1 with the on-screen tutorial before starting to use the program. This will introduce you to the main features of Writing with Symbols Worksheets There are five further worksheets, each of these is designed to give you confidence in using different aspects of the program. There are also a number of more detailed help sheets on the CD, and our web site contains on-line tutorials and technical support information. Technical Support. If you do need to call for technical support, please can you first find out which version of the program you are using. This is shown on the blue title bar when you are in the program. Don t forget: there are always loads of advice, and resources on the web site. Check the web site regularly. 7

8 Useful short-cuts and reminders F12 F11 F10 Change the symbol displayed or turn a symbol on and off To add different text to a symbol To change the mode of writing between symbol mode and text mode CTRL+Q Turn a writing grid into a send window and vice versa CTRL+R To display the send properties menu of the cell where the mouse/cursor is CTRL+Left To highlight a cell or group of cells. CTRL+Left again to clear the highlighter. mouse button CTRL+G To group a set of highlighted cells ALT + N To move the cursor from one cell to another when entering data Change the pictures that appear when you type by changing the wordlist. From the Wordlist menu select Replace. You can then choose the new list. If you cannot see the name of the list you want, try navigating to the main part of Wordlist directory. (There is a help sheet on navigating windows, if you are unsure about this.) Do not use more than one major wordlist at a time. Replace the current list to get symbols from a different list. You can use the Resource Manager to create your own new or amalgamated lists. Save your own settings as the default for the wordlist, graphic and text styles, and if speech is switched on or off by clicking on the Options menu and Save Settings Now. If you cannot get your document to speak, check that Speech is switched on. Click in the document first, then look under the Speech menu. If necessary click to turn speech on. To bring your own pictures into the program, click on Link to External Graphic, under the Images menu. To save any new graphics that you have linked, or to save any graphic/word changes you have made using the F11 key, go to the Images menu and select Save Word List Changes To copy a Wizard Environment from one machine to another - All the files for a Wizard Environments are stored in a folder with the same name as the environment itself. This is created in the Wizard Environments folder, which is in your WWS2000Work folder. You can copy this Wizard Environment from one machine to another, provided it is put into the main Wizards Environments folder on the new machine, (or any sub-directory of the Wizard Environments Folder). Save Blank grids into the Templates folder to re-use later A symbol can be linked to one, two or three words. Beyond that you can replace spaces with key to create false single words. (e.g. once@upon@a@time) key shows as a space. To use character in a document, you need to type ALT+@ 8

9 Section B: Worksheets B1 Getting started and using the on-screen tutorial Open WWS2000. It can be found from the Widgit menu item on the Programs list. The front screen has buttons for each of the four main ways of using the program, and a button to access the on-screen Tutorial. The four ways in which you can use the program are: As a symbol processor in which you can type, and the words are automatically illustrated with a graphic as far as possible. As a talking word processor in which you can write as in a standard word processor, but with the facility to add pictures when required, and use the pictorial spell checker. Making grids to print out and use off screen create a grid and then type in it in either symbol and text modes (or both). Using and creating grids to support writing so that students can select what they want from a grid. This section has a wizard to help you make groups of on-screen grids to use with your writing document. The on-screen tutorial The tutorial has a section on each of the four ways in which you can use the program, plus sections on graphics and on switch access. We recommend that you look through the entire tutorial before starting, so that you have a clear idea about the program s potential. Click on each of these grid cells to look through the tutorial sections, and then step through each section page by page. Notice that the tutorial is interactive. You can do some of the operations as you read about them. We suggest that you look at the sections on switch access and the graphic features, even if you are not going to use switches or change between graphic sets. There is additional general information in these sections as well. 9

10 B2 The Symbol Processor The symbol processor is the core program within Writing with Symbols 2000 (WWS2000). All of the features that you explore in this worksheet will apply to the other sections of the program. The sections covered are: Starting to write Getting the pictures you want Renaming pictures Formatting the text and graphics Saving your settings Importing your own pictures Listening to speech This worksheet is designed to be used after viewing the on-screen tutorial. It shows you how to write in symbol processing mode, how to get the symbol you want for a word, and explains some of the extra features in the program that will help you make your documents appear in the way you want. 1 Starting to write Open the program WWS2000. From the front screen, select Symbol Processor. You can start to write immediately. There are two symbol sets included with WWS2000, and you may have added others. The first thing to do is to see if the symbol set loaded is the one you want. Type I love my dog. If you have the PCS Colour set loaded your screen will look like this If you have the Rebus set loaded your screen will look like this For this activity we should start by using the Rebus set. The next section explains about wordlists and using the symbol set you want. 2 The wordlists The symbols that are displayed as you type are controlled through a wordlist. This is a data list that matches the text you write to a graphic. You can change the wordlist at any time to change the symbols that are displayed. To change the wordlist, click on Wordlists from the main menu bar. Then click on Replace wordlist. From the list shown choose the list Rebus 00.wus 10

11 3 Making the symbols appear. Type Here is the cat Notice that the symbols do not appear until you press the space at the end of the word. If you did not put a space after the word cat the symbol would not have appeared. If there is already a space after the word, for example because you have types something and then deleted it, you may leave a space behind in the document. This can cause the computer to think that you have finished typing after each character, and so will put the symbol immediately. Only words in the wordlist produce symbols. The wordlist is a large look-up table that tells the computer what symbol to attach to each word. There are thousands of words in the word list, but if you type something like appropriate, you will not get an image, as appropriate is not in the word list. The following sections explain how you can manage the symbols that you get using the F12 and F11 keys. 4 Using the F12 key to change which symbols appear On a new line type the word drink (and a space) click the mouse into the middle of the word to put the flashing cursor there, and press the F12 key. You will see that the picture of drink changes. Press it again and the symbol disappears. This F12 feature is very important for helping you to get the right image, or removing a symbol that you don t want. Many words have alternative symbols. Now type I saw a saw. You will see that the sentence makes no sense as it appears at the moment. This is because you are using two different meanings for the word saw. Depending on which symbol is wrong put the cursor in the word you want to change, and press the F12 key until you get the most sensible symbol. The F12 key is probably the most important function of all in WWS2000. It is the key that helps you to make sure you have the correct meaning for the word. F12 is also the key that lets you control which words are illustrated and which are text only. The program will remember your F12 preferences while you are writing. So if you turn off the symbol for the, the first time you use it, then the will automatically be displayed without a symbol next time you type it. If you do not want this to happen then it can be disabled by switching off Remember F12 Changes under the Options menu. (You only need to do this if you are working with Overlay Keyboards). You can also save these changes to your wordlist permanently. Do this from the Images menu, and click on Save F12 Adjustments. 11

12 5 Using the F11 key to rename a symbol You may want to give a symbol a new word, for example to personalise the vocabulary. Type cat so that the symbol appears. Put your cursor in the word cat and click the mouse. Now press the F11 key. The word cat disappears. Type Felix and instead of typing a space, PRESS THE RIGHT ARROW TO MOVE THE CURSOR AWAY FROM THAT WORD. This tells the program that you have finished renaming that symbol. Now type a return to start a new paragraph and then type Felix is my cat. Sometimes you may not have a symbol for the word you want, and you might want to change the word associated with a symbol. In the example below there is not a symbol for Trout but one of the alternatives for fish would be fine. Type fish, and press F12 to get the picture you want to rename. Put your cursor in the middle of this word and press the F11 key. This will leave the symbol alone, but will remove the text. Now type trout but remember, DO NOT PRESS SPACE, but instead, press the RIGHT ARROW KEY to tell the computer you have finished renaming. 6 Saving the new words The changes will apply until you close WWS2000, or until you load another wordlist. If, in addition, you want to save these changes you can add them PERMANENTLY to your wordlist. To do this go to the Images menu item, select Save Word List Changes. In the left hand list box select the word you want to save and click Add. 7 Renaming a picture with a phrase You can have phrases of up to three words associated with a graphic: You can also use the F11 key to add a whole caption to a picture. Type dog. Put the cursor in the middle of the word and press F11. Now type Here is my dog Fido. Notice that as you type the symbol moves along the line. When you have finished typing you need to press the right arrow key to move out of that into a new word space. You cannot save changes of more than three words to a wordlist, nor will the program remember this type of change if you type this phrase again. 8 Graphic matching You can choose to have the computer match the exact text you type or to try to make sensible matches when you type longer words. For example when you type runs or running, the computer finds the shorter word run in the longer one, and matches to that word. However, this can on occasion cause mistakes. It is, therefore really important to look at the symbols that 12

13 appear, and if necessary to change the symbol by trying a different word. For example. There is no symbol for antelope, and so you might type deer, and then use the F11 function to rename it. The Graphic Matching settings are found under the Options menu. There is more information on this in Section C4.2 8 Formatting the text and graphics You can change the size of the text and graphics independently. Toolbars can be used for this, and you can choose the toolbars you want from the View menu. The icons for doing this are on the Normal toolbar: These icons are for These icons refer to the Graphic size Line thickness (Rebus only) Font Text size Text colour Click on the little down arrows by each box to see a list of the alternatives. To change existing writing, highlight the text and then make what ever changes you want. To change the formatting for new writing, click in the document where you want the new style to start, change the settings using the toolbar and start typing. 9 Putting the text on top or below the symbols. You can choose to have the text on top of the graphics if you prefer. Click on the Options menu, and tick or untick Text on Top. 10 Space between symbol lines. There are two settings available for the space between lines. Normal and Large. The large setting may be useful for readers who find it difficult to track between one line and another. To change the setting click on the Options menu, select Space between symbol lines, and choose the setting you want. 11 Speech You can choose to hear the text as you write, letter by letter, word by word, at the end of each sentence or you can choose to listen to it on demand only. Before you can hear the text spoken you will need to see if the speech is switched on. The easiest way is to look at the Normal toolbar. There are two speaker icons: The first icon for speaking text, the other is to repeat the speech. If the speech icon is pale grey, it means that the speech is switched off. If it is black, as shown here, then speech is switched on ready to use. To turn the speech on, click on the Speech menu and then on the menu item which says Speech is Off. When you look at this menu again you will see a tick by the item and it will say Speech is On. Click at the beginning of your first sentence and then click on the speech icon. You will hear the 13

14 text spoken. There is more information on using the full speech features in Section C Saving your settings for future use. You can save the current settings of WWS2000 so that next time you start to write, these settings will automatically be used. The settings include the text styles, the graphic styles, the text/graphic position and the wordlist you are using. You can save the settings at any time from the Options menu, by clicking on Save Settings Now. 13 Importing your own images In addition to using symbols from the sets included with the pack, you may want to add your own pictures. These pictures need to be saved with one of these file types: Bitmap (.bmp) Tiff (.tif ) J-peg (.jpg) Ping (.png) Windows metafile (.wmf) Enhanced metafile (.emf) Most camera and scanning software will allow you to save bmp, jpg and tif forms. Jpg files generally take the least space on your computer. Some drawing packages, such as Corel, allow you to export your own symbols as wmf or emf files. For this exercise we will us a digital photograph. There is one included with this version of the program in the WWS2000Work folder. The file is called janice.bmp. From WWS2000 Images menu, select Link to External Graphic [illustration (a)]. This gives a dialogue box [(illustration (b)] (a) (b) (c) Click on the Browse button to navigate to your picture. To use the picture of Janice, you need to find the WWS2000Work folder on your hard drive (usually C:). Open that folder, and you should see the file janice.bmp in the list. When you have found and selected your picture it will appear in the dialog box. [illustration (c)] Type the word or name to be linked to that picture and click OK. Do NOT put a space at the end of the word. You can now type Janice in your document and her photo will appear. If you want to save the picture and word for Janice so that you can use it regularly, you can add it to one of your wordlists. From the Images menu, select Save Word List Changes. 14

15 Click on the word Janice in the list. This will display the image. The wordlist it will be saved to is highlighted at the top. A copy of the photo will be made in one of two special directories (shown at the bottom right of the window). These are areas created for you at installation so that WWS2000 knows about, where it saves your own images so that it can find them again. If you do not need the picture of Janice again for any other purpose, you can delete it from the original place it was stored. Summary You have now seen the main features of symbol processing by typing from the keyboard into an ordinary document. The next section looks at word processing and using the spell checker. It also introduces some further features related to symbol use. 15

16 B3 The Word Processor This activity includes: Using the spell checker Using pictures in the word processor More on speech Changing between word and graphic modes From the main front screen, select Word Processing. If you are already in the program click on the Back icon to return to the front screen first. When you start to write now you will notice that no symbols are added to the words, that the lines of text are close together with no space for symbols, and that the text cursor is black rather than grey. 1 Using the spell checker You can turn on the spell checking features from the Text menu. There is an option to hear spelling errors and to mark them visually. Words that are not recognised by the spell checker are shown with a red box around them. The audio feedback is useful for people who type without looking at their writing. You can choose to check the spelling of a single word by right clicking in the word, or you can check the whole document by clicking on the Spell icon (or typing CTRL + K). The first word that is not recognised will be highlighted, and the spell check dialogue box will appear. Although you are working in text mode, the alternatives in the spell checker will be illustrated as far as possible. Spell check icon If you have turned Speech on in your document, you will also get these buttons so that you can hear the words and sentence. Click on a word in this list, Try it and either click OK to accept the word or No to try another. If speech is switched on in the writing document you can hear the new word or the entire sentence. When you click on Try, the new word is put into the sentence so that you can see it in context. Some people are helped to recognise correct spellings that way. If you want to try another alternative, you can click No, and the original spelling is replaced. Words in the list of alternatives that have symbols available, will appear first in the list. You can use the scroll bar to see other alternatives. If there is no appropriate correction in the list, you can type your own new word into the box and then click on Learn unknown word, to add it to the spelling list. The spell checker uses symbols from the currently selected wordlist. The default list, Spell99 has been created to give the largest number of words, but without unnecessary duplication. 16 Speak the word selected in the list Speak the entire sentence containing the mis-spelled word

17 2 Turning symbols on in a text document You can display the symbol attached to a word at any time, by pressing the F12 key when the cursor is in that word. The symbol will be shown according to the current wordlist, at the current graphic size and colour selected. The program can remember different settings for the word processor and the symbol processor, so you can have settings to suit the different purposes. Save Settings Now, from the Options menu, will save the settings you choose in this Word Processor mode. You can also use the F12 key to see alternative symbols and to turn the symbol off again. You can use this feature as a way of quickly checking the meaning of a word. Often a student may know that there are two spellings for a particular sound, but not know if they have chosen the correct one. This facility is useful here for them to check the word meaning. The final document can still be all in text, simply by using the F12 key to switch any temporary symbols off again. This feature is also useful as a way of adding limited symbols, for example, when creating accessible information for readers who are helped by some visual clues to the meaning of the sentence. You can link to your own graphics in the symbol processor in exactly the same way that you can in the word processor. This was described in Activity B2. 3 More on speech There are different speech voices available with Writing with Symbols The default voice is Mary, but you can change the voice using the voice combo box on the Normal toolbar. Click on the down arrow beside the voice display. This will give you the list of voices available on your computer. Select the one you want, and any new typing at the current cursor position will be spoken in the new voice. To change the voice for any existing writing, highlight the text and then change the voice. You can have different voices for different words, sentences or paragraphs, although there is a slight pause in the speech while the voices are being changed. This is useful for retelling stories, where reported speech can have a different voice from narrative. 4 Changing between word and text modes The difference between text processing and symbol processing modes is whether the words are automatically illustrated, or whether you need to request the graphic. You can change between these two modes within a single document as well as creating complete documents in each mode. You can change modes for a paragraph by pressing the F10 key, or clicking on the Mode icon. There is an icon on the Normal Toolbar that shows the current mode. Clicking on it, or pressing F10, toggles between the two. Text mode Symbol mode 17

18 B4 Grids for Printing This activity includes: Designing a grid Writing in a grid cell Grouping cells Other layout features Using pre-made templates 1 Creating a new grid. From the main front screen, click on Grids for Printing. You have three new choices: Select New Grid, and complete the dialogue box as shown in this picture: 2 Writing in a grid Anything that you can do in a document you can do in a grid cell. Each cell in a grid has many of the same properties as a complete writing document. Cells can be either text or graphic mode, and you can set the mode for each cell with the Change Mode icon, as shown in exercise B3. You can type single words, phrases or even several paragraphs into a cell. If the graphic and/or writing is too large to fit the space, the program will automatically reduce the size to make it fit. A consequence of this is when you type the Enter key, a new line will automatically be created ready for a new paragraph. This will auto reduce the size of the cell contents to make space for the new writing. It is important, therefore, to press Space and not Enter at the end of the last word in a cell. Try typing some different content into the grid, as shown in this example: 18

19 If you make a mistake, the simplest way to start the cell again is to select Clear Cell from the Grids menu. This will re-set the default settings in that cell. 3 Alignment To align cell contents vertically, choose the style you want from the Grids menu. You can position the cell contents horizontally using the centre, left and right align icons on the Normal toolbar. You could try this on the grid you have just made. 4 Making an example grid for printing. This letter matching activity is made in a grid so that it is easy to plan the layout, and also to save it as a template for using with other vocabulary. The walls of the cells have been set to off but a box has been put around the main section. Also two cells have been grouped to produce a larger one for the top text. Create a grid to fit in your paper. This one was created 136mm x 150mm with 3 cells across and 5 cells down. If you find this size is not quite right, you can amend the size from the Grids menu, Change size... Replace the wordlist with the list Allco00. In the first column type draw, cat, ant, dog, bee to get the pictures shown above. The next section will give further information about cells and take you through completing this worksheet. 5 Highlighting and grouping cells You can select a rectangular group of cells, by holding down the Ctrl key whilst clicking first in the top left cell (Ctrl+Left) and then clicking in the bottom right cell. Highlight the first column and then, from the Grids menu, click on Show text to remove the tick by it. Remove the highlighter by clicking CTRL+Left again in one of the highlighted cells. The other two columns are going to be set to text mode. Highlight all of these as before, and then press F10 or click on the Mode icon to change it to text: Type the initial letters into the right column as shown. Next, highlight the two remaining cells in the top row for the activity title. Group these cells either by selecting Group Cells from the Grid menu (see above) or by typing Ctrl + G. When you group cells, the program will automatically re-set the default graphic/text sizes to be larger. Type in the title as shown. 19

20 6 Setting the wall thickness of cells You can choose the line thickness of individual cells or a group of cells. Highlight the cells you want to change and then, from the Grid menu, select Set Wall Thickness... You can then choose the thickness for one or more of the cell walls. In this exercise, highlight all of the grid and set all walls to be 0. Another option under the Grids menu lets you Set Outline Thickness around a highlighted group of cells. This time highlight the cells of the activity itself and set these to 5. The grid now matches what we are trying to make, as shown in section 4. You can see some examples of different effects made with line thicknesses from the Own Grids button of Grids for Printing. Look at Red Things and Initial Letters. 7 Showing the grid lines temporarily. If you have hidden several lines, as in the above example, you may want to see them temporarily, to help with making the grid. You can turn temporary walls on from the Grids menu. These show blue, to indicate they will not be printed. 8 Setting the print margins When you have created your grid, you may want to position your grid on the paper. You can do this by setting the Print Margins from the File menu. It will help to look at the page layout in print preview to see how the page will appear when printed. 9 Saving your work When you are satisfied with your work, save the file. The program should automatically invite you to save it in the My Grids folder. 10 Using templates Templates are very useful. A template is an empty or partially made grid saved in a special folder, ready for you to fill in as required. You could save an empty version of this letter matching grid ready for remaking with other vocabulary. Delete the contents of the main cells (the animals and the initial letters) leaving the title and icon. Now go to Save As from the File menu, and navigate to the Templates folder, which is also in the Grids area. (From the My Grids area, click on the up icon in the save dialog box to move up a directory, give your template a name and Save it.) Inside this templates folder there are a number of empty grids ready made for you to use to make overlays for various communication aids and overlay keyboards. You can open these and add your own content. As they are templates, you will be asked to give them a new name and to save them in your own grid area. This helps to prevent you from destroying the template. You can add your own templates to this folder, by saving a blank, or partially complete grid to the templates folder. 11 Background colours The background colour can be selected from the Options menu. If you are choosing background colours for printing, try to choose light colours. The colours tend to print much darker than they appear on screen. 20

21 12 Changing the size, and numbers of rows or columns of your grid If you change your mind about the grid size or cell arrangement of the grid after you have created it, you can change its size by clicking in a cell and then going to Change Size... from the Grid menu. You can then type new values for the horizontal and/or vertical dimensions. You can also insert or delete rows or columns from a grid. To delete a row or column, click in a cell that you want deleted and select Delete Current Row or Delete Current Column from the Grids menu. To insert rows or columns choose the Grids menu and then Insert Row or Column... shows this dialogue box: Enter the number of rows and/or columns that you wish to insert, and whether you want to add them before or after the current cell. (If you have grouped cells that cross the row or columns, then this option will be greyed out.) When inserting rows or columns you are given two options. One is to keep the grid size, in which case the cell size will automatically be reduced. Second is to keep the cell size, in which case the grid will be bigger. Select the one you require. 13 A final exercise. This timetable has been made to fit an A4 sheet. The printable area on a sheet of A4 paper, is about 280 x 190mm. To get the shorter cells for the coffee break and lunch times, the entire grid was made with 10 cells vertically, and the main rows were made from pairs of cells grouped together vertically. When you have made your grid, click on the Print Preview icon, or select Print Preview from the File menu, to see what it looks like on the page. Some of the words typed did not produce symbols. Other words were used and then re-named using the F11 key, to give the text and graphic required. For example, the symbol used for Tutorial was originally linked to the word discussion. Don t forget to save your work regularly whilst you are working on it. If you do that you can always go back to the previous version if you make a mistake. 21

22 B5 Grids for Writing. Writing grids can have several components. There is always a writing document, and at least one grid that can send the contents of cells to the writing document. This is how users can get help to write with graphics or in text without having to type every word into the computer. Other components in this set-up will be the choice of wordlist (and symbols) that you use, and the text and graphic settings. This collection of files and information is called an environment. From the front screen, select Grids for Writing. Environment Wizard takes you to a wizard that will help you make writing environments (described later in this exercise). Open Wizard Environment lets you open a previously made environment that was made with the wizard. Open Version 1 Environment. This is mainly for people who have had earlier versions of the program, and have environments made before the Wizard was developed. 1 Looking at an Environment If you have not looked at any of the Wizard Environments before, we suggest that you do so now, so that you have an idea of what they are. Select Open Wizard Environment, and from the list shown, select the environment called Doing. The system should offer you environments suited to the resolution of your computer, but if the environment does not look like the illustration below you will need to navigate to a different folder. In the Wizard Environment folder there are folders for Hi-res (1024 x 768), Lo-Res (800x600) and for NT or Windows 2000 (Section C1). Click in these cells to build sentences in the document. Notice that new lines are automatically created for each new sentence. 22 Click in the cells in this grid to change the topic grid and get new vocabulary choices.

23 Click on the Go cell to display the Going grid as shown in the illustration on the previous page. Make a sentence I like to go to the cinema. You can also type into the document. Try typing directly I don t like going to the dentist. It will be illustrated in the normal way. You can alter any grid very quickly. Supose we want to add to the dentist to a grid, so that we can write that sentence from the grids. To do this we will first change the grid into a state where it can be edited. Right click your mouse into the cell you want to change and then type CTRL+Q to change the grid into a writing grid. You will notice that the grid changes colour from cream to white. You can now delete the word hospital, and type dentist instead. Change this back to a send grid by clicking CTRL+Q again. You will also have seen that a return character was typed at the end of the phrases. This is added from the cell properties pop-up menu. Right click in the dentist cell again and then type CTRL+R to display the properties box, shown below. 2 Making your own environment When Paste a Return is checked a Return (or Enter) character will be added to the end of the cell contents when it is sent to the document. These settings control how the document responds to the cell message. See section C13.5 Cell Properties menu. These settings relate to the links between different grids. This is set up in the Environment Wizard. (See next section of this exercise). The Key Grid is the front or most important grid. Environments are made in the Environment Wizard. Return to the front screen using the Return to Front Screen button on the toolbar, and select Environment Wizard. We will first make a simple writing environment with one grid and a writing window. It will be an activity to sort animals that fly and animals that swim. The first screen lets you name the environment. Type fly & swim into the box, then click Next. 23

24 Set the style The next screen asks how many grids will be displayed. This environment is only having one grid, so click One, then Next. This will take you to the next screen: Set Master Grid Styles This screen lets you plan the layout of the grid and screen. Change the width of the grid to be 100%. You can either type 100 into the second box, or you can click on the little up/down arrows beside it. If you use the arrows you will see the box re-sizing itself on the screen as it changes. Change the number of cells across to be 8. This mocks-up how the finished grid will look. It is at the bottom of the screen, although you could use the slider bars to move it to the top if you preferred. You can try moving it to see what happens, but for this exercise put it back to the bottom before clicking Next. Choose Toolbars, Speech and Grid Types This window lets you set certain options regarding toolbars, whether you want speech available in the grids, and whether the grid and/or writing window will be in symbol or text mode. If you want the user to have access to speech prompts then leave the speech set shown here. This means that a right mouse click on a grid cell will cause the cell contents to be heard, so a user can hear the cell contents before selecting. Leave the default settings in this window for this exercise. 24

25 The computer will now take a moment or two to turn your mock-up into reality on the screen. When it has done this it is the time to fill in the grid. If necessary move the dialogue box out of the way so that you can see the cells you need to write in. The first two cells in both rows are going to be grouped to make them larger. To group cells, click in each cell whilst holding down the CTRL key. They will turn grey to show they are highlighted. Do this to the first two cells in the top row, and then type CTRL+G to group them. Repeat this in the second row. You can now type into each of the cells as shown below. If you want to put a line feed after the phrase These animals fly: then click in that cell and type CTRL+R to bring up the cell properties pop-up menu (shown on the previous section) and check Paste a Return. When you have finished making the grid click Next. The next screen invites you to make more grids if you want. This time we only want one grid, so click in Finished making Grids. If you accidentally click Next here without doing that, you will be taken back to the previous screen, but with a new grid showing over the top of the first. In this case simply click on Delete the last grid made. Set writing document and window defaults Before finishing you will want to set the style of the document. All of the normal formatting menu items and toolbar icons are available to you to set this. (If you are working in low resolutions you may have to move the dialog box out of the way so that you can get to the toolbars.) The adjustments you make at this stage will automatically apply to the writing window. At this time you should also set whether you want the spell checker on or not. 25

26 Speech in the writing window Finally say whether you want speech on in the writing window and select a voice, by clicking on the little down arrow by the Voice for Speech box. Then Click Next. The environment will be saved but also left visible for you to try immediately. The Wizard automatically changes the grid to be send. You can now try your environment. If you want to change the contents of a cell, remember you can right click in the cell, type CTRL+Q, to change it into edit mode, and retype the word. Type CTRL+Q again to make it back into send mode, and then click on Save. The next section has a more complicated environment to make. It has more grids which link together, rather like the Doing example you saw at the beginning of this exercise. 3 Environments with linked grids Naming your environment Before starting to make an environment, it is really important to have an idea of what you want to do - how many grids you want, whether you are to have a menu grid available at all times, or if all the grids will be in a single stack, one behind the other. The example we are going to follow shows you how to make a writing environment with cells for like/don t like and choices for food and drink. It will have a similar structure to the example Doing, that you have just looked at. The main (menu) grid will have four cells, I like, I don t like, food, and drink. Clicking on the food cell will open a grid with 12 food items, and clicking on the drink cell will open a grid with 12 drink items. These two grids will be stacked one on top of the other, but the menu grid will remain visible at all times. Note: The Wizard can make environments for Writing with Symbols 2000 or Inter_Comm. For Inter_Comm the Wizard automatically leaves a space down the right of the screen for the Inter_Comm toolbar, at the time when it makes the grids and writing window. For the moment accept the default to make an environment for Writing with Symbols At this point you should give the environment a sensible name related to its purpose. for example Food and Drink. When you have given your environment a name, Click Next. 26

27 The number of different grids The second screen asks you to choose what type of screen layout you want. You can choose to have one, two or three grids visible at the same time. You can have many grids of each style stacked-up on top of one another. In this example we want one grid of four cells for the menu grid, and another style for the food and drink items. These Food and Drink grids will be stacked. So select the number of grids seen at a time as Two. Making the screen layout you want The left grid on the screen is coloured pink and the right grid is blue. This stage allows you to mock-up the screen layout you like. We decide to make the pink box a little wider to fill 30% of the screen. We set the blue grid to fill the other 70% and make it have 6 cells across so there are 12 altogether. The Wizard now looks like this: The slider bars move the grids around on the screen. Although the grids are in the correct position you might like to experiment with the sliders. You can also position a grid by clicking in it (it goes white) and then tapping the arrows keys to move it around. This is useful for final positioning. Click Next. 27

28 Setting the Writing window position The Wizard now guesses where you want the writing window to be put. You may have positioned your grids in some unusual place for a particular reason and the computer may guess wrongly where the writing window should go. You can use this screen to adjust the size of the writing window and to use the slider bars to move it around on the screen. Here things are OK so just click Next. Setting some options This stage allows you to say what toolbars you like to have visible. You can also say whether you want to enable speech in the grids. (You will set speech in the writing window later). You can also choose the voice for grid speech. If you are making grids for auditory scan by switch users make sure to switch speech on and, perhaps, set a voice which is to be different from the regular one you use for the writing window. You can choose whether you want the grids to be set up in symbol mode, or text mode. If you were creating grids for symbol writers then obviously you would choose symbol mode. If you are making grids for wordbanks, or for word building from letters or part words, then you would use text mode. This choice will not prevent you from later changing any cells into whatever mode you like. You can also say whether you want the writing window to be in text or symbol mode, similarly. In this example we chose to have the normal toolbar, to set speech on in the grids with Mike s voice and to have both the grids and writing window set to symbol mode. Click Next. There will be a short pause while the computer calculates the grid positions and tidies them neatly. It will then draw the grids on the screen. 28

29 Filling in the first grids The Wizard will now make what you have asked for, so the screen appears as below: Fill in these first two grids now, the left grid for the menu, and the right grid with the food items. If necessary, move the Wizard window out of the way while you do this. Remember that you have full access to the menus while working with the Wizard. So if you want to add special features (like macros) to any cell you can do so at this stage. In this example we will keep it simple. The appearance after filling in the grids might be like this: Naming the grids It is more sensible to use names for the grids that reflect what they do. You can do this by clicking on each grid in the list and changing its name in the edit box. We decide that the small grid should be called menu and the large grid food. Giving the grids memorable names helps considerably when you come to make the links between the grids. When you have finished these two grids, click Next. Making more grids We can now make more grids either of style 1 or style 2. We need another grid of style 2 to become the drink grid. So we click in Make another grid of style 2 (the blue one) and then Next. The program makes another grid of style 2 and places it exactly on top of the first one. Fill this in with the selection for drink, and then rename it to call it drink. 29

30 You can see the previous food grid at any time by clicking on its name in the Wizard list. The Wizard will then bring it to the front. When you are happy with this grid click Next. You now get back to the Wizard page which allows you to make more grids. This allows you to make as many stacked-up grids as you like, but in this case we have finished already so we make sure we click Finished making grids If you click on Make another grid by mistake, instead of Finished, you have the option to Delete the Last Grid on the screen where you re-name and complete the grids. Set the Key Grid The key grid is the main grid. This will be the grid that always appears on top when an environment loads. It is also where the switch cursor will start if you turn on switch access. This is really only important if you are going to access the grids with switches. In this case the key grid will be the grid where the switch cursor will first be seen. For non-switch users just set what you consider to be the most important grid - it does not really matter. 30

31 Making the links In our example when the user clicks on the food symbol in the menu grid we want the program to load the food grid. When the drinks symbol is clicked we want the action to load the drinks grid. To achieve this first make sure that you can see the grid you want to link to ( if necessary click on the grid name in the left list to bring it to the front.) In the centre box you can set whether you want the grid cell to do anything other than just load another grid. You can, for example, send the contents of that cell to the writing window as well as simply performing the link. Here we only want a click in the Food cell to load the Food grid - we do NOT want the cell to send its contents to the writing window. So make sure that you click in the top radio button Link only. Click Next. The link is made by dragging the yellow icon next to the grid name in the right hand list onto the target cell. To do this, hold down the left mouse button while the tip of the pointer is over the yellow icon next to the word food in the list. Keep the button down and start to move the mouse. As you do you will here a noise showing that the drag operation has started. Keeping the mouse button down move the mouse pointer onto the grid cell showing the food symbol. As you hold the mouse still you will see the mouse pointer change to look like this: When you now let go you will hear a boing showing the link has been correctly made. Similarly point to the yellow icon next to the drinks grid and drag down to the drink symbol in the menu grid. In this case this is all we need to do to make the links. If you want to have a visual indication that a cell contains a link, go to the Options menu and make sure Show Links in Grids has a tick. You can use this menu item also to remove the visual indications if they are not required. If you want to see the name of the file to which a cell is linked, move the mouse pointer to the cell and press CTRL + R. The pop-up menu that appears will show you the name of the linked file as the last but one menu item. You can also use this menu to remove any links made in error using the Remove Links item. Notes: The left hand list is there simply to enable different grids to be brought to the front. In a more complicated case you may well want to link a variety of grids and these may get hidden. Clicking on the names in the left list is a good way of getting any grid visible. Click Next. 31

32 Which grids to show when an environment loads If you have an environment with many grids you will not generally want them all to load when you load the environment. In which case the environment will automatically load the grids as they are requested by the user selecting the appropriate linked cell. You can use this stage of the Wizard to select which grids to load when the environment starts. In this example we only have three grids so we may as well load them all at once. So all we need to do is click Next. Set writing document and window defaults Before finishing you will want to set the style of the document as you did in the first exercise. Remember that the settings that are made at this stage become the settings for the writing window for this environment. Speech in the writing window Finally say whether you want speech on in the writing window and select a voice, by clicking on the little down arrow by the Voice for Speech box. Then Click Next. The environment will be saved but also left visible for you to try immediately. The Wizard automatically changes the grids to be send. Try using this environment. Quitting before the Environment is finished You may need to make a long environment in stages as there may not be time to do it all in one go. If this happens and you have made a number of grids but not yet finished them then you can select Cancel on one of the Wizard pages. You will then be asked if you want to save changes or not. If you say Yes then the program will save the current state of the grids. To continue later you should launch the Environment Wizard and type in the name of the partially created environment. The Wizard will then skip the opening screens and go straight to the list of grids already created so that you can carry on. 32

33 4 Editing a grid If you want to change the details of any of your grids after it has been made, you can either reopen it in the Environment Wizard, or, if the changes are small, you may prefer to do it while you are using it. In the Environment you have just made, we want to edit the grids to include a cell that puts a line feed between sentences. Click in the Drink grid and then type CTRL+Q to change it from send into edit mode. You will see the colour change from pale yellow to white. Into the bottom right cell type the word Return, to put a symbol there. Next show the Cell properties pop-up menu, by clicking in the cell and typing CTRL+R. Check the item Paste a Return, and un-check any of the other properties, so that it does not send the cell text or graphic to the document. When you have done this type CTRL+Q again to change the grid back to send and then Save it, from the File menu, or from the save icon on the toolbar. If you also want to do this for the Food grid you will need to delete a cell and add a Return instruction as above. You will now be able to write a list of things you like to eat and another sentence of things you like to drink. There is more information on the cell-properties pop-up menu, shown above, in section C

34 B6 Switch access Before starting this exercise, open the Wizard Environment Simple Spell. 1 Setting up switches. You can use switches that are connected to the computer through the serial port or through a device connected through the keyboard. You can also use keyboard keys to act as switches. These are called Keyboard Alternatives. Switch settings are all to be found under the Access menu. Switch Settings... opens the main dialogue box, Keyboard -> Switch... to select the keys that will act as switches. Swap Switch Functions can be used to change the functions of select and advance in case the switches have been physically connected to the wrong socket. Load or Save User Profile allows you to save and load particular set-ups. Some standard set-ups are included with the program, and you can save your own. Choosing the Keyboard alternatives: Click on the little down arrows to see the list of keys that you can choose from. Remember, however, that the keys you select will NOT operate when switches are active. The settings shown will use the up arrow key to move the cursor and the down arrow key to Select. Switch Set-up 34 a) To set up switches check switches On b) Find out which COM Port your switch interface box is plugged into and check the radio button next to this. The total number of possible COM ports will show in the dialogue box. You can also use a USB switch which emulates joystick buttons. Select Joystick buttons if you have this device. If you do not have switches already plugged into the computer, select the Use Keyboard Equivalents option for this exercise. c) You then need to decide if you are using single switch mode or double switch mode. For our purposes now check next to Single switch mode. As we are using single switch mode we will need to set the Scanning Rate to determine how fast the scan cursor will move. The higher the number the slower the scan will be. Set this to 25 (this is 25 tenths of a second, i.e. 2.5 seconds) d) You may also want to set the bounce delay. The bounce delay is useful when the switch user is using a switch that can generate accidental double presses. By increasing the length of the

35 bounce delay the second press of the switch will not be accepted as a press. Set the bounce delay to 2. We will now set other areas that effect how the switches work. e) Click on the Scan Mode tab. Check next to Simple Scan- Across rows. The different scan modes are described in detail in section C19. f) Make sure Auditory scan is checked Off for the time being. g) You can use the drop down combo box under Scan Colour to change the colour of the scan. It is normally red. When you click OK you should now be able to use single switch scanning to build words in the Simple Spell environment. Notice that when you have chosen a letter from the first column, the cursor automatically jumps to the top of the next column, which is in fact a separate grid. There is a space key after the two letters in each cell of the second grid. This space causes the picture to appear when it is sent to the document. There is a Macro to delete the current word in the next to bottom cell, and the bottom cell has a left arrow to indicate it will return to the first grid to make a new word. If you have the option Show Links in Grids set (from the Options menu) you will see the little link indicator in all of the cells of the first grid and in the bottom cell of the second grid. Each cell in the first grid links to the second grid, so the cursor will jump there whichever cell is pressed. However, only the last cell has a returning link. Toggling switches on and off Once you have set the environment for using switches you can toggle the switches on or off using CTRL+Y. This is useful when different people are using the computer at the same session, or if you want to edit a grid during a working session. 2 More features of switch control. For this part of the exercise open the Wizard Environment Communication. This is a more complex dynamic set of grids to encourage communication. Any communication is also recorded in the writing document. This is useful for assessment, for reviewing conversations and as a bridge between talking and writing. Each of the green cells links to another cell. The orange cells have macros and perform the functions indicated by the icon. The blue cell is for information only. Turn on the switching with CTRL+Y, ready to explore the grids. 35

36 Scan to the Feelings cell and select it. This will load the Feelings vocabulary. Scan to write I am happy You will notice that in this environment the cursor immediately moves to the next cell after a selection. Scan around the grid now, to get back to the Speak cell. Click on this to hear your sentence. If you are using two switch scanning, you will notice also, that this time the cursor stays on this cell, in case you want to hear it again. If you return to the main grid to delete something, you will also see that the cursor also stays on the Delete cell until you press the cursor switch to move it on. This feature applies to individual cells and can be set in the Cell Select Settings tab of the Switch Access dialogue box. Changing the scan and switch select settings Temporarily turn off scanning with CTRL+Y and open the Switch Setup box again. Click on the Scan Mode tab and switch on Auditory Scan. You could also change the scanning mode at this point if you like. Now click on the Cell Select settings tab. You can choose what happens to the cursor after a selection. You need to have clicked in a particular cell before you can access this part of the menu, since the settings can apply to individual cells. Click OK. You can more conveniently access these options from the combo box that appears in the additional toolbar. (Note: to avoid distraction to the user this combo box only shows the cell settings when switching is OFF) If you wish to scan an irregular grid, which has grouped cells, you will need to set the scanning order. This is described in section C19.6 p60. 36

37 3 Saving switch settings Switch settings as set up in Section 2 are NOT saved with the environment. You would not want to have different environments for each possible switch setting, and many environments may be useful for switch and mouse operation without modification. There are two different ways in which you can save switch settings: a) If you nearly always want the same switch settings, for example if one student regularly uses the same machine, you can simply use Save Settings Now from the Options menu. The program will then use these settings each time it is loaded. b) You can also save User Profiles. The idea of User Profiles is to enable the switch settings for a particular switch user to be saved and loaded each time they come to use the program. This saves time, as the settings do not need to be reset each time they use the program. The User Profile must be saved using a unique identifier such as the switch user s name and this is then loaded The settings that are saved as part of the User profile include: Switches... On or Off Mode... Single or Double Bounce delay... The value that this is set at Port...The port where the switches are plugged into, or whether you use a keyboard device Swap Switch... If this feature is checked or not Scan colour... The colour this is set for Scanning Mode... Simple Scan-Across Rows Simple Scan- Down Columns Row-Column Scan Column-Row Scan Scan rate... The speed this is set to Auditory Scan... On or Off Key presses that...see C20.1 emulate switches User Profiles are loaded and saved from the Load User Profile and Save User Profile under the Access menu. You may also want to save profiles which do not refer to a specific user, but refer to a specific scanning arrangement which you may want to use with a number of students. In this case your identifier would probably be chosen to remind you of the type of settings. Save the current settings as a User Profile. Now go to Access and select Switch Settings... and change the switch set up, for example to Double switch. Check this works as you expect and then save the profile for these settings under a different name. Now load the first profile and you will see the settings revert. This section should enable you to decide how best to store your settings in any given case. Section C19 explains about switch scanning and C21 offers advice on switch use. 4 Modifying an environment to have switch access When you plan an environment for switch access you will automatically create all the necessary links. However, if you need to do this later, you can do it from within the program, rather than going back to the wizard. This exercise will show you how to modify the Doing environment for switch access. Open the Doing Wizard Environment. If you turn on switching with CTRL+Y now, the cursor will probably start on the first cell of the left grid. However, a switch user would want to start on the 37

38 menu grid, to be able to choose the topic page. Also, when the sentence is complete, the cursor just carries on in the same grid. Without modification the switch user would be tied to the single grid. Two changes are needed. First, the menu grid needs to be set as the Key grid. This is the grid that opens at the front of all other grids and will have the switch focus when the environment starts. Change the grid from send into edit mode by clicking in the grid and then typing CTRL+Q. Click in the grid again and type CTRL+R to show the cell properties pop-up menu. The bottom item in this box is Set as Key Grid. Click on this to check it. Change the grid back into send mode and Save the change either from the File menu or the Save icon on the toolbar. Each of the four sentence finishing cells in each of the other grids automatically sends a Return character to create a new line after the contents have been sent to the document. We need to add an instruction to also go back to the Key Grid at this point ready to choose the vocabulary again. Starting with the Go grid, Change it to edit mode with CTRL+Q, then click in the cell to the football game and type CTRL+R to show the cell properties. Click on Cell - Send & Return to Key Grid If you have Show Links in Grids switched on in the Options menu you will see the little link icon appear in the corner of the cell. Repeat this for the remaining three cells of this grid, and then save the grid to keep the changes. Repeat this with the other two topic grids. This grid will now be suitable for switch users. Try it. 38

39 Section C - Reference Section C1 Understanding screen resolution The amount that you see on your screen will depend upon the resolution and settings that you are using on your monitor. This particularly affects the screen layouts where grids are being used alongside writing documents. The examples provided with the software have been created in three different settings: NT - for machines running Windows NT or Windows 2000 hi-res - for computers operating in 1024 x 768. This gives you the maximum screen area, as the standard A4 writing page does not fill the screen width, and you can fit a grid or send window down the side of the document. lo-res - for 800 x 600 resolution. In this resolution the standard A4 page almost fills the full width. When opening Environments please make sure that you open files from the appropriate folder to match your screen settings. If the environment that you open seems too big for the screen, then you need to go to the lo-res folder. If the environment is small and there is a large amount of empty space in the window, then you need to find the files from the Hi-res folder. Generally 1024x768 is a good resolution to work in. The graphics on the screen appear smoother than they do in lower resolutions, whilst the menus and toolbars are still quite readable. You can change the resolution by right clicking on the Windows backdrop. Select Properties and then the Settings tab. Full details are available in your Windows Manual and on a help sheet on our web site C2 Files and folders used by Writing with Symbols 2000 Writing with Symbols 2000 installs the following directories onto your computer: WWS2000: contains the files for the program, WWS2000Work: contains the examples, wordlists and resource files and has areas for your own work. Widgit Work: a directory ready for students to save their own writing. from Hard Drive there will also be a folder called WidResources. This will contain all of the Rebus and PCS Symbols. MyPics1 and MyPics2: These directories are for storing your own images. By default these are placed directly inside the WWS2000Work directory, but you can change this at install time if you wish. The WWS2000Work directory is the most important one for you to understand, as all of the resources that you will use are likely to be contained there. The WWS2000Work directory Wordlists - all wordlists are stored in this directory. There can be sub-folders inside this, and you can move files freely between the sub-folders. Writing - this is where you might store your own writing. This is separate from the Widgit Work folder, to allow you to manage work on the machine or network. Wizard Environments - Wizard environments are created in the main Wizard Environments directory. There are sub-folders with the examples in for each of the resolutions (see previous section). You can create your own sub-directories, and can move environment folders within the directory. When viewed in Explorer or the desktop, the Wizard environments look like folders, but for ease of use we have given these their own icon in the program. Environments - this is where other environments are stored. There are some examples in this folder too, also made for the different screen resolutions. You cannot move these files from one folder to another. They should remain in the location they were created. Grids - This is for Grids for Printing. There are two sub-folders: My Grids - where you should keep your own grids. You can create additional sub-folders in the main Grids directory. The Templates folder is where you keep files that should not be overwritten. You can create additional sub-folders here. Profiles - for the switch profiles Syles - for graphic & text styles. WidResources: If you install the graphics to run 39

40 C 3 Wordlists WWS2000 includes three sets of symbols: the Rebus Symbol Collection, PCS Symbols in black & white and PCS Symbols in colour. The wordlists are the mechanism by which you select which symbols you use at any particular time. C 3.1 What is a wordlist? A wordlist is a file that links word and graphic. If you type cat into the computer in graphic mode, then the computer looks up the word cat in the wordlist and so finds out what graphic to produce. You can see that this means that the image produced when you type a word depends on which wordlist the program has in memory. C 3.2 Which wordlist to use A number of wordlists are included with Writing with Symbols These have been created to give you easy access to a range of lists to suit different purposes. There are combined lists, that draw on both Rebus and PCS symbols to give you the widest vocabulary. There are also specific wordlists that give you single sets. The wordlists are installed into your WWS2000Work folder, in a subdirectory called wordlist. The lists included with Version 2 of Writing with Symbols 2000 are: Allbw00.wus A combination of Rebus and black & white PCS symbols. Where there are multiple symbols for a word the Rebus symbol will appear first in the F12 order. Duplicate symbols, where the meaning is exactly the same, have not been included. Allco00.wus A combination of the PCS coloured symbols and the Rebus symbols. This list will present a coloured PCS symbol, except where the Rebus symbol adds an additional word or meaning. Rebus00.wus This is the complete Rebus vocabulary as of January This includes all previous Rebus symbols, plus the additional symbols added in PCSco99.wus The PCS coloured symbols from the Mayer- Johnson Picture Communication Symbol set, including the Addendum vocabulary. PCSbw00.wus The PCS black & white symbols from the Mayer-Johnson Picture Communication Symbol set, including the Addendum vocabulary. Spelling.wus This is the most suitable wordlist to use when working in text only mode. It provides the most appropriate set of pictures for the spelling checker. There are no double words, but there are additional verb endings. Additional Lists The folder Additional lists, inside your Wordlist folder, contains the following lists: Colour1n.wus 200 coloured Rebus symbols, mainly nouns. Science1.wus This is a set of 200 science vocabulary symbols which are considered too specific to be useful in the general wordlist. For example field shows a magnetic field. SexEd These lists have sexually explicit sex education and personal hygiene vocabulary which users may not want accessible at all times. Icons.wus This is a small list of icons made principally for switch grid users. These icons relate to some of the functions which would normally be accessed on the icon bar or through keyboard controls, such as Print and F12. Signalong.wus Symbols preferred by Signalong as a complement to their signing system. (See E1) On the CD there is a folder called WordList Extras 99. This folder has further wordlists which can be used if you want to construct your own tailor made wordlists, rather than using the lists provided. C 3.3 Changing wordlists You can see which wordlist you are using at any time by selecting Show WordList from the WordList menu. To change the list you are using, click on Wordlist on the menu bar, and then on Replace Current Lists. Choose the new list you want from the selection displayed. All wordlists are in the main Wordlists folder. There are also sub-folders in there, such as Additional lists. You may need to navigate within these folders to find the list you want. 40

41 C 3.4 Changing the default list To set your new choice of wordlist to be the default one, i.e. the one which will normally open each time you use WWS2000 select Options from the menu bar, and click on Save Settings Now. This will also save the other settings, such as font and symbol preferences. The program has two different sets of defaults, one for when you use the symbol processor and the other for the word processor. C 3.5 Using more than one list It is possible to use more than one wordlist at a time; simply by loading a second list. This is not, however, to be recommended for general use. When more than one list is loaded certain information, such as the F12 symbol preference order, will be less reliable. If you want to add a word from another long list, temporarily Replace the wordlist for another. (Replace Wordlist is found under the main Word Lists menu). You should reserve using two wordlists for cases when you want to amalgamate a small subsidiary wordlist with a main one. For example, if you have a short separate list with photographs in, or if you want to use the small wordlist called Icons, in the Additional Wordlists folder. This has buttons that are useful if you are adding command cells to grids. C 3.6 Modifying and creating wordlists You can do a certain amount of modification to your wordlist directly from WWS2000. You can add synonyms created with the F11 key and you can import new graphics into the system and add these to your wordlist. However you may want to do more extensive work to create your own personalised lists. If the words you want to add are already in another list you can copy entries from one list to another. For example, you might want to add certain of the sex education words, but not all of them to your main list. We have provided a utility program, the Resource Manager, to enable you to do this type of work. Section D describes this program and its functions. C 4 Handling graphics in WWS2000 C4.1 Finding the right graphic for the word Quite often when you type, a word will be illustrated, but the symbol may not exactly represent the idea you are trying to communicate. The first step is to see if there are alternative symbols by pressing the F12 key. Sometimes the alternative will show a completely different meaning such as saw - the noun and the past tense of the verb to see. Other times the symbol may add an alternative image that may be closer to your meaning. There will also be occasions when either the symbol produced is not appropriate, or no symbol appears. It is quite possible that a symbol for a different word will be appropriate. For example you may want a symbol for tutorial. The symbols for discuss or consultation may reflect the meaning you want for tutorial. To put this in your document, type the word to show the symbol you want e.g. discuss, and then change the associated text using the F11 key. You can save this change to your wordlist. There is more detail in worksheet B2, section 12. The Rebus and PCS Picture Indexes show all of the symbols in each set with their principal word designation. (These can be purchased separately, or you can print your own - See printing the picture indexes Section F4.4) C 4.2 Graphic Matching When, in symbol mode, you type a space or Return character, the program looks up the text you have typed to see if there is an entry in the wordlist that matches it. If so, it will put the linked graphic. However, many words have different endings, such as run, runs, running, and to save having very long wordlists we have included an option that when the computer cannot find an exact match, it tries to find a shorter word at the beginning of the word. For example finding run at the beginning of running. Graphic Matching is under the Options menu. There are three matching options: Match to Shorter word - as described above Exact match - where the computer will only match to the exact text typed, Standard plurals - which is where the computer will only overlook an s at the end of a word, otherwise acts as exact match. Match to shorter is generally the most useful mode for teachers and carers to use. However, 41

42 this can on occasion cause mistakes. It is, therefore really important to look at the symbols that appear, and if necessary to change the symbol by trying a different word, and perhaps renaming it using the F11 key. For example, there is no symbol for antelope, and so the computer finds the shorter word ant. The option here is to try the word deer and to rename that to be antelope. C 4.3 Special and / Linking symbols to more than one word. A symbol can be linked to one, two or three words. Beyond that you can replace spaces with key to create false single words. (e.g. once@upon@a@time) key shows as a space on the screen in WWS2000. There are a number of phrases in the wordlists like this. Clearly a user with spelling difficulties is unlikely to be able to make use of this facility, but once entered into a send grid, for example, the user can select it into the writing document. To type character to appear in a document, such as in an address, you should enter ALT+@ Using the \ key to achieve the / character on screen. When typing fractions (e.g. 2/3) you cannot use the / character. (This is because the wordlist uses the / character as having a particular meaning) To overcome this you can use the back slash key \ which will be shown as the forward slash on screen /. The fractions 1/2, 1/4, 3/4, 1/3 and 2/3 are included in the main wordlists and can be shown as described. C 4.4 Viewing words in the wordlist. Most people discover the vocabulary content simply by typing in words in the program. However you can view the list with the related graphics in the Resource Manager. This is a separate program that is installed alongside Writing with Symbols Close WWS2000, and open the Resource Manager. Open your wordlist by clicking on the Open button under List A (on the left). If the wordlist is a long one it will take a few moments to load. 42 You can see the list of words in the list box. Click on any word to see the image in the centre. There is more information in using the Resource Manager in Section D, C 4.5 Using wordlist colours Some people like to permanently store a particular colour for the lines of a symbol, for example colouring all the verbs blue. Using the Resource Manager it is possible to store a colour for each line drawn symbol, e.g. Rebus symbols. You can read how to do this in section D2.6 To use these pre-set colours in WWS2000 you should be sure that from the Images menu, Colour from Wordlist is checked. C 5 Writing in text and graphic mode C 5.1 Introduction The program allows you to write in symbol or text mode. In symbol mode, images appear as you type. In text mode the images do not appear unless you switch them on individually with the F12 key. (See Worksheets B1 and B2). C 5.2 Changing modes (F10) Press F10 to toggle between text and symbol mode. (See Worksheet B1 and Worksheet B2). This mode applies on a paragraph basis. C 5.3 Changing symbols (F12) Use F12 to see each of the symbols associated with the word at the cursor position, or to turn a symbol off. (See Worksheet B1 and Worksheet B2 Section 2.2). You can also save these F12 preferences permanently to your wordlist, by selecting Save F12 Adjustments from the Images menu. This will work with a maximum of 2 wordlists open at a time. This will only save the adjusted value if the word appears in one of the wordlists only.

43 C 5.4 Renaming a graphic (F11) Press F11 to delete the word currently associated with a graphic. You can then enter a new word or short phrase. When you have typed the new word DO NOT PRESS SPACE. Instead, press the right arrow key to tell the computer that you have finished renaming the graphic. (See Worksheet B2) C 5.5 Saving F11 changes If you have used the F11 key and re-labelled a symbol you can save this as an additional entry into your wordlist so that it is there for the future. Remember that a wordlist entry cannot have more than three words, and F11 definitions over three words long cannot therefore be saved. From the menu bar select Images, and then Save Word List Changes... From the dialog box that appears click on the word to add. This will show you the image as a reminder. If you have more than one wordlist loaded, select the wordlist to which you want the word added. Then select Add. C 5.7 Making text documents You can export any document as a plain text file (.txt). To do this use the Text menu and select Export Text... If you import a document and you are in symbol mode, the program will symbolise each word that is in the current wordlist. If you have a long text document to import it is a good idea to be sure that no single paragraph is too long, otherwise interpreting will take a long time. You can also convert your document to a text document within WWS2000. From the Text menu select Make Text Version... From the dialog that appears choose either: a) Remove all Graphics. This converts your document to a text version but leaves the size, formatting and colour of the text unaltered. If you also want to keep the graphic form of the document don t forget to save it first, and save the text form with a different name. b) Make a text copy. This makes a copy of the document without graphics and uses whatever is the default font. This might be useful if inappropriate formatting has been made in the original document. C 5.8 Hiding text You can create a document which only shows graphics. Write the document normally then go to the Text menu and select Hide Text. To put the text back just go to the Text menu again and uncheck Hide Text. This is very useful when you are creating documents for a symbol reader. By hiding the text you can see what the non-text reader follows. It highlights potential difficulties in the graphic communication rather than the text. This dialog box is also used to permanently add new words and graphics that you have linked. C 5.6 Spacing between lines There are two settings available for the space between lines. Normal and Large. The large setting may be useful for readers who find it difficult to track between one line and another. To change the setting click on the Options menu, select Space between symbol lines, and choose the setting you want. C 5.9 Undo Undo is for text and typing only. It is a single level undo and does not change anything other than the document text. It will not, for example, undo changes of background colour or grid wall thickness etc. C 5.10 Saving pages of HTML Version 2.5 of Writing with Symbols 2000 allows you to save a document as a page of HTML. It is one of the options found under the File menu. More details of this feature are given in section C22 p62. 43

44 C 6 Using the spell checker C 6.1 Audible feedback of spelling errors. If you want the user to have an audible feedback of spelling errors, then from the Text menu make sure Hear Spelling Errors has a check mark by the side. If you want to switch this feature off then simply click again on Hear Spelling Errors to remove the check mark. C 6.2 Visual feedback of spelling errors. You can switch this on by checking Mark Spelling Errors from the Text menu. When this is switched on a red box is placed around words with an error. C 6.3 Spell checker dialog box. You can check the spelling for the whole document by either clicking on the spell icon on the additional toolbar (the icon with abc on it), or by pressing CTRL+K, or by selecting Spell Check... from the Text menu. Check an individual word by right clicking the mouse in it. Allco00.wus have more duplicates, e.g. for helmet, which give multiple entries in the spell checker dialog box. Trying alternatives The spell checker offers the student the chance to try a word in the document before moving on to the next word. Select the suggestion to try and click on the Try button. To reject this try, click on No, or OK to accept it and move on to the next spelling error. To move to the next word without any correction click on Next Spelling, and if you want the computer dictionary to learn the unknown word then click on Learn unknown Word. This is useful, for example, in adding more unusual names to the dictionary. Hearing alternatives If speech is switched on you will also be able to click on New Word to hear the currently selected suggestion, or Sentence to hear the sentence, and so the context of the mis-spelling. If speech is not switched on then these icons will not appear. C 6.4 Adding extra alternatives. You can add extra spelling errors for common misspellings due to the way a dialect pronounces a word. General spell checkers may not pick these up. (See the Help file for WWS Advanced Features, Tweaking the Spell Checker. ) C7 Graphics features C 7.1 Appearance of graphics You can change the size of graphics, and the line colour, and in the case of Rebus symbols you can also change the line thickness (See Section C7.2) Type a short sentence and include a spelling error (as shown). Make the dialog box appear using one of the above methods. The symbols that support the suggestions are taken from the currently loaded wordlist, and so what you see will depend on which wordlist is loaded. Suggestions which have images are always shown first in the list, but you can scroll down the list to see more suggestions. The list spell99.wus is the most suitable list for using with the spell checker as it contains the smallest number of duplicate meanings. Spell99 is the default list loaded with the word processor. The two principal lists Allbw00.wus or 44 Graphic size, thickness, colour Changing the size and colour from the Normal toolbar has been discussed in Worksheet B2. You can also make these changes from the Images menu using Graphic size... and Metafile colour... If you have selected the Simplified Toolbar (from the View menu) then the colour is available together with two icons which simply increase and

45 decrease the graphic size in preset stages. If you have the Normal and Advanced toolbars, you can access all the formatting commands from icons. Choose the toolbars from the View menu. C 7.2 Line thickness and auto thicken The Rebus symbols are made so that you can control the line thickness of individual symbols, independently of their size or colour. This is particularly useful for helping symbol users with visual difficulties. You can set these characteristics to suit individual needs. For example some readers prefer thick yellow symbols on a dark blue background. this sort, then you may need some basic help in using Windows. When you have opened the picture you want, you can enter the word you will type to bring up that picture in the document. In this case we chose "black bubbles" and entered it in the What to type box. You should limit what you put in the What to type box to three words or less with no space at the end. However, you can set the symbol thickness to adjust automatically in relation to the size the symbols appear. From the Images menu item, select Auto Thickening. This is the default setting. It is useful to choose this setting when using mixed Rebus and other symbols. C 7.3 Adding your own pictures You can incorporate your own images into a document, by linking to an external graphic (i.e. one that is not part of the Widgit Resources). You can do this in any of the Writing with Symbol Modes. Click OK to return to the document. You can now type the new word and you will get the picture. From the Images menu click on Link to External Graphic. You will get a dialog box that looks like this: If you are following this example you will notice that as you type, that after the word "black" is completed a symbol appears, since "black" is in the word list. The double word "black bubbles" however has precedence. Click on the Find a graphic... button. This will produce the standard Windows dialog box to open a file. If you have some images already stored on your computer you can navigate to those. We have installed an image of Janice.bmp in the WWS2000Work folder so that you can try this. Alternatively you could navigate to the "Windows" directory of the root directory on your machine (usually C:) where there are some patterns. In this example we will use the Windows graphic Bubbles.bmp. If you have never used a Windows dialog box of You might add a word that also has an existing link. For example if you had just linked the graphic to the word bubbles you may get a different graphic appearing when you type bubbles, since it is already in the wordlist. In this case you will need to press the F12 key to get the new alternative. C 7.4 Types of graphics files that you can use Writing with Symbols 2000 can display several file types. Currently these are Bitmaps (.bmp) Metafiles (.wmf) Enhanced metafiles (.emf) JPeg (.jpg) Tiff (.tif) Ping (.png) 45

46 C 7.5 Adding a new graphic permanently to the system. If you have linked to an external graphic you may well want to add it to your resource bank so that you can use it again. To do this you will need to add it to a wordlist - See Section C5.5, Saving F11 wordlist changes. This will make a copy of the graphic into one of two specially created directories that Writing with Symbols 2000 knows about. These are called My Pics 1 and 2. Inside these resource areas there are two folders prepared for you, to help you manage your images. For example you may use one folder for all your photographs of people and another for photographs of places and events. The illustration on the next page shows these directories and folders. Other new symbols can be created by putting symbols together for example personal plan might be represented in one of the two following ways. The different sizes of the qualifying element change the emphasis of the new concept. Qualifiers can be added to the left or right of a symbol, occupying the full height, or being automatically sized to fill half the height either at the top or the bottom. Symbols using qualifiers have to be built in the Resource Manager. See Section D. The Widgit Resources Directory the picture will be copied into C 9 Saving documents and settings C 9.1 Saving settings When you have set up your document to be in the style that you would like to use as a norm, including your choice of wordlist you can save these as your default settings. From the Options menu item select Save Settings Now. Different settings are available in the Symbol Processor from the Word Processor. Some settings also relate specifically to grids. If you have more than one window open make sure that you click in the window you want to save before clicking on the Save Settings Now option. You can also use the Resource Manager to create additional ones. C 8 Qualifiers The folder for these pictures A qualifier is an additional graphic element which can be added to the main graphic to build more complex symbols. For example all of the past tenses in the Rebus and PCS symbol sets are made with the addition of the past tense back arrow qualifier. Other qualifiers which are commonly used are shop, time and person. C 9.2 Styles You may want to save some special styles which you can apply to certain paragraphs. To save a style put the cursor in the paragraph with the style you want to save and then, from the File menu, select Save Style. You will be asked to give it a name. To apply a saved style to a new paragraph or section of document, put the cursor where the new style is to be placed, then from the File menu select Open Style This is particularly useful for headings etc, and also for making different sections in a worksheet. It can help keep uniformity across a number of documents created on different occasions. It is also worth saving your normal style so this can be re-established at any time. You can set the style of several paragraphs at once by highlighting them before going to Open Style 46

47 C 9.3 Saving your work All files which teachers may want to re-use should be saved in a WWS2000Work sub-directory. Inside WWS2000Work there are a number of folders ready for you to use. (a) Documents The main folder for saving documents is the Writing folder. You can also create additional folders as required. Network users should consult the separate network instructions. (b) Grids When you select Grids for Printing from the front screen, you can choose to load Own Grids or Templates. These refer to two folders in the main Grids directory. The My Grids folder is where you will store your own work. You can make additional folders inside this. The Templates folder has a sub folder with blank grids for several communication aids. You can also save your own templates here. (c) Wizard Environments Environments created in the wizard are saved in the Wizard Environments directory. You can create sub folders, where you can move the environments after they have been created to manage environments created for different uses. To copy a Wizard Environment from one machine to another, open the Wizard Environments folder. You will see that there are folders for every environment that you have made. Copy the entire folder for that environment onto a floppy disc to take it to another machine. C 9.4 Saving speech settings The speech settings are saved with each document file. You have a range of voices available and so it is possible to save different voices for each window. It is important to note that the speech settings - including whether speech is on or off - are NOT global to the whole program. If you find, for example, that text in a window is not being spoken, then go to the Speech menu and check that speech is switched on for that particular window. C10 Speech C 10.1 Using speech feedback WWS2000 Version 1.5 and higher uses Microsoft speech. This gives a range of voices. Also if you later install more SAPI voices to your machine these will automatically become available. Speech is a property of a specific document, and so you will need to make sure that the speech is switched on for each document that you want. (You can also set speech to be on as one of the standard default settings.) Turn speech on or off from the Speech menu. If you have used your own images in an environment, you will need to also copy those, and replace them into the same relative folder in the new MyPics folder as they were on the original machine. (d) Version 1 Environments Before version 2 of WWS2000 was available, environments were made and saved in a completely different way. The separate files were not all saved together. The main environment file was saved in a folder called Environments. This is now used for saving environments that are not made in the Wizard, such as environments which use more than one writing window. (See section C16) (e) Students writing Students work can be saved in the Widgit Work directory. This can be anywhere, and in a network situation can be personalised to the user currently logged on. (a) Automatic speech You can also choose to have any writing automatically spoken as it is typed letter by letter, word by word, or at the end of each sentence. You can also set Show Highlighter to be on so that each word is highlighted as it is spoken. (b) Speech on request There are two speech icons on the toolbar. If they are both grey, speech is not switched on. Click the left icon to hear the current sentence. It leaves the cursor at the beginning of the next 47

48 sentence, ready for the next sentence. You can thus read a whole document sentence by sentence by clicking on this icon. If you need a sentence repeating then click on the icon with two loudspeakers. You can also highlight a section of a document and then click the speaker icon. This will speak just the highlighted section. menu and select Add Sound to Graphic. (Note: The menu item to produce this will be greyed-out unless you have clicked in the document in the relevant graphic. The graphic must also be in a wordlist you are using.) The following dialog box will appear. Setting up Speech Select Speech Setup... from the Speech menu. Using the dialog box that is produced you can switch speech on or off, and set up the speed, pitch and volume for speech. If you want different settings of speed, pitch and volume for any voice, then click on Save Voice Settings after testing. You can see a list of the different voices available from the Choose a Voice combo box. Mary is set as the default when you install the program. C 10.2 Changing speech voices The speech voices or fonts can be selected from the voice combo box that appears on the normal toolbar. You can make different parts of a document be spoken in different voices. Simply highlight the text that you want spoken in the different voice, then select the voice from the combo box in the normal toolbar. 1. Click Find Sound to search for a sound to use. The dialog box that opens will only show files that can be used. To experiment, you can find sounds in the Windows\Media directory. If you have installed the graphics to your hard drive you will find some sounds in the WidResources\sounds folder. 2. Click Test to try the selected sound to see if it is what you want. 3. You can add the sound to the graphic entry in the wordlist - make sure that if you have more than one list open at the same time, that you make sure to choose the wordlist which already has the graphic. 4. Click on Update Selected Wordlist then OK to permanently update the word list by attaching the chosen sound and graphic. If you only click OK, the sound will be added just for the current computer session only. Think of setting the speech font in exactly the same way as setting the font style for any section of text. As you read the document back the voice will change as it moves through the document. C 11 Sound Sounds (in the form of audio.wav files) can be attached to images. You can either do this directly from WWS2000 or in the Resource Manager. C 11.1 Adding sounds in the program To add sound from within WWS2000, click in the word below the graphic and then go to the Sound 48 Make sure sound is switched on from the Sound menu. Click in the sentence and press the speaker icon on the toolbar. You can try this with and without Show Highlighter checked. To hear the sound as the work is typed, check Sound after word in the Sound menu. If you are sending the graphic and sound from a grid, set the cell property to Type the Text rather than format as document. (The cell properties pop-up menu is displayed using CTRL+R when clicked in the cell.) C 11.2 Using sound for feedback The use of sound for feedback works very similarly to the use of speech except that you cannot sound after individual letters. Note that if speech and sound are both switched on, then the speech function will occur first, followed by the sound function.

49 C 12 Grids: Layout and formatting C12.1 Introduction Grids are made for printing and for writing. Worksheets B4 and B5 explain about making grids for Printing and Grids for Writing, and take you through the complete processes. This section gives reminders of the features. The best way to make grids for printing is from the options shown after selecting Grids for Printing from the front screen: However, you can also create a grid from the Word or Symbol processors by selecting New Grid from the File menu, or clicking on the New Grid icon on the Additional Toolbar. C 12.2 Grid setup Grids are created by actual size. This is the size it will be when printed out. If you are making a grid to be printed, you might sketch the grid onto paper, and take the measurements from there. Enter the intended grid height and width into the dialog box and also the number of cells across and down. this may make the text and graphic size too small. In this case you may find it simplest to clear the cell. C 12.4 Clearing a cell To undo any errors of this type, select Clear Cell from the Grids menu. This will restore the default cell settings. C 12.5 Highlighting cells You can highlight cells so that you can change the properties/settings of these cells in one go, or to group them. Highlight an individual cell, or a rectangular group of cells by holding down the CTRL key whilst clicking the Left Mouse button in the top left cell of an area required and then in the bottom right. (CTRL+Lt), or highlight several individual cells by holding down BOTH CTRL and SHIFT and clicking the left mouse button. Deselect highlighted cells by clicking CTRL+Lt again in any of the cells. C 12.6 Grouping and Ungrouping Cells Highlight the cells to be grouped and then either type CTRL+G or select Group Cells from the Grids menu. If there is anything in the cells already, the program will do its best to arrange that appropriately. Ungroup a grouped cell by clicking the mouse in the cell and typing CTRL+F or selecting Ungroup Cells from the Grids menu. C 12.7 Inserting/Deleting rows and columns You can insert and delete rows and columns. To add a row or columns select Insert Row or Column from the Grids menu. You can edit the grid size from the Grids menu, Change Size. You can insert or delete rows or columns to change the number of cells (see section C12.7). C 12.3 Writing in a grid cell Write in a grid cell just as you do in a document. Since the cell size is fixed, the program will autosize your writing to make it fit in. If you press Enter in a cell, it will start a new paragraph and make a blank line in the cell. In a smallish cell You have the choice to keep the grid size, and therefore having the program adjust the cell size, or to keep the cell size - in which case the size of the entire grid is changed appropriately. C 12.8 Grid walls and outline Grid walls can be thickened individually or the area around a group of cells can be thickened. Change the line thickness of a single cell or of highlighted 49

50 group of cells by selecting Set Wall Thickness from the Grids menu, or using the icon on the Additional toolbar. C Grid Templates A template is a blank or partially complete grid or document that is saved for future editing. When a document is saved as a template, you are protected from overwriting it accidentally. Any file saved in a WWS2000 Templates folder cannot be easily overwritten. If you change a template file you are asked to save it with a different name in your usual document folder. There are templates for many common Communication Aids. You can access these from the Templates button under Grids for Printing C 13 Grids for Writing Setting a wall thickness to 0 will make it disappear. This is useful for many activities. If you are working on a grid with the cells hidden and need, for editing purposes, to see where the boundaries are, select Show Temp Walls, to put a blue indicating line where the original walls were. These walls will not print. C 12.9 Print Margins You can position a grid or document on the paper by setting the print margins. The Print Margins settings are under the File menu. All printers have a small margin that they are unable to print to (this is so that they do not print off the page). This differs between printers. The smallest margin you can set will indicate this unprintable area. C Cell alignment. Horizontal alignment in a grid cell is set as it would be in a document, using the icons on the Normal toolbar or from the Text menu. Vertical alignment in a grid cell is set from the Grids menu. You can Centre Vertically, Align Bottom or Align Top. This applies to the whole grid. C Show Text/Hide Text You can hide the text in an individual cell behind the image. To do this make sure that Show Text in the Grids menu is NOT checked. (Click on it to change from checked to unchecked, and vice versa). This gives you more room for images if you want to make the image as large as possible in the cell. (Note: Show Text from the Text menu does not make more space for the image - but simply makes it invisible) A grid for writing is a grid that will send the contents of cells to a writing document. To give access to a large vocabulary, you can have several send grids that are linked to each other, whilst only using a small portion of the screen space. The collection of grid(s), plus the writing document is called an Environment. There are a number of example environments included with the program. These are described at the end of this manual in section G. C 13.1 Types of Environments Wizard Environments Most environments will be made in the Wizard which guides you through the process of making these sets of files. These files are all conveniently stored together in one folder, and are easy to handle. Environments made in this way are called Wizard Environments. Other Environments There are also non-wizard environments, which are made in a slightly different way. Environments made in version 1 of Writing with Symbols 2000 were not made in the Wizard. Simple single grid and window environments can be made from the Symbol or Word processors. Also it is possible to make send documents as well as grids. These are all described in later sections. C 13.2 Opening an environment Open an environment by clicking on the appropriate button on the Writing Grid menu. 50

51 Worksheet B5 takes you through the steps of opening and then making a wizard environment. There is a summary below: Opening a Wizard Environment You can open the environment from the buttons shown above, or from the File menu. Items with the wizard icon (e.g. fly & swim) are wizard environments. The folders Hi-res, Lo-res and NT-2000 are folders with example environments made in different resolutions, you should use examples appropriate for the screen resolution of your computer (see section C1). C13.3 Seeing which cells have links You can choose to display a small indicator in the corner of cells that have links. These are activated by checking Show Links in Grids under the Options menu, C 13.4 Making an environment in the Wizard If you have not made an environment you are advised to follow the worksheet B5 first. This will take you through all of the main steps. Here we provide additional information over and above that given in worksheet B5. Wordlists and styles The wordlist that is automatically used with an environment will be the default list. You can change the wordlist from the usual menu as soon as you get to the section of the wizard that presents the grids ready to fill in. Naming the individual grids You are advised to give each grid a recognisable name. This makes it much easier to navigate for editing and when you need to make the links between grids. You can name grids in the dialog box shown above. Adding content to the cells The formatting and display characteristics of cells has been discussed in section C12 (Grids: Layout and formatting). You can type into cells or link to external graphics, such as photographs. You can group cells on grids that are not to be used for switch scanning. You can also highlight groups of cells to change the properties of specific cells. The Choose Toolbars, Speech and Grid Types dialog box allows you to set these general properties of your grids, but you can make changes to individual grids as required. Adding commands or macros You can add specific commands or macros to cells at this stage, either through the cell properties pop-up (below) or through the macros menu. There is a separate section on macros (C14). Do not leave setting the macros to the last page of the wizard, which is reserved for setting the properties of the main writing window. Cloning cells into a new grid When making a complex environment that has cells that are the same in several grids, you can copy or clone those cells into a new grid. Highlight the cells that you want to clone in a grid immediately before clicking on the Next button to create a new grid. Select the correct grid type to match the grid that you have just highlighted, and the new grid will also have the cloned cells. These cells will have the same properties and commands as the original. Linking grids in the Wizard When you have finished creating the grids, and have given them appropriate names, you will want to establish the links between grids, so that when the user clicks on certain cells, the display will change as required. The Link dialogue box has three sections. The left window lists all the grids. The right box has the icons ready to build the links, and the centre panel has buttons that need to be set to say what kind of link it is - this will match with the send characteristics set in the cell properties pop-up discussed earlier. 51

52 Setting which grids load when the environment is loaded. It is not necessary to load all of your grids when opening an environment. It can be both slow and distracting to wait while many grid windows are loaded at the beginning, and in any case they may not all be needed. You should, ideally, just load those grids that you want to appear when the environment is first opened, and let the program open the others as they are wanted. This will not slow down the smooth operation of the program. Making a link Click on a grid name in the left list to show the grid that you want to make the link from. Set the send characteristics in the centre panel. The default is to send the cell contents to appear formatted as the writing document. Click on yellow link icon by the grid name that you want to link TO, and drag this down onto the relevant cell in the action grid. You will get an auditory prompt both when you pick the icon up, and when you drop it into the cell. If you have also set the option Show Links in Grids, you will also see the yellow icon displayed in the corner of the cell. If you do not hear the second sound, or do not see the icon, then the link was not successfully made, and you should do it again. (You need to hold the mouse still for a split second before releasing the pointer.) You can highlight a number of cells and drag the icon to make a link to several cells at the same time. This is useful, for example in the example Environment Blends (Section G) If you make a link and then wish to change the cell properties, just remake the link. That will overwrite the previous setting. The document settings. All of the formatting controls that are available in any of the WWS2000 modes can be accessed while you are in the Wizard. You may have to move the Wizard dialog box so that you can get to the different menu items of toolbar icons. It is much easier if you are in a higher resolution (1024x768 rather than in 800x600) There is a help sheet on modes and resolutions (See H3.3) You can type into the document to test the formatting, and make whatever changes you need to the settings - don t forget to delete any writing in the document that you don t want saved with the environment. You can also set the speech on/off for the document, and choose the voice. It can be useful to have a different voice for the document to any reinforcing speech from a grid. Don t forget that the text content of a cell can be heard using a right mouse click over the cell, or for switch users, by switching on auditory scanning in the Access menu. C 13.5 Cell Properties menu This pop-up menu sets some of the send properties of a cell. This can be set individually for each cell. To show the pop-up menu click in the cell and type CRTL+R or with Shift and a left mouse click. You can also produce the cell-properties box over any particular cell to set other features, such as Paste a Return. When you have made the links, you may also want to add macros, or commands to cells which are to perform functions. This is described in the next section (C14). You should, however, always add Paste a Return last, so that if the cell is given a series of instructions this is the last one. 52

53 The top two items (shown grey) are discussed later. Group 2 - Paste a Return Check this to add a Return or Enter character so that a line feed is executed in the document. This is appended to any other text or instructions of the cell. Group 3 - Formatting properties These determine how the document responds to text and graphics formatting between the grid and document. - Type the Text as though the text were typed at the keyboard. This will give the same format as the document and will add symbols according to the current wordlist. - Format as the send window pastes a copy of the cell into the document, retaining the graphic and text formatting and symbol choice as shown in the cell. - Format as document window uses the text and graphics formatting style of the document, but the choice of symbols (or symbols turned off) as in the cell. This is the most useful setting for most purposes. Group 4 - Cell Links These items allow you to see and edit the links between grids and to identify/set the Key Grid. The Key Grid is the grid that loads at the front when you open an environment, or if you have more than one grid showing, is the one that will be active at the start. When using switches the idea of a key grid is particularly important as it is where the scanning cursor will start. Each environment with more than one grid should have a Key Grid. This is shown ticked when you examine the properties of any cell in that key grid, and is set in the Wizard, or by checking the last item in the pop-up menu. - Send & Return to Key Grid is used on subsidiary grids, when you wish to send the cell contents (text and graphics) and then immediately change grids (or grid focus) to the Key Grid. - Return to Key Grid Only, does not send the cell contents to the document. It only acts to change the active grid. The cell contents are there to describe what the cell does. - Send & Go to other Grid sends the text and graphic and changes the active grid. You will be asked to specify the new grid if you do this outside the Wizard. - Go to Other Grid Only links to another grid without sending the text or graphics. - Remove Links will delete any link commands from the cell. - No link - the last line of this section will show you if the current cell is linked and if so, the name of the grid that it links to. Otherwise it says No Link, as shown in the illustration opposite. Group 5 - Set as Key Grid is checked for the grid that loads at the front, or has the initial switch focus. C 13.6 Formatting cells When you have written into the cells, you may want to make some changes to improve the appearance of the cell contents. You can highlight a group of cells, and change the graphic and text sizes for the entire grid. The program will do its best to make them all the same. If you are working with both text and graphics in quite small cells you may find that you can t make one or other of these format to the size you want. Tip: try temporarily changing the text size smaller than you want, while you re-size the graphic, and then re-set the text size - or vice versa. C 13.7 Colouring cell backgrounds Colour coding cells can aid navigation. It may help the user if cells are colour coded to indicate cells that perform functions and cells that link to other grids. Background colour is set from the Options menu. C 13.8 Setting the Key grid The key grid is particularly important for switch users. It is the grid that will have the switch focus when the environment is first loaded. If you have a stack of grids, it is the grid that will load on the top, to be visible on loading. C 14 Macros C 14.1 What is a macro? A macro is a short individual command, or a series of commands that can be added to a grid cell. The simplest command would be to send a return character to create a new paragraph. You may want to send a sequence of commands, for example to create a new paragraph - add a full stop to the end of the sentence, make a new paragraph, and automatically capitalise the next letter. 53

54 You can also create a macro that would send particular text to the document instead of the text displayed in the grid cell. This might be useful where the graphic in the cell is just shorthand for a longer message. Although the idea of macros may seem complicated, it is a sequence of straightfoward commands. The important things it to plan exactly what needs doing, and the order in which to do it. There are several macros created ready for use which can also send formatting commands to change the size of graphic or text, commands to speak and to load and save files. C 14.2 Adding macros to cells Click in the cell to which you want to add the macro. From the Macros menu select Add Commands to Cell... The following dialog box will appear. The dialog box shows what you see when you click the Functions tab. To put a macro, or series of macros, in a cell you select them in turn and then click Add before or Add after to add them to the action list. Click OK to transfer the macros to the cell. You will see that the Cell Properties pop-up menu is a shorthand way of putting in a number of macros, in particular linking between grids and setting the format instructions. Properties set from the Cell Properties pop-up menu will also be shown in the macro list. Using macros can develop into quite a degree of complexity, and they are used generally by more advanced users who want to create complex environments. The following example illustrates this, and shows that, provided you are clear about what you want to achieve. Macros can add a very valuable function to Writing with Symbols. Example: Building a sequence of commands This will modify the environment I can to give speech prompts as it changes from one grid to another. At the same time it will start a new paragraph for the writer so that they do not have to remember to click on the Enter icon in the grid. The commands created for you are divided into four categories: 1. Macros. These are series of commands created by assembling commands taken from the other three tabs. The names are descriptive of what they do. 2. Key Strokes. These can be used for special key commands like F12 or the arrow keys. You can also use Send Text from this tab to send a text that does not appear in the cell. For example the cell may have a single symbol/ word to indicate a longer text message. 3. Functions. These commands carry out tasks such as Format as grid, or Save, or Speak. 4. Formatting. This series of commands can be used to format graphics and text. 54 Load the environment I can The first grid to load is called I can-am. It gives vocabulary about waking up, and getting dressed. Grid 2, called I can-bfast, has vocabulary about eating breakfast. Click in the grid I can-am Make it into an editing window by CRTL + Rt click Click in the More cell which is the cell with the command to load another window. Go to the Macro menu and select Add Commands to Cell You will see that there is already the command Load Window in the list box. The first command to add is a Return character from Key Strokes tab to make the new paragraph. Click Add before to put it before the Load Window command. Click on the Load WIndow instruction in the list box, as you will want the next instruction to after this. Next, select the Functions tab, and click on Speak this. This will give you a place to type in the text that you want to be spoken when the new window has just opened. Type the text What do you have for breakfast? then click on Add after to add it to the bottom of the list. Click OK to add this to the cell.

55 C 14.4 Creating additional macro commands If you develop a skill in using macros, you may find that the individual commands used to build macros are not suitable for your purpose. In this case you can create additional ones using the Command Creator dialog box. This is obtained from Create a Command under the Macros menu. This is particularly useful if you want to set other formatting commands, such as specific fonts or colours. For more help press F1 with the mouse over this dialog box and then click on each area of the help file image for more information. C15 Editing an environment Repeat this for the equivalent cell in the grid I canbfast with text such as What do you do when you wake up? Don t forget to Re-save All to save your changes to the environment if you want to keep these alterations. To save a list of commands as a macro for further use. When you have made your macro list you can click on the button Save list as Macro. This will open a folder called My Macros, in the Macros folder of your WWS2000Work directory. Give your test a name and select OK. Your new macro will be visible when you next click on the Macros tab in the dialogue box. Fuller details of macros can be found in the help file - produce the dialogue box as above and then press F1. This will bring up the corresponding section of the help file. You can click on each area of the image in the help file for additional information. A list of all the commands included with the program is given on pp C 14.3 Using macros to link grids Generally it is easier to link grids using the Wizard, or through the cell-properties dialog box. If you are constructing a series of commands you may find it easier to do it through macros, so that the commands are executed in the right order. In the Macros dialog box click on the Functions Tab. Then select Load Window from the choice of macros. Use the Browse button to locate the file name for the grid you want to link to. Then click Add before to put this in the action list. When you have completed the action list click OK to add the macros to the cell. You may find that you want to edit an environment after you have made it in the Wizard. There are two ways to do this, depending on the amount of changes you want to make. C 15.1 Editing an environment in the Wizard You can open a wizard environment back into the wizard by browsing for it at the first screen. This will open the environment, taking you to the screen where you can fill in or amend existing grids. You can add new grids, but you cannot delete existing grids or change their names. This is the best way to make significant changes to your environment. C 15.2 Editing the environment while you are writing. When an environment is complete, the grids will be in send mode. The background will be pale yellow instead of white (unless you have changed the background colours). This means that they are set to send their contents to the document according to the way it was created. To make small changes you can briefly change the grid into edit mode by clicking in the grid to give it the focus, and then typing CTRL + Q. You will see that the grid changes to white. Make the changes you need. You can still get the cell properties dialog box using CTRL+R to make changes to any links. When you have finished the changes type CTRL+Q again to re-set the grid to send. Remember to save your changes, either by clicking on the save icon as soon as you have changed a grid, or at the end of the process by selecting Re-save All from the File menu. You will also need to select Re-save All if you have made changes to the style of the main document. 55

56 C16 Other Environments An environment is a group of windows which are loaded together as a single entity. The size and position of each window is saved, along with any settings in the writing window. Worksheet B5 and Section C13.4 described making environments in the Wizard, however there are other types of send windows and environments that may be useful. C 16.1 Single grid and window You can make a simple environment with a single grid and writing document from the symbol or word processor. From the File menu, select New Grid and Window. This will then show you the grid dialogue box where you can set the dimensions. There are buttons that you can select to automatically make the grid fit the width or height of the screen. The document will automatically be made to fit the remaining space on the screen. You can use all of the grid editing features under the Grids menu, as described in Worksheet B4. When you have completed the grid and chosen the settings and wordlist for the document you will need to make it into a send window using CTRL+Q. This will change the background colour from white to pale yellow. C 16.4 Locking and unlocking grids and documents When the grid is created for use in an environment it is Locked - this means that the blue title bar for the window is hidden, preventing a user from moving the window, and also making for a tidier display. You can unlock a window by clicking in it, to give that the focus, and then typing CTRL+L. You need to unlock the window if you want to move it. Re-lock the window by typing CTRL+L again. C 16.5 Making a send document It is not only a grid that can send its content to a writing document. You can send contents from any WWS2000 document to any another. Open two new documents from the File menu. If they are maximised (fill the whole screen) then click on the Restore icon (this is the centre of the three icons in the top right of any Window.) You can then re-size the document windows by dragging the bottom right corners, and move them by dragging the blue title bar for each window. C 16.2 Cloning grids You can add extra grids to an environment by cloning the current grid. Click into the grid and then from the Grids menu, select Clone Grid. This will create another grid in exactly the same position as the first, ready to fill in. You can also copy specific cells into the new grid by highlighting them before selecting Clone Grid. (See C12.5) These cells will be copied including any macros or links. C 16.3 Saving other environments An environment file contains a list of all of the grids or windows that it uses, plus details of the main document settings. You will also need to save both the grid and the environment file. Click in the grid and save that first, and then from the File menu select Save Environment. It is a good idea to save them both in the same place, so they are easy to find again. 56 This example has a second window to be used as a quick jotter for frequent spelling problems. Each window can be set in its own mode - so the jotter is in symbol mode and the document in text mode. You can click in each window and then look at the symbol/text icons on the toolbar to see which mode they are in. To make one of the windows into a send window, click in it to give it the focus and then type CRTL+Q. You still see that it changes colour just as the grids did when they became send windows. You do, of course, need to have a second window there to receive the input. You can choose whether individual words (and symbols) are sent or if whole paragraphs are sent.

57 This is set on the Cell Properties pop-up menu, described in section C13.5. Type CTRL+R to show this box. environment when you are in a high resolution, then the material will not fill the screen. (A help sheet is available on this - see Section H3.3) The choices are Doc - Send Words and Doc - Send Paragraph. The writing will appear in the document according to the style settings for the receiving document. C 16.6 Using example environments A number of example environments and other files have been included with the program, to help you explore the possibilities. There are example environments for both types of grid. The Wizard environments are opened from the environment screen, Load Wizard Environment. The example environments are available in three different sizes, to suit different screen modes, and you will need to know this to open the most appropriate set for your machine. NT is for machines operating under Windows NT, or Windows 2000, the Hi-res files are designed for use in 1024 x 768 display setting and the Lo-Res files for screen mode 800 x 600. (There is more information on screen resolution in Section C1). The layout for the high resolution screen is different from the lo-res screen, because a normal sized writing window will fill the full width of the screen in lo-res, and does not leave space for a vertical window: Some of these environments are made with mouse users in mind others have been made especially for switch users. Some are appropriate for both. Details and descriptions of the example files are given in Section G. C17 Storing & moving environments All the files and data required for a wizard environment are automatically created and stored in a single folder with the environment name. When you view this in the desktop or through Windows Explorer, it will just look like a folder. To use this environment on another machine, copy the relevant folder to the new machine, and replace in the WWS2000Work\Wizard Environments work directory there. You can also create your own sub-directories to help you to organise your environments. Other, non-wizard environments may be saved in the Environments folder, and to open one of those you need to open the environment s file which has the extension.wit. C18 Tips on making environments In this case the grids have been made to run across the bottom of the screen. However, in higher resolutions, a normal writing document appears smaller on the screen, leaving more space for you to put writing grids. The next illustration shows same environment made for Hi-Res. If you are in a low resolution and open a grid made for high resolution, some of the grids will be off the screen. If, on the other hand, you open a lo-res To make the text in all the cells in a grid line up, highlight all the cells and then use Align top or Align bottom from the Grids Menu. This will tidy up all the text. When adding extra cells to a grid (and keeping the original size of the grid) remember this decreases the size of all the text and graphics in the grid. To save the links between grids save the grid you link from. 57

58 When cells in a grid contain symbols, make sure that you have typed a space after each word so that the next entry (from either grid or keyboard) is not added to the previous word. Remember Macros can be made up of just one command, or several. Just add the commands in the order you want them executed. To remove the title bar at the top of grids you need to lock the grid by pressing CTRL+L. To allow graphics to fill the cells in a grid without text do not choose Hide Text from the Text Menu, instead choose Hide Text from the Grids Menu. This will give more space allowing you to set a larger graphic size. You do not need to have all the windows open when you save an environment. There needs to be the main or Key Grid and a Writing Window. The Wizard will let you choose which windows to load when the environment is first loaded. This saves on loading time. C19 Switch Access C19.1 Setting up switches To set up switches to use with grids you first need to go to the Access Menu. Click on Switch settings and this dialogue box will appear. Decide if you are using single switch mode or double switch mode and check next to your choice. If using single switch mode set the scanning rate to determine how fast the scan cursor will move. The higher the number the slower the scan will be. This setting only applies when you are using single switch scan mode, and the option is greyed out when double switch scan mode is checked. Double switch mode lets you set up one switch to be the move switch and one to be the select switch. This mode can prove more successful for a switch user who finds hitting one switch at exactly the right time difficult. In single switch mode, switch 2 is the active switch. You will also need to set the bounce delay. This setting enables the program to ignore short mishits made in between intentional switch presses. This setting also enables the program to ignore double switch presses when a user holds the switch down for a long time. This setting applies to both single and double scan modes. C 19.2 Scan Modes Click on the Scan Mode tab. You will need to decide which Scan Mode best fits the grid you are going to access using switches. First you need to choose the Scan Method from this dialog box. To make switches active, check Switches to On. (Or use CTRL+Y to turn switching on and off). Find out how your switches are connected. If you are using a serial switch box, find out which COM Port your switch interface box is plugged into and check next to this. The total number of possible COM ports will show in the dialog box. If you are using a device which emulates the keyboard key strokes then select Use Keyboard Equivalents. If you are using a USB connector that emulates joystick buttons, thens elect the last item in the list. 58 Simple Scan Across rows This scan method scans each individual cell one at a time moving horizontally to the end of the first row, then back to the start of the second row, and so on. From the last cell - the third diagram - the scan reverts to the first position.

59 This method is therefore suitable for a grid with a few cells or where the student does not have the ability to deal with more complex scanning. Simple Scan Down Columns This scan method is very similar to the one above, except the scan moves down columns rather than across rows. Row Column Scan This scan method first scans whole rows from top to bottom. Then when a switch press is made the individual cells within that row are scanned from left to right. Then when a switch press is made the individual cells within that column are scanned from top to bottom. Again there is a step when the scan is invisible and selecting during this time causes the scan to move to the next column. C 19.3 Auditory scan Auditory scan is switched on and off from the Scan Mode tab of the Switch Settings dialog box. Sometimes it can be useful for the contents of the cell to be spoken as a scan moves around the grid. Checking Auditory Scan On sets this up. There are a number of voices that can be used within this version of WWS2000. It is therefore possible for the auditory scan to be spoken in one voice and the message, when a key has been selected, to be spoken in another voice. This can be useful for the switch user, as it can make it clearer for them when they have made a selection. Note that speech is set on an individual window basis. This gives you the chance of only having auditory scan for some grids. Simply switch speech off for grids where you do not need the speech. If on the other hand you expect a grid to speak and it does not, check that speech is on for that window. A good way to test is to click in the grid with the right mouse button - so it does not send data - and then see whether you can switch speech on from the Speech menu. C 19.4 Scan colour If a user decides that they do not, after all, want to select a cell in that row, then they wait until after the last cell in the row. At this point the scan will disappear and selecting during this time will cause the scan to move to the next whole row. Column Row Scan This scan method first scans whole columns from left to right. The colour of the Scan Cursor can be changed. This will be especially useful when the grid has a background colour that is the same or a similar colour to the cursor. The scan colour is changed from the Scan Mode tab of the Switch Settings dialog box. C 19.5 Cell Select settings The Cell Select Settings allow you to set how the scan continues or restarts after a selection has been made. By checking the last button on this tab Apply to all cells in grid the setting will apply to the whole grid and not just one cell. To see 59

60 these functions in action you should study Worksheet B6. These settings can also be made from the combo box in the Additional Toolbar. The settings are only visible when switching is OFF to avoid visual distraction while the student is using switches, since the contents could change with each cell scanned. C19.6 Scanning irregular grids Before you can scan an irregular grid with grouped cells, you need to set the order in which the cells are to be scanned. You can set this from the Access menu, Set Grid Scan Order, when you have created the grid(s). You will get a dialogue box with a representation of the grid. Click in the cells you want to scan, in the order you want to scan them. In the example shown you will see that the large cell on the left of the grid is an information cell, and is not scanned. From the Access menu select the Keyboard -> Switch Menu item. There are 16 key presses that can be used to activate switching in this way. These are shown in the drop down combo boxes at the side of Key Press for Switch 1 and Key Press for Switch 2. C 20.2 Swap Switch function This function is useful in double switch mode. Sometimes when a switch user moves from one program to another, the function of the two switches they are using alters (i.e. the move switch becomes the select switch and vice versa). Instead of unplugging the switches the Swap Switch Function can be checked from the Access menu. This has the effect of swapping the function of the switches over. C 20.3 User profiles The switch settings are not saved as part of any environment or grid, but are set for as they are needed. Settings can be saved separately as a User profile. This allows you to load the settings for a particular user for each work session. When you have completed the settings in the Switch setup and Scan mode tabs under the Access menu. Then select Save Profile from the Access menu. The profile is also loaded from here. C 20.4 Using example environments You will have to do this for each grid in an environment that has grouped cells. If you forget to set the scanning order this dialogue box will appear when you activate switching. Don t forget to save the grid after setting the scan order. A number of example environments have been made with switch users in mind. These will be found in the Environments directory, in the Hi-res or Lo-res folders, in a sub-directory called Switching. Full details on these environments are given in Section G which explains the particular aspects of the program they illustrate. C 20 Other switch features C20.1 Using Switch input with keyboard devices There are three types of switch interfaces that can be connected to a PC computer. (a) A serial box. This plugs directly into a COM (serial) port. (b) A USB connection. This replicates the buttons of a Joystick. (c) A keyboard connection. These devices intercept the keyboard socket, or use boards like IntelliKeys. These can be made to generate specific keyboard presses in response to a switch press. Different devices have different keys that they can use, so the program allows you to choose which keys corresponds to the switches. C 21 Advice on using switches If a switch user is using the program for the first time it may be useful to set up a simple grid or use one of the example environments to show them how the program uses switches and gives them an opportunity to practice. We feel that for a switch user one writing window and 2 grids on the screen at any one time is the recommended maximum. Environments can have more than one grid displayed at the same time. If you are going to use displays of this sort the switch user needs to be prepared for the scan to automatically move from one grid to another. This therefore needs to be discussed with them and/or they need to have it demonstrated. 60

61 When setting up WWS2000 for a new user, you need to consider the scan method currently being used. You will need to think about: what interface box will be required to enable you to plug the switches into the computer will they use 1 or 2 switches if using single switch scan what scan rate is needed? which is more appropriate: simple scan or rowcolumn scanning. would auditory scan be helpful - this gives more feedback but can slow the process down due to the time taken to listen to the speech. Users starting to work with switches may need to begin with quite a slow scan rate. Alternatively it may be a good idea to start off with two switches and allowing the carer to operate the scan switch. The user then makes the selection either with a switch or by indicating to the carer. The carer can watch the user for clues as to when they want to select. This helps them focus on making choices, rather than being constrained by the technology. When you select Save Settings from the Options Menu a number of parameters are saved. One of these is the Scan mode that is then set as the default Scan mode. If the program is to be used by a number of switch users, their individual switch settings should be saved as User Profiles in the Access Menu. When setting grids to use auditory scanning switch off switching (CTRL+Y) before saving grids or environments. If you do not, the continued scanning may effect the selections you make from the keyboard or the mouse. When saving a newly created environment be sure the grid you wish to appear first is set as the Key grid. This is the first grid that willbe shown and scanning will start in that grid. To set the Cell Select Settings (from the Switch Settings tab within the Access Menu) you need to be sure your cursor is in the grid you wish to set. If you try to set Cell Select Settings and you are clicked in the writing window a dialog box will prompt you. The program will operate the same scan method for all grids. If you use more than one grid shape you should design the shapes so they are suitable for the same scan method. Some environments that were originally set up with mouse users in mind may be appropriate for switch users, but others may need to be altered in shape and layout for switch users. A quick way to turn switching on or off is with CTRL+Y This is useful while you are making a grid or an environment. It is also a short cut to activate switching when a new grid or environment has been loaded. When working with more than one switch grid make sure you can go back to the Key Grid. Either by making a go back cell or setting Return to Key-grid from each cell. It can help to give navigational cells a different colour background from those which send to the main document. You can choose the scan cursor colour. Make it a good contrast to all of the background colours you have used within an environment. 61

62 C22 HTML and Web links New features in version 2.5 will allow you to save pages of HTML for uploading to a web page. You can also access the Widgit web site from the front screen and add your own links to a grid for students to easily access web addresses. C 22.1 Saving pages of HTML You can now save documents and grids as pages of HTML. In the case of grids these may be regular or irregular. To save a document as an HTML page go to the File menu and select Save as HTML The following dialog box will appear. pages in a number of settings and view them in your browser. You should give a name for the title bar of your HTML page. Note that this is not the same as the file name. Click on Save and you will get the standard dialog box to save your file. Note that the program creates the file and a separate folder that contains the images. For example if you saved a page as mypage.htm the program will create a folder called mypage_files in which all the images for that page are placed. When you are uploading a page of symbols onto your web site you need to include that folder of images. C22.2 Web link from front screen There is now a button on the front page that can be used to go directly to a special page on the Widgit Web site. Obviously the computer will need internet access for this. The page is specially designed to give easy access to help features, tutorials and downloadable resources that will help users of Writing with Symbols Overseas users of the program will find that this page also contains flags which give a link to dealers web sites. C22.3 Web link Macro Please read the copyright statement obtained by clicking on the button which relates to the symbols you are using. When the program creates the page of HTML an appropriate copyright statement is appended to the page. This may not be removed. This facility is only appropriate for fairly short symbols documents - such as would fit a screen on a web page. It is not suitable for creating pages of text in HTML. You may have taken trouble in the creation of the document to provide one symbol sentence per line. To make it more likely that it will be displayed in this way in the browser, you can choose the target resolution of the machines that may view the page. For example to be most sure of lines fitting you should choose 800 x 600 which will scale the images to be a small number of pixels and therefore most likely to fit on this lowresolution screen. If you know that the users of the page are likely to have their machines set in a higher resolution then you can choose one of those. We recommend 1024 x 768 as a good allround resolution for using Writing with Symbols, so the dialog box will default to this. If you want to see the effect of changing this setting, make There is now a macro available which allows you to put a link to a web site in a grid cell. Clicking in the cell will launch the browser with the URL specified. Click in the grid cell to which the macro is to be added. Go to Macros and then Add Commands to Cell. From the dialog box that appears select the Functions tab. Click on Clear to remove any macros in the cell, and then scroll to the bottom of the left hand list box and select Web Page. Enter the URL for the web page you want to link to, e.g. Click Add After, or Add Before and then OK. Note that when the cell is clicked, the program will launch the browser with the URL specified and minimise Writing with Symbols out of the way. 62

63 Section D - Resource Manager D 1 Loading the Resource Manager The Resource Manager is a utility program provided with WWS2000 to manipulate and create wordlists. The icon for loading the Resource Manager will be found under Widgit from the Programs section of the Start menu. D 2 Managing Wordlists Note: In all these operations you need to save the changed wordlist when you have finished your work. You can do this by clicking on Save, or use Save As if you want to save the wordlist with a new name and leave the original wordlist unaltered. D 2.1 Viewing words in a wordlist Click on the Manage Wordlists tab: On the left side click Open, and find the wordlists that you wish to amend. The wordlist appears in the left box. When you click on a word in the list the centre panel will display current information about the word and graphic, and show any qualifier and any sound file that may be attached. At the centre-top is the box that contains the text that is linked to the graphic. That is the text you type to produce the image. Remember that you can have one, two or three word phrases, but not more. There are three tabs at the top of the screen. Manage Wordlists is used to: 1 Alter words in a wordlist 2 Create synonyms 3 Remove words from a list 4 Add words from one list to another 5 Merge wordlists 6 Set the display colour of Rebus symbols 7 Change the F12 order of words in a wordlist 8 Make a text file from the wordlist entries. Create Wordlists can also do the above except for number 4. In addition it is used to: 9 Create new wordlists or new word list entries 10 Add sounds to a graphic in a list 11 Add qualifiers to a graphic in a list The difference between these two tabs is essentially that the Manage Wordlist tab can add new entries to a wordlist from another wordlist, whereas the Create Wordlists tab can add new entries directly from the graphic images (and maybe sound files). Copy files into Resource Drawers is used to move graphics of your own into folders where they can be used to make wordlists. Essentially doing this enables you to: 12 Add new pictures to your system 13 Add new folders to store your own pictures The graphic panel shows the picture and any qualifiers that are linked to that word entry in the wordlist. Below those the location where the graphic is stored is also shown. By default this shows the location of the main graphic. If a qualifier is also present you will find that clicking on the qualifier image will show its location. The sound panel will generally show no information as most wordlists do not have sounds attached. If you load the word list tunes.wus in Additional Lists and then click on items in the list, you will see the sound information displayed and be able to hear the sound by selecting Listen to selected sound. D 2.2 Altering words in a wordlist and creating synonyms To alter the text that you type to get a symbol, first change the text in the Word box and then click the Edit button at the bottom of the wordlists box. To add a new text link, and keep the original, change the word in the word box and then click the Add box. This has the same result as renaming a symbol using the F11 key in WWS2000. D 2.3 Removing words from a wordlist Click on the word you want to remove and click Delete. This is useful for cleaning-up a list. It is also useful for removing words for which you do not want symbols - such as the and a 63

64 D 2.4 Adding words from one list to another On the Manage wordlists tab, open the list that you want to add to on the left and open the wordlist that has the source words into the right hand box. Click on the words you want to add in the right hand list, and then click the Copy button below. Note that this right hand list box allows multiple selections. To select entries hold down the control key (Ctrl) while making the selections. To select a continuous series you select the first item, scroll to the last item and then, holding down the shift key, click on the last item in the series. This will highlight all the entries between the two clicks. You can change the right hand list as necessary to get words from different lists. You can also use the right hand list to edit with Edit, Add and Delete. D 2.5 Merging wordlists You may find that you regularly want to use words from more than one major list. We have made some merged lists for you already (allco00 and allbw00) mixing Rebus with colour or black & white PCS. However, you may want a different amalgamation. It is not a good idea to use two long lists at the same time in WWS it takes the program quite a long time to merge them in memory, and you have to do this each time you want to use them - so it is better to create a new list merging the lists just once. Decide which lists you want to use together, and then decide which list should have the F12 priority - i.e. which symbols should appear first in the list. Open the list that you want to have the priority into the left hand list box, and then go to Open again also under the left hand list. You will be asked if you want to Merge with the wordlist already loaded. Choose Yes. This process can take a long time as the program needs to sort the combined lists into alphabetical order and to re-establish F12 priorities etc. However, once it has been merged and saved with a new file name, it is a single list, and quick to use in WWS2000. D 2.6 Setting the colour for black line symbols You can change the line colour of black lines in symbols in WWS2000 using the toolbar. However, you may like to pre-set specific colours for symbols to help the user. For example colour coding words from different parts of speech. To change the colour of a word, highlight the word in the list, and then click on the colour square in the colour table in the centre panel. You will now see the symbol change colour, and the colour table square will show full, rather than half, height. 64 To see these changes in WWS2000 you need to check the item Colour from Wordlist under the Images menu. If you subsequently don t want to see these colours in the program, simply uncheck that item. D 2.7 Setting the F12 order Load your wordlist into the left hand list. Highlight one of the words for which you want to set the F12 order. Then click the F12 Order button. A separate dialog box appears showing the list of words with the same name. You can click on any word in the list and see the image in the normal place. You can then move any image up and down in the F12 order. The four buttons work as follows: 1. Move to appear with one more F12: This will change the list so that the currently selected image will need one more press of the F12 key to make it appear. (This button does nothing if the image is already at the end of the F12 sequence). 2. Move to appear with one less F12: This will change the list so that the currently selected image will need one less press of the F12 key to make it appear. (This button does nothing if the image is already at the start of the F12 sequence, i.e. the first image to appear when the word is typed in WWS2000). 3. Move so it is the first to appear: This will move the selected item to the start of the F12 sequence unless it is there already. 4. Move so it is the last to appear: This will move the selected item to the end of the F12 sequence unless it is there already. Symbols will appear on pressing F12 in the order in the list. The current order is indicated in the wordlists box with a number in brackets: a word with [1] attached will appear after the first time you press F12, etc. Don t forget that in WWS2000 you can choose to Remember the F12 changes (for that working session). This is set under the Options menu. D 2.8 Hiding a symbol in WWS2000 Although you can turn a symbol off in a document by pressing the F12 key, sometimes you may want to use a word without the symbol appearing automatically, but to be able to get the symbol if you need it. You can set the default F12 order to OFF by selecting an item and clicking on Default to invisible. To reverse the process if need be click on Default to visible. D 2.9 Making a text file from a Wordlist It may be useful to create a text file listing all (or

65 some) of the words in a wordlist. You can do this by loading a wordlist and clicking on the Text File button. This will produce the standard Save dialog box in which you can input the text file name and decide where to save it. If you want to produce a text file for just part of a word list, for example for a particular letter of the alphabet, then you should use the right hand multiple selection list box. Select the items for your text file (as described in D2.4) and then click on the Text File button above the list box. Note that this will make a text file ONLY of the selected items. If you use the left hand box then a text file will be made of all the items in the word list. The text files created are tab separated. This means that a tab character is inserted between each word in the list. After each 20 words a carriage return is inserted to start a new paragraph. This makes a good format for importing into Writing with Symbols. For example if you use the right hand list box to make text files for each letter of the alphabet, then you can import these into Writing with Symbols and so create a dictionary of the images for each letter. (Note you will need to press F12 for words that have more than one entry in order to show the various images). The illustration shows that the computer has the Makaton resources as well as the standard Widgit graphics. It also shows the two resource areas for your own images. You can either choose to show all of the graphics in a resource area (a resource drawer), or to target specific resources in folders within these drawers. It can take quite some time for the computer to locate all of the resources, and you may find it easier to work on sections of the resources. To see all the resources in any drawer click on the appropriate drawer name. To see targeted resources click on the Plus sign by the side of the resource area you want, NOT on the resource drawer name itself. This will then show you a list of the folders. Clicking on a folder name will produce the list of the resources in it. Click on a different name to see another set of pictures. D 3 Constructing wordlists This section deals with creating wordlist entries from the raw graphic files. D 3.1 Creating a new wordlist First, clear any existing list from the Resource Manager by clicking on New under the left hand list, and then go to the Create Wordlist tab. You will need to find the graphic you want and then Copy it into the new list with an appropriate word attached. Do this as follows: In the top right corner of the window click on the Graphic radio button just under the title Raw Resources. The top list box will give you a tree picture of the places where your graphic resources are found. Adding graphics one at a time In the list box you will see all of the graphic files in the folder (or drawer) you have selected. Click on the one you want. This will show the graphic in the centre panel. Now type the word you want associated with the graphic into the centre Word box, and then click Add below the left hand wordlist. Adding a group of words at a time You may want to put several words or a complete folder of graphics into a list. To do this you can either select several individual graphic files by holding down the CTRL key, or you can select a contiguous section by clicking on the first item and then hold down SHIFT while pressing the last item. The centre panel will no longer show any image. Click on Create New Word(s) at the bottom of the graphic list. This will put all of the files into the list, using the graphic file name as the word. You may, in that case, need to edit the wordlist to have the words you want to type, if that is different from the file name. 65

66 D 3.2 Adding a graphic to a wordlist If you want to add a new entry to a wordlist from the graphic rather than from another wordlist, follow the same procedure as for creating a new list from scratch in the previous section. Find the graphic from the appropriate folder, and Add it into the list which is already loaded. Remember, that you will find it easier to do this with your own photographs and pictures if you have organised them into clearly labelled folders inside the MyPics directories. Details on how to do this are in the next section (D4). It is also quicker when making the wordlist if you can give the original image a name that matches the word you want to use. However, you cannot have two files of the same name in a folder, so this will not always work. D 3.3 Adding sound to a graphic You may want to add a sound to a graphic, rather than using the synthesised speech. Your sounds should be stored in the Sounds folder within the MyPics1 or MyPics2 folders. Copy them there before starting this section. You can do this as described in Section D4. To add a sound to a word in the wordlist, open the wordlist in the left window of the Resource Manager. Select the Create Wordlist Tab. Select the Sounds button at the top of the right hand side under the Raw Resources heading. In the box on the top right of the window select the resource area where you have put your sounds (e.g.mypics1) and the relevant sub directory. This will display the list of sounds in the lower right window. Select the word to which you wish to add the sound. Then select the sound from the right hand list. The sound selected will appear in the centre information panel. You can listen to the sound by clicking on Listen to selected sound. Click Add or Edit as required. D 3.4 Adding a qualifier to a symbol Section C8 explains about qualifiers. There are two ways in which qualifier graphics can be added to a symbol, either from the qualifiers set of graphics or from the main resources. There are buttons at the top of the right panel that allow you to select Qualifiers and set which source you are using (qualifiers folders or graphics folders). The following examples explain each method. Example 1: To make a symbol for coffee shop. Open the wordlist you want to modify. Go to the Create Wordlist tab, and select the Qualifier button at the top right. Because the shop symbol is one of the common qualifiers it will be in one of the Qualifiers resource folders, you should select qualifiers folders just underneath. Once this has been done, select the word that you want to add the qualifier to, in the word list view, in this case coffee. Click on the resource folder or drawer in the right-hand panel that contains the graphic you wish to use as qualifier. In this case the shop symbol is in the resources provided by the CD. So click on the plus sign next to Widgit hard disk resources, or Widgit CD resources, depending on whether you have installed to hard disk or are running from CD-ROM. Shop is in the Rebus folder, so select this. The list of qualifiers in this folder will now appear. Then click on the location where you want to add the qualifier in the qualifiers panel. In this case the space to the upper right of the main symbol is a good location. This will draw a thin red line around the graphic location. After that, click on the qualifier you wish to add in the resource view, here shop. The qualifier should appear in the location you have selected. When you have finished, amend the text in the Word box to coffee shop and then click the Add button underneath the word list. Example 2: 66

67 To create a combined symbol for climbing rope, with the main symbol climb but qualified by the addition of rope. Open the wordlist you want to modify. Go to the CreateWordlist tab and select Qualifier at the top right. The Rope symbol is not a common qualifier, so it will not be present in the qualifiers folders. Therefore you must select it from the graphics folders. To do this, select graphics folders just underneath. From the wordlist click on climb. When you have done this, click on the Resource area, Widgit hard disk resources or Widgit CD resources as before. Decide where you want the qualifier to go. You will probably choose the right hand side, and you could choose from full height, half height at the top, or half height at the bottom. Find the rope symbol to add to this location. Type the new words climbing rope and click on Add to finish adding the qualifier as above. D 4 Copying Files into Resource Drawers to do this, or see section 2.4 which also describes how to make multiple selections. Click OK when you have selected the files required. Example: You have taken a number of digital photographs and stored them in a folder called Photos. You now want to add these to a Widgit area so that they can be included in wordlists. First, go to the Copy Files into Resource Drawers tab and make sure you have the correct resource type selected. Here this will be Graphics. In the list box select the resource folder you wish to add the files to. Now click on Select files you want to copy and navigate to your Photos folder. Select which images you want to copy and click OK. You can now go back to the Create Wordlists tab and add these images to a wordlist (or make a new wordlist) as described in Sections D3.1 and D3.2. D 4.2 Creating a new Resource folder Go to the Copy Files into Resource Drawers tab, and make sure that you have selected the appropriate Resource type (Graphics or Sound) Decide, and select the Resource Drawer where you want to add the new Resource folder. (The Make New Folder button will remain greyed out until you select a Resource Drawer). For example to create the folder People in My Resources 1, highlight drawer 3. In the New Folder Name box towards the right of the dialog box, type in the name of your new folder (People) and then click on the Make New Folder button. D 4.1 Adding a new graphic or sound file to the system Go to the Copy Files into Resource Drawers tab. Select either Graphics or Sound files according to what you want to copy. As you make the selection the list box will show the appropriate folders in each drawer. Select the folder you want to copy files into. Now click on Select files you want to copy. You can navigate to the folder containing the files and then select some or all of the files in the directory. The notes at the bottom of the dialog box say how 67

68 Section E: Symbols included with WWS2000 E 1 The Rebus Symbol Collection Widgit Software Ltd. The Rebus Symbol Collection has been built up over a number of years. Within this collection are sets of symbols developed in conjunction with specific partners, as well as many symbols developed in collaboration with individual professionals. The philosophy has always been to encourage a democratically developed collection, which is responsive to the changing needs of symbol users. Specific acknowledgement is given here to the major contributors: The first Rebus Set The work on the Rebus Glossary was initiated by rebuses originally drawn by the team of the George Peabody College (now Vanderbilt University) in Nashville, Tennessee for the Peabody Rebus Reading Program (Woodcock et al., 1968, 1979). Some symbols came from the Standard Rebus Glossary used by workers on the Minnesota Early Language Development Sequence (Clark et al., 1973) and from the book of Standard Rebus Stick-ons (Clark, 1983). The authors have asked that these sources should be acknowledged and it is a pleasure to comply with this request. Some differences can be found between their originals and those in this glossary, but this does not reduce our indebtedness to their original work in any way. The work of Judy van Oosterom and Kathleen Devereux produced the Rebus Glossary with a much expanded symbol collection (LDA 1985) of some 800 symbols. The large number of additional symbols now has not only kept in mind the possibility that rebuses might be used by children, but also reflects the needs of the adult disabled learner. In conjunction with Judy van Oosterom, this set was increased to approximately 1500 in 1993, when they were put into electronic format for use with the first version of Writing with Symbols That release in electronic format as part of Writing with Symbols has had a major impact on the use and development of symbols for literacy. A testament has been the number and generosity of professionals who contribute to the Rebus Symbols Collection. 68 Some specific sets of symbols were contributed through projects, and added significantly to the vocabulary. The Chailey Heritage Symbol Collection A major set of symbols was developed in conjunction with Chailey Heritage School in Sussex in response to meeting the communication needs of children and young adults with complex physical disabilities. The Chailey Communication System grows with the developing child and can be reduced or expanded according to the child s physical ability or developmental level. We are grateful to Chailey Heritage School, and in particular to Valerie Moffatt and Liz Meek, for their initiation of the project and the large amount of work done during the symbol development. The Ken Jones Symbol Collection A set of symbols were developed as a memorial to Ken Jones who worked for many years in teacher education at the University of the West of England. Throughout his career he maintained a strong interest in symbols to enhance communication and reading. The core of symbols in this set aimed to enhance pupil involvement in the procedures described in the Code of Practice. The development team for this set of symbols included David Banes and Wendy Newton from Meldreth Manor School, Judy van Oosterom from Learning with Rebuses, Judy Sebba of Cambridge University, Clare Martin of George Hastwell School, Andy Carmichael of West Suffolk College and Mike Detheridge of Widgit Software. Erica Brown Religious Education Symbols A set of symbols on Religious Education arose from the work of Erica Brown, who has been involved in the religious, spiritual and moral education of children with special educational needs for many years. She has written several books including Religious Education for All published by David Fulton. Signalong A number of symbols were developed in collaboration with SIGNALONG to support the SIGNALONG sign-supporting system based on British Sign Language. This was first developed in 1992 to enable the implementation of modern structured language development programmes. The SIGNALONG Group is a small charitable organisation working at full stretch to introduce new signing vocabulary. From the early days the Group came under pressure from users to produce communication symbols to match the

69 signs. However, market research showed that users did not want yet another symbol system. SIGNALONG and Widgit Software have collaborated to produce the symbol match for the vocabularies in SIGNALONG Phases 1, 2 and 3 and much of Phase 4. Widgit are indebted to The SIGNALONG Group for their co-operation, and especially to Kay Meinertzhagen and Gill Kennard for their symbol designs. Science symbols Sue Norton, a teacher of pupils with learning difficulties, has contributed many symbols in the first Rebus set as well as more recent science vocabulary. Some of these symbols are integrated into the main vocabulary, and some as a separate science set. Rebus People symbols with initial letters You may want symbols for individual students or clients. Probably the best way is to take photographs with a digital camera and import the symbols to WWS2000 and save the links to the wordlist (as described in C7.3) If you do not have such a camera then you can use some alternative Rebus symbols. Suppose you want an image for Robert. Type Rman (or Rboy) as appropriate - make sure you have a wordlist loaded that includes the Rebus symbols. An image will appear with a letter R as a qualifier. Use F11 to rename this Robert and save the change to the word list. We have included complete alphabet sets for man, lady, boy and girl. E 2 The Mayer-Johnson Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) The Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) developed by Mayer-Johnson, were originally designed to create professional looking communication aids both quickly and inexpensively. They are now also used extensively in unlimited types of learning activities and lessons. Over 4000 symbols in both black and white and colour create one of the largest picture symbol sets available today. Additional symbols are always being developed which are added into addendum vocabularies. PCS multiple sets for People and Containers The PCS symbol set has a very large number of different alternatives for containers and for people. This allows you to choose specific symbols to meet your requirements. The collection of different people is particularly useful. However it would be impossible for users to keep track of the symbol required if you had to press the F12 key 72 times! For this reason there are a few representative symbols in each category which can be selected with the F12 key, otherwise individual symbols can be accessed by their number e.g. person 23 or container 45. You can view the complete set by loading the appropriate wordlist into the Resource Manager. E 3 Other symbols and wordlists Somerset Total Communication Somerset Total Communication is the process by which people with learning and /or physical difficulties are enabled to access the communication tools they need on an individual needs led basis in Somerset. It consists of a county-wide infrastructure for management, training and resources shared across Health, Education and Social Services. Where no available/suitable sign or symbol exists, local coordinators generate one and send it in to the central resource base which is independently and charitably funded. It is entered on to a database so that its existence is recorded for others in the county. Generated symbols are prioritised for redrawing by the graphic designer in the resource base and made available across the county. This collection of symbols reflects the diversity and local/personal flavour of the vocabulary which has been redrawn to date. S.T.C. is very grateful to Widgit Software Ltd. for including this collection for Somerset users. 69

70 Sex education vocabulary Both the Rebus and PCS Symbol sets contain some quite explicit sex education symbols. For the convenience of the majority of users these have been removed from the main symbol sets and are now provided as additional sets which can be added to your own wordlist as required. E 4 Using other symbol sets WWS2000 can also be used with other commercial symbol sets provided they are installed in an appropriate directory. If these symbol sets are purchased from Widgit you will receive instructions on installing for use with WWS2000. If in doubt contact Widgit for advice. E 5 New developments to the Rebus Symbol Collection A major revision of the Rebus Symbol Collection is being undertaken to strengthen its schematic underpinning, and enhancing its linguistic compatibility. A description of the schema of the original concepts is given in Literacy Through Symbols by Tina Detheridge and Mike Detheridge, Published by David Fulton, and a complete description of the revisions will be alongside the new symbols. This development, managed by Helen Whittle and Tina Detheridge, has benefited from very significant contributions from a consultation group of expert professionals. The intention is to develop a symbol set that can be adapted to meet a wide range of different symbol users. Symbols are used by people working at a core vocabulary level with the focus on key words, symbol readers who use extended vocabularies with grammatical elements, and to support people developing literacy. The New Widgit Rebus symbol set will be released in the autumn of Writing with Symbols 2000 has been translated into a number of languages, and there is a desire to develop a symbol set that can be as international as possible. Some language or culturally specific symbols will be required, but it is hoped to keep this to a minimum. Details of that process and the resulting materials will be published on the web site: 70

71 Section F: Getting more information F 1 The WWS2000 Training Pack A very comprehensive training pack is available as a printed pack or as a set of files on CD which can be printed. This is aimed at teachers running training courses, or for users who wish to go into the program in great depth. The pack includes 12 activities, similar in style to the exercises in this manual. Over 20 help sheets on specific aspects of the program. A chapter on symbols, and their use, which could be used as the basis for a talk or presentation session in training Two sets of photocopiable pages to make overhead transparencies to support presentations Sources of information Discussion on other issues relating to symbols, such as accessible information. Suggested outlines for running training, A skills checklist to help users assess their knowledge of the program, and their achievement in the training. F 2 Web: Technical support The site contains an extensive on-line help facility, with down-loadable help sheets, and on-line tutorials. Program updates There is always an update to the latest version of the software which can be down-loaded to update existing installations. Information on symbols The web site contains large amounts of information on symbols and how they are used. The Symbol Network area has examples of symbols from many practitioners and we welcome your contributions. There are also pages with general information and links to other web sites with information or materials on symbols. Free materials There is a section on the web site for downloadable files of symbol materials. These have been contributed by practitioners. We welcome any contributions of ideas and materials that are suitable for sharing. Switch web site A site has been created for symbol readers to browse on-line. This area is switch accessible and has easy navigation for mouse users as well. There is a range of content, which we hope you will contribute to. Anyone who has anything to contribute please contact [email protected]. The Web site is regularly updated. Check regularly for new information and updates. F 3 services F 3.1 Symbol Forum discussion group Widgit hosts an discussion forum on symbols. Sign up to this FREE service from the web site under the Symbol Network button. The increase in symbols for literacy and information is revealing new issues to do with teaching and learning as well as in the development of symbols. The symbol forum is intended as a place to discuss many of the issues around symbol use for many different types of people. F 4 Publications F 4.1 Introduction to Symbols This booklet provides a brief overview of current symbol practice. Its use in supporting literacy, access to information and advocacy. It is a useful source of information and ideas on symbols and the key issues surrounding their use to newcomers to the field, family and carers of people who may become symbol users. A copy of this booklet is included FREE in every pack of Writing with Symbols 2000 purchased with the Rebus and PCS symbol sets. It may be photocopied and distributed provided the source is acknowledged. F 4.2 Literacy Through Symbols Tina and Mike Detheridge This book, published by David Fulton Publishers, contains a wealth of information which will help you to make most effective use of symbols, and covers applications for all ages. 71

72 Uses of symbols range from helping children who have difficulty learning to spell, through to children and adults who are not able to use traditional text as a means of reading and self-expression. This essentially practical book is full of further ideas and examples of the ways in which access to literacy can be enhanced through the use of symbols, based on the experience of the authors and many practitioners. The ideas are underpinned by a discussion of the educational and social issues that surround symbol use, and its role in enhancing autonomy and independence. Contents: Introduction; Symbols for all; Principles of pictorial symbols; Use of symbols; Starting to use symbols; Emergent literacy; Access to learning; Symbols as a bridge to traditional literacy; Developing independence; Access to information; Issues for the future. The book is available from Widgit or booksellers, ISBN X F 4.3 Symbols Now Edited by Chris Abbott Symbols Now was written in order to share practice. As symbol use has continued to grow, many people wanted a means to share ideas and practice, and to help to develop a base line of good practice. The idea for the book came at a Symbols conference hosted by Meldreth Manor Scope School and Widgit Software. This conference gathered together some 50 delegates from across the UK, all of who were deeply involved in symbol use. The project was generously supported by a grant from the Viscount Nuffield Auxiliary Fund, which enabled Chris Abbott to gather and edit material from contributors. The project was guided by advice from a steering group, who gave very detailed and careful guidance at all stages of the project. Widgit facilitated the project and published the book. Contents Introduction and Background Symbols for Different Purposes Symbols, Vocabulary Consistency and Understanding Communicating with Symbols Symbols for Accessing Information Supporting Inclusion with Symbols Literacy, Literature and Symbols Conclusion The book is available from Widgit ISBN F4.4 Symbol Indexes A printed picture index is available for both the Rebus and PCS Picture indexes. This can be purchased direct from Widgit. You can print your own set of Rebus symbols. There are WWS2000 documents with the majority of the symbols (all symbols up to the Rebus 99 set) ready to print. These are on the CD in a folder called RebusDict. Copy this folder to your WWS2000Work directory and then open each alphabetic file in WWS2000 Symbol Processor mode. On the CD there are Word files which have the list of words for which there are symbols in the Rebus and PCS sets in WWS2000. This document is updated from time to time, and you can download the most recent version of this file from You can also create a text file from a wordlist, with all or some of the words from that list. This is described in Section D 2.9. This can then be imported into Writing with Symbols 2000 as a text file. However, it is not advisable to import a very long text file in one pass, as it will slow the program down. Creating a personalised symbol dictionary To create a personalised dictionary from a wordlist, save separate text files for each letter of the alphabet as described in section D2.9. Open Writing with Symbols 2000, make sure that you Replace the current wordlist with the one that the text file was taken from. Set the tab stops to an appropriate size (4 or 5 are useful sizes, and set appropriate text and graphic sizes. A graphic size of 24 is about right for 4 tab stops. Now, from the Text menu select Import Text. All of the words in the text file will automatically be illustrated as they appear. Press Escape if you want to stop the import at any time. 72

73 G Example Materials WWS2000 pack includes a number of example materials to illustrate various features of the program and to give you ideas. We hope that you will find examples that you can easily modify to suit your own requirements as well as some which will give you ideas to build on. Blends This is a simple spelling environment. It concentrates on spelling words containing s blends. This has been made accessible to switch users because the cursor moves automatically between the two grids. This is achieved by linking all of the cells to the opposite grid. Environments, which contain a number of windows, are made with specific screen layouts which are dependent upon the screen resolution in which they are made. The example environments have been made in three different resolutions: high resolution mode (1025 x 768); low resolution modes (800 x 600) and for machines running NT. You should open the appropriate folder (hi-res, lores or NT) in your Wizard Environments folder to access the appropriate set for your computer. G 1 Wizard Environments. These environments have been made in the Wizard, and are found in the Wizard Environments folder of your WWS2000Work directory. View these by selecting Grids for Writing/Open Wizard Environment from the front screen buttons. About me This environment contains 8 grids that are linked from the main key-grid. The vocabulary is categorised by title from the key grid. The user is encouraged to produce appropriate phrases to describe themselves. The selected phrases appear in the writing document. There is a variation of this environment in Inter_Comm as a first discussion topic. Communication This is a complex environment. This style of environment may be familiar to users of dynamic screen communication aids. The main grid links to all the other grids and vocabulary is arranged in categories. The vocabulary encourages the user to ask questions and make comments. Through the use of Macros the name of the current grid can be spoken, the most recent sentence can be spoken and a return can be sent to the writing window to start a new sentence. This environment can be used with simple scanning but it is also suitable for row column scanning. It shows appropriate use of the Switch Cell settings. The cursor will remain on the Delete and Speak cells until the scan is moved on, allowing repeated deletes or repeat speech. Blank Talk This is a blank version of the Communication grid (above). It has been made with all of the grids, macros and links saved ready for you to edit with your own content. 73

74 Count 1 and Count 2 These environments have the same structure, but slightly different content. There are three grids. These are designed to be accessed by either mouse or switch users. The user will select one item from the first grid, click on the centre grid (which is only a single cell) and then make a series of selections from the third cell to put in the appropriate number of items. Switch users, using double switch mode, will find that the cursor stays on the same cell in the third grid, until they choose to move it. This facilitates multiple selection from one cell. I can This is a simple environment with two send grids. The vocabulary is about getting up in the morning and having breakfast. On each grid there is one cell which replicates the Enter key on the keyboard. Another cell flips between the two grids. Diary This is a simple environment with 2 send windows. Only one send window is visible at a time. The switch scanning set in this environment clearly shows how the focus of the scan moves between the 2 send grids at the appropriate time. This shift in focus is also linked to opening the next grid. Likes This is a complex environment. There are two grids displayed. One is a menu which loads other grids. To change grids you click on another menu item. These menu cells are coloured green for identification. Other cells in that grid are coloured yellow to indicate that they send controls to the program, such as delete, speak, print. The vocabulary for this set relates to school aged pupils, or young people in college. Doing This has 4 grids in total. One of these grids is continuously visible. Three of the cells in this grid have links to each of the other grids. Clicking on each of these cells will display the associated vocabulary. Each of the three larger grids enables simple sentences to be written about things I like and don't like. Each cell sends a phrase to the document. The phrase endings also send a return character to prepare for a new sentence. 74

75 Simple spell This is a simple spelling environment. The focus of the scan moves between the two grids as in Blends and allows the user to select the initial letter and then from the next grid they can select the next 2 letters to make up a word. The second grid includes a delete option and therefore has a separate cell to return to the first grid. This letter based environment could easily be adapted to include many different combinations of simple spellings. Went This environment, which has not had all the cells completed, enables somebody to write about places visited. It is intended that this environment should be edited to contain your own vocabulary. If you save each grid with the current names, you will be able to use it with a more appropriate vocabulary. There is a variation of this environment in Inter_Comm as a first discussion topic. Sounds 1 and 2 This environment was originally made for a user who was not a symbol user, but who enjoyed sounds. The idea was to enable the user to experience the writing process as an emergent literacy skill, but without needing to understand words or symbols. It is particularly useful for students with profound and multiple learning difficulties. Each of the 12 pictures in the grid have a sound file attached. (The wordlist used here is called tunes.wus and is in Additional Wordlists). The sound file is played when a picture is selected. If the user is not able to make a selection the carer could set switching on to show the highlighter. Then using keyboard equivalents the carer can make the cursor move, and select when the user indicates. Words This is a variation on Likes. This style of environment is suited to users who may be familiar with communication aids. The vocabulary is organised in topics with a 'general words' section as well. There is only one send grid open at a time in this example, but there is a 'return' icon at the bottom of each page which takes you back to the menu page. There is one exception to this: the 'words' link opens a grid with a second set of words. 75

76 G 2 Other Environments These environments contain send writing documents and so have not been made in the Wizard. Cows This activity shows how a user could build up a sentence from two parts. Here there are some unfinished sentences in one window and some single words which complete those sentences in a separate grid. The 'sentence' window is not a grid, but contains a list of phrases. This type of arrangement is suited to many comprehension types of activity, and is very quick to make. Sue Story This shows how a student's own writing can be used as the basis for more formal grammatical work. In this example the 'list' window is the new writing document and the story has been made into a send window. The setting for the send document is set to 'type the text' and 'paste a return' so that the words form a list with each entry on a new line. This could be used to select words based on any criteria. G3 Grids G 3.1 My Grids Mylist This is the simplest environment. A list of words can be typed into one window as a word bank. The words in the word bank can either have symbols or just text. Similarly the document into which they are written can be in symbol or text mode. This level is especially suited to users who are readers but who need help with certain vocabulary, such as confusables or homophones, as well as extending the words they understand. In the My Grids area there are some example grids to show different types of layout. Red Things This is a worksheet made in a grid, for printing. The student is asked to circle all the red things. You can laminate the worksheet, or cover it with plastic to make it re-usable (an important consideration for colour prints) Most of the cell walls have been removed so that the worksheet does not appear to be in a grid. 76

77 Two other grids in the Worksheets folder have been made using the same grid size: Under sea and Int letters. These have been made with this grid but with different cell walls displayed. PECS layout col An example of words that might be included in a PECS supported communication. This grids has the right size cells to make small PECS cards and could easily be edited with your own vocabulary. I like grid This is a simple grid suitable for a communication book. The position of the grid on the page can be adjusted by changing the Print Margins, so for example to leave room for punched holes to go in a ring binder. ChSh This grid is one of some literacy activities included in the examples. This one is designed to do on paper. You could put the sheet in an A4 Acetate wallet or holder for the pupil to write in felt pen. Photocopy their work, and then clean the acetate for the next user. Goldilocks This grid is for joining in story telling. The key words that the child might add to prompts are on this grid. Timetable This shows a possible layout for a timetable. In the templates folder within Worksheets there are the templates for this and one other timetable which you may like to use as a starting point. 77

78 Other grids There are several other grids in this folder that are similar to some of the ideas explained here. Many of these are provided by Justin Drew, Speech and Language Therapist from Sandwell. He has also given us some example documents which are in the Writing folder. (See G3.3) G 3.2 Grid templates G 3.3 Example Writing documents These examples are made to be opened in the Symbol Processor. From the File menu, select Open. This should Open the Writing folder. Making Tea This is one of a set that give menu instructions. In the Grids Templates folder there are a number of useful ready made grids. For example a simple layout to fit A4 and A5 pages; layouts for standard Overlay Keyboards (Concept) and two blank timetable layouts. There is also a folder for Communication Aids. Communication Aid Overlays The templates folder inside Worksheets contains the templates for making Communication Aid Overlays. The following blank grids are included: Alphatalker 128, 32, 8 and 4 The Alphatalker is larger than A4 and so the overlay grids are in two halves which will need to be printed and joined. Black hawk A + B Chat box Eclipse 128 and 32 The Eclipse Overlay is exactly A4. Not all printers can print to this size, in which case you will need to adjust the overlay very slightly to make a print which will be accepted by your printer. Message Mate 20, 40-4, and Orac 128, 32 and 8 Speakeasy 78

79 Section H - Additional Material H 1 Network Installation of Writing with Symbols These notes give an understanding of requirements for network managers. WWS2000 is more complicated to install than some standard programs as we need to access instantly many thousands of images and other resources. In this we have referred to teacher and student. Please read these names as appropriate for your establishment. During installation you will be asked a number of questions: Question 1. After signing in and entering your licence number you will be asked for a directory for the application files. This will contain the.exe files, dlls, files for the spell checker etc. Notes: Application Files Area This is the directory where the programs and associated files are stored. Again by default this would be C:\WWS2000. The Registry entry is set up as: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ Widgit\WWS2000\Application AppPath: C:\WWS2000 The files and directories needed in this directory are: Abbrev.txt ExtraSpell.txt Henis810.dat msvcrt.dll MyFile.pfr Pen4s410.dat regget.dll ResMan.hlp showgraphic.dll WWS2000.cnt WWS2000.hlp Question 2. Bad.wav fatdll.dll mfc42.dll MyDict.fd Pddllw32.dll Prdllw32.dll ResMan.exe rmstrcmp.dll tips.txt WWS2000.exe showgraphic.dll The second directory you are asked for has an important status. It contains example files that students will use to enable them to write by selecting symbols, but it also acts as an area where teachers will want to add their own resources. The program gives teachers a number of tools for creating activities for students and these files will be saved within this folder. It is therefore important that this folder is shared by teachers and they have read/write access to it. Notes: Teacher Resource Area. Activities created for students, particularly for those with poor text ability, will require a number of pre-prepared documents to be displayed on the screen and linked into one environment. To ensure portability in a non-network situation these documents need to be stored within a replicable directory structure. Where the root of this structure is, does not matter, and you are asked for the path in Set Teacher Resource Area in the installation. By default this uses c:\wws2000work. Once this has been decided certain registry entries are again made as follows: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ Widgit\WWS2000\Application Document Path Fixed: C:\WWS2000Work Document Path: C:\WWS2000Work\Writing Word List Path: C:\WWS2000Work\WordList Macro Path Fixed: C:\WWS2000Work\Macros Environments Path: C:\WWS2000Work\Environments Settings Path: C:\WWS2000Work\Settings You can change the root path (C:\WWS2000Work - but do not include a space in the directory name) and then move the following directories into the new path which the program assumes are all in this area. Directories needed are: Environments Grids Macros New Tutorial Profiles Styles Wizard Environments Wordlist Writing A teacher will need read/write access to this area. Question 3. You will then be asked for the mapped directory where students will save writing that they create with the program. This can be anywhere you like and will normally be mapped to an area which is seen logically as the same for all students. Question 4. Student s may well want to save their own individual settings when the program is launched. This data can be saved either in the registry (Current_User) or in an ini file. You are given the choice of which to use. Normally you will select the ini file since the registry is likely to be reset when a student logs on. 79

80 Question 5. If you selected the ini file in the last question you will now be asked to confirm the directory where it will be stored. This defaults to the directory given in answer to 3, which is the most obvious place. Question 6. The program uses two directories with appropriate sub folders for importing images additional to the system. This is most likely to be done by teachers and are likely to be shared images, so the default directory used is that given in answer to 2. A teacher will need to read/write access to these areas so that imported images can be stored in one or other of these areas. If students are likely to want to import images and store them, then these directory locations need further consideration. Question 7. The final choice is where the graphics are to be located. These can be run from CD-ROM but almost certainly you will want to put them on the server. These act as a read-only source of images for the program. Notes: Images WWS2000 provides immediate access to many thousands of images. They are incorporated in a document by reference, the files themselves are not incorporated within the document. This means that for a document to be saved and reloaded it needs to know where the images are. There are four possibilities for any image location and all these references are stored in the Windows Registry. During installation you will be asked where the resources are to be put. (Non-network users can also choose to read the images from CD, the disc space is about 250Mb). The installer will then write this decision to the registry of that machine. The registry settings for this are as follows: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Widgit\ WWS3\Resources\ with these sub keys ResDir1 ResDir2 ResDir3 ResDir4 Inside each of the four last keys there are two values, an alias - which is just a more friendly descriptor and can be anything, and a path. The path is the important thing and is the route to finding the set of resources. All WWS2000 default materials use ResDir2. All references to images in wordlists (which act as the link between word typed and the document) will be prefixed by a 2 and then referenced by the relative path from the path stored in ResDir2. On a network you will want to store the images on the network, so ResDir2 will contain the path to the resources stored on the network. ResDir1 is used for providing a place where other commercial symbol sets may go and so be used in Writing with Symbols Further Notes: (a) The installer puts no files in Windows or Windows/System. (Other than anything the Microsoft speech installer does - this is Microsoft s own installer) (b) The dlls used specifically by the program are placed in its own application directory. (c) The registry settings made during installation can be viewed from the installation log. These are entirely in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, except for those that establish the machine s awareness of the icons used in the program, i.e. the document icon and the environment icon. (d) Speech uses Microsoft speech. This is installed on the host machine at install time by running files in the Redist directory on the CD. These files are: msttsl.exe api\spchapi.exe These files require you accept Microsoft s Licence Agreement. (e) Documents created by the user can be stored anywhere. If, however, they are to become part of environments then they must be stored in the Teacher resource area described above. On a network it would make sense therefore to make the teacher resource area common and all staff have read/write access. Pupils can save documents created with the resources where you like. Registry Entries The installer sets up registry entries in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. Because users may not have access to this area of the registry, if WWS2000 detects no registry entries in HKEY_CURRENT_USER the program copies relevant registry data to HKEY_CURRENT_USER and, if chosen in question 4, the student s own ini file. If HKEY_CURRENT_USER is then reestablished on log-on the student particular data will be picked up from the ini file. Information If you require any further information please telephone technical support or to [email protected] 80

81 H 2 Utility programs There are two extra utilities that can be used with the program: H 2.1 ChangeUser.exe This is useful if you have students working in a situation where the Teacher Resource area is not write protected for students, for example working on a stand alone machine. Run this file (by double clicking) before loading WWS2000 and select whether a teacher or students will be using the program. If you select teacher then the program will work normally. If you select students then the program will save files (by default) to the students work folder, rather than in the teacher area. You may, for example, want each student to save work to their own floppy. To achieve this set the program into student mode. Put a floppy in the drive. Create any file and go to Save. Navigate to the floppy and save the file. When a student then uses the program again it will automatically try to save to the floppy without any need for the student to navigate. H 2.2 Acrobat Reader The Help files in the Documents folder have been made in Adobe Acrobat, so that they can easily be printed. You can download Acrobat Reader from the Adobe web site. We have included a copy of this for your convenience. If you do not have Acrobat Reader, you can install it onto your computer from the CD. H comupd.exe Version 2 of Writing with Symbols 2000 needs a recent Microsoft file when running in Windows 95 (comctl32.dll). If you are working with Windows 95 (ONLY) and after installation of Writing with Symbols Version 2 you get a message about comctl32.dll, then you need to run the file 50comupd.exe. This will update your computer to have a more recent version. Do NOT use this file on any machine other than one working under Windows 95. This is a Microsoft re-distributable file. It is obtainable from their web site but is also placed on the WWS2000 CD for convenience. Double click on the 50comupd.exe to update the file. H 3 Documents On the CD there is a folder called Documents. H 3.1 Rebus 99.doc & PCS 99.doc These two files are Word documents of the complete list of words in both the Rebus and PCS Symbol sets supplied. H 3.2 Removing WWS2.doc This document gives the detailed instructions for removing earlier version of Writing with Symbols (Pre WWS2000). You do not have to remove this program if you still want to use the old files. However, it means that you will also have a copy of the symbols that came with that version. You may want to take steps to change completely to Writing with Symbols 2000, and remove the old one, thus releasing the space used by the old symbols. H 3.3 Help Sheets There is also a folder called Help Sheets. This has 20 help sheets that supplement this manual, with detailed information on many of the features and processes involved in using WWS2000. The Help Sheets available are: 1 Modes and resolutions explained 2 Moving and re-sizing windows 3 Navigating folders 4 Wordlists explained 5 Making a copy of a file 6 Planning grids 7 Understanding the Writing With Symbols 2000 directories 8 Making and using templates 9 Using the spell checker 10 Using photographs and scanned images 11 Adding sound to a graphic 12 Using Speech 13 Customising colours 14 Settings and styles 15 Making Communication Aid overlays and Communication books 16 Drawing and modifying symbols in Corel Draw 17 Keyboard and Mouse editing commands 18 Macros 19 Creating your own wordlist 20 Symbol Concept 81

82 I Commands provided in the Macro Editor This list gives a detailed description of the functions of each marco command available. Key Strokes Backspace... Deletes 1 character behind the cursor Delete... Deletes 1 character to the right of the cursor Down Arrow... F10... Toggles between text and graphic mode F11... Performs one F11 press ready for text to be added to rename a symbol (normally used in conjunction with Formatting command Select word) F12... Performs one F12 press F6... Speak current word F7... Speak current sentence Left Arrow... Return... Sends return or Enter key Right Arrow... Send this text... This shows an edit box for you to enter some text to send to the document. Used when you want to send text which is different from the text showing in the grid cell, or when want to send text and have added other commands to the cell Space... Sends one space character Tab... Sends one tab press Up arrow... Functions Back to Previous grid... Return to the previous grid. This is useful for navigating in complex environments when you do not know which was the last used grid. Capitalise next letter... Alternative to the double action to hold Shift when pressing a letter to get the capital. Used in a macro such as New Sentence Format as doc... The same function as selecting Format as doc from the send menu Format as grid... The same function as selecting Format as grid from the send menu Load window...open a file used for linking grids Make Image Bigger... Increase size of highlighted graphic or for graphics from this point on. Make Image Smaller...Decrease size of highlighted graphic or for graphics from this point on. Make Text Bigger... Increase text size as above Make Text Smaller... Decrease text size as above Mary... Set the voice to be Mary for highlighted text, or from this point forward Mike... Set the voice to be Mike for highlighted text, or from this point forward Print... Print the document window Sam... Set the voice to be Sam for highlighted text, or from this point forward Save... Saves the file with the currently set filename Save As... Select All... Selects all the text in the document. This is useful in conjunction with formatting or Speech Speak command to hear the entire story. Send Address Pic... For Inter_Comm only, does nothing in WWS2000 Send User s Pic...For Inter_Comm only, does nothing in WWS2000 Sount this... Allows you to enter a sound to be played. Useful for giving prompts or reinforcement. Speak This... Allows you to enter text to be spoken only. Useful for giving prompts. Speech repeat Speak... Repeats the speech for the current sentence. This is the same function as the repeat Speech icon on the toolbar. Speech Speak... Speaks the current sentence. Same function as Speech icon on the toolbar. Switch focus to ... For Inter_Comm only, does nothing in WWS2000 Toggle Caps Lock... Type the text... The same function as selecting Type the Text from the send menu Web Page... Links to a specified web address and minimises WWS

83 Formatting The formatting commands apply to the highlighted text, the graphics associated with highlighted text or to next entries into the document at the current cursor position. You can make other formatting commands for different sizes and colours using the Command Creator (Macros menu Create a Command). Most of these formatting commands are self-evident, For example Font Colour, Font size etc. For example: Font Albertus Bold... Sets a specific font from this point on. Gr Colour blue... Sets the colour of any black graphics (e.g. rebus symbols) Gr size Sets the graphic size Gr Thick 1... Sets the line thickness of any black graphics (e.g. rebus symbols), unless Auto thickening is checked under the Images menu Move to previous sentence... Useful in conjunction with speech, and with the Select Sentence command for changing format Select Paragraph... Selects the current paragraph. Select Sentence... Select Word... Useful in combination with the Backspacce command for deleting whole words at a time Ready made Macros Addressee s pic + text...for Inter_Comm only, does nothing in WWS2000 Addressee s picture... For Inter_Comm only, does nothing in WWS2000 Big pic Centre... This places a selected graphic in the centre of a line, makes it larger, and then moves the cursor to the beginning of the next line at the normal format setting. Delete Word... This deletes the previus word. It moves the cursor left (twice) so that it will definitely be in the target word, selects teh word, and then presses Delete. Emphasise... Makes both the text and graphics bigger for selected text Heading 1...Sets the sentence where the cursor is to be formatted to make a heading. Settings are: Select paragraph, Gr size 46, Gr thickness 4, Font size 28, Bold, Centre justified Heading 2...A less important heading, left justified: Gr size 24, thickness 2, Gr size 24, Bold Heading 3...A small heading size: graphic size 16, text size 20 New paragraph... Puts a full stop at the end of the current sentence, puts a return and then capitalise next letter ready for the next text entry. New sentence...puts a full stop, space and then set capitalise next letter ready for new typing. Sender s pic + text...for Inter_Comm only, does nothing in WWS2000 Sender s picture... For Inter_Comm only, does nothing in WWS

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