Assistive Technology Tips and Tricks

AUTO-TEXT

You can reduce typing by adding phrases, tables, or graphics to AutoText. Select the text you want to add. Go to "Insert" Menu down to "AutoText" then to new. Type in the name you want to give this item.

AUTO-CORRECT

Located in the "tools" menu is autocorrect.  There is an extensive data base of commonly misspelled and mistyped words that will be replaced with the correct one when typed.  You can add or delete from this list.  Consider adding those words that you always have difficulty spelling.  You can also use this tool for abbreviation expansion.  Enter a brief abbreviation that is not a word; consider using a naming convention such as x (expand) in front of the abbreviation.  Then you can use xUS to stand for United States.  The abbreviation expansion can be used for phrases, sentences, or paragraphs.  Use to reduce keystrokes.

READABILITY

Teachers often wish to check the readability of a piece of writing. You can easily check the readability level of a passage using the Klesch-Kincaid Reading Level built into the newer versions of Microsoft® Word. In Word XP, to display readability statistics... Click to find out how

AUTO-SUMMARIZE

Select Tools>AutoSummarize. This tool may be useful to quickly identify some percentage of important information from a document of text.  It is best used with documents that are well-structured and contain repetitive information on a topic (e.g., encyclopedia entries from the web or a CD).

Click on the icon for the type of summary that you wish to create and choose a percentage of the original that you would like to summarize.  The "Summary" and "Original document" data will change to give you an idea of how much text would be selected.  Click "OK" to perform the summary.

A new toolbar will appear on your screen.  Use it to control what you see onscreen.  Remember, to learn the function of each tool, simply hold your mouse over the icon for a few seconds to see the name of the tool.