Reading and Writing Supports

Co-Writer Universal  

The process of writing is not easy for all students. When students are given an assignment that requires writing they may quickly become discouraged before they even get a chance to start the assignment. Students who for example, have severe Dyslexia will need an assistive technology tool that can support them in this aspect. Co-Writer Universal is one of the many great tools that offer speech-to-text and much more to help our students do their best writing. I have added a video at the bottom to give you a little more information on this great tool.

Pros and Cons of Co-Writer Universal 

Pros

• Co-Writer Universal works on several platforms like Google Chrome, iPad, Microsoft Edge, and just about anywhere online.
• This tool has speech-to-text. Speech-to-text allows students to use their voice to write. This is a great tool for our students who have difficulty with spelling. 
• Word Prediction is another great feature that this tool has. On any standard device as we type a message or email, the device is able to predict the spelling of the words we are trying to spell. Co-Writer Universal will not only do that but it also gives suggestions for words that are spelled incorrectly. It gives you suggestions based on the context of your writing. For example, if a students types in "wut" or "wen", it will offer the correct spelling for the words. So the words "what" and "when" will appear.

Cons

• If you are a parent or educator, Co-Writer will cost you $4.99 a month plus tax. So that means it cost about $60 dollars plus tax for the year. So if you find it to beneficially you'd have to keep paying for it every month in order to keep it. 
• When using Chrome the word prediction window will print on your document if you forget to move it off to the side.

Overall Co-Writer Universal is a great form of assistive technology tool for the classroom. This tool not only helps students with Dyslexia or any other disability but it is also beneficially for all students in your classroom. I am currently teaching in a pre-kindergarten classroom and of course my students are not ready to read or write sentence down on paper. Yet, this tool can still be very useful in my classroom! You may be asking, how? 

Well, my pre-kindergarten students still have their ability to think and create great stories! So in my classroom we have a Smartboard and iPads. We create stories together as a whole group and sometimes they also tell stories on their own. They usually draw the pictures and I write down all of their words on paper for them. With this tool my students would be able to dictate their stories to the Smartboard or iPad and watch them appear on the screen. This alone would enhance their print knowledge and vocabulary. They would also see that their words have value. This would also build their confidence and encourage them to write and tell more stories. 

Reference 

Don Johnson : Human Learning Tools

Co:Writer

https://learningtools.donjohnston.com/product/cowriter/