Boost Writing Independence with Clicker’s Word Processor

Most word processors are designed for literate adults. Clicker 6 is designed for children who are learning to read and write. It will grow with your students as they develop their skills, making it the ideal word processor for the classroom.

Students type into Clicker from the keyboard, or use Clicker Grids to enter words and pictures, so you really can use it across your age and ability range.

Amazing quality speech

Clicker helps learners find and correct errors and grow in independence and confidence by providing automatic speech feedback as students write. Each sentence is automatically read out as it is completed, with every word clearly highlighted as it is spoken, enabling learners to follow the text and review what they have written. Research shows that this active engagement with text encourages students to find and correct errors for themselves.

Intelligent word prediction

Clicker’s intelligent word predictor suggests words that fit the context of the student’s writing, encouraging them to use more adventurous vocabulary. Children are able to create flowing pieces of text with accurate spelling and grammatically correct sentences.

Write with pictures

The enhanced Crick Picture Library 3 contains over 2500 curriculum pictures, which can be used in documents, Clicker Sets, the predictor and the talking spellchecker. The library makes it easy for students to illustrate their own books or documents, and for teachers to provide graphical support for learners who need additional help.

Alternatively, use other picture libraries such as Extra Symbols for Clicker and ClozePro or your own bank of photos.

Child-friendly font

The child-friendly Sassoon font displays letters in the familiar form that children learn to write. This makes words and letter patterns easier to recognise for early readers.

Easy-to-use tools

Clicker’s tools use the standard icons that students need to become familiar with. By default, they are displayed at a larger size, making them ideal for early writers. The toolbar is fully customisable, so you can adjust the size of the tools and display just the ones you want your students to use.

Research shows that active engagement with text encourages students to find and correct errors for themselves. This is exactly what is achieved with Clicker’s clear British English speech.

Speech in word processor

By default, each sentence is automatically read as it is completed. This encourages students to punctuate their work, and ensure that they review each sentence before starting the next one. This helps students take responsibility for their writing, and make corrections as they write.

For those needing more support, each word or letter can be read as it is entered, giving students instant feedback. Any combination of the options can be used to give the optimum settings for individual learners.

In addition, students can hear any section of their writing by using the speech tool in the toolbar.

Clear highlighting

Words are clearly highlighted as they are spoken, enabling students to follow the words in their Clicker document as they are read.

Speech in Clicker Grids

Students using Clicker Grids to enter whole words may need to check the word they are about to use before they write. A simple right-click (Mac: Ctrl-click) reads the word out to them. This allows students to find the right words for themselves, and encourages them to use more adventurous vocabulary, boosting their confidence as they develop their ability to write independently.

Additional speech support

When the word predictor or spell checker makes a suggestion, students are able to right-click on the word and have it read to them, giving them an opportunity to select the correct words independently and create flowing pieces of accurate text.

Natural Male and female voices

Clicker comes with two very clear voices called Rachel and Graham. Both sound almost human, not like the robotic speech found in some software.

Hear the Rachel voice
Hear the Graham voice

Ensure the sound on your computer is working and then click a link above to hear for yourself.

Clicker’s intelligent word predictor suggests words that fit the context of the student’s writing, encouraging them to use more adventurous vocabulary. Children are able to create flowing pieces of text with accurate spelling and grammatically correct sentences.

Predicts in context as you type

The predictor is fully integrated, so that it always knows your context. A list of possible next words is offered as you complete the word you are typing. If the word you want is not in the list, just start typing – your word is likely to appear after just two or three letters!

For struggling spellers, Crick Software’s SoundsLike technology detects what the word being typed sounds like. It then predicts words that begin with that sound. For example if you type ‘wen’, Clicker predicts ‘when’ and ‘Wednesday’, as well as ‘went’!

Access with mouse or keyboard

To enter a predicted word into your document, either click the word with the mouse or use a number key on the keyboard (you can choose whether you want to use the numeric keypad or the main number keys).

Want to hear the word before entering it? Just right-click (Mac: Ctrl-click) with the mouse or hold Ctrl while you press the number key.

Predict anywhere in the document

Integrated word prediction also means that you can go back anywhere in your text to look for alternatives. For example, imagine you have entered this sentence:

You listen to the sentence and realise that you have an incorrect word ending in ‘walking’. Just move your text cursor between the ‘k’ and the ‘i’ and the predictor will offer all the possible word endings. Click on ‘walked’ and you’re done!

Personalise for your students

You can be sure your students are getting predicted words that are right for them by setting the predictor to any one of four levels. You can even create your own customised levels. All the settings are automatically stored with the user’s profile.

Clicker grids, books and pages give students point-and-click access to whole words, phrases and pictures, helping them to construct their work more independently. Create a set of grids to help students write a more substantial piece of work in manageable steps.

Sentence building grids

Sentence building grids typically contain all the words required to build a sentence. Some cells may also contain pictures to help students identify words, and all cells have speech on right-click so the user can hear the word before they write it.

Sentence grids are usually linked, so when a sentence is completed, the user clicks the forward arrow to move to the next grid in the sequence to write the next sentence.

As they move through the series of grids, the text in their Clicker Document grows, giving students the satisfaction of creating a significant piece of writing.

The words in the grid can be colour coded to define parts of speech. In addition you can offer a visual or aural model for the student to copy, or use a ‘forced order’ template to encourage left to right directionality.

Word bank grids

Some students who can spell out most words using the keyboard may still need help with the more difficult words, or they may need encouragement to broaden their vocabulary. Clicker word bank grids provide instant access to any number of words.

Word bank grids are tabbed to provide access alphabetically or through topic areas. All words can be previewed with a right-click (Mac: Ctrl-click), which reads the word out.

Writing frames

Many students find it difficult to structure their writing, especially when writing in a genre that is new to them, e.g. a set of instructions or writing up an experiment. Writing frames provide scaffolding to help students achieve well-structured writing.

Clicker Grids are the perfect vehicle for writing frames. They provide sentence or paragraph starters, subject-specific vocabulary, and other supporting phrases.

Matching activities

Matching activities are a great way of developing basic problem-solving and language acquisition skills. They are particularly useful for supporting emergent readers and children learning English as an additional language.

A range of matching activities can be created, incorporating pictures, words and sounds, in whatever combination, to progress students’ key skills at a manageable pace.

Talking books – for reading

Clicker talking books are an important ingredient in the range of reading materials in your classroom. Clicker talking books give you the following benefits:

• Accessibility – just a forward and back button to turn the pages and a speech button to hear the text.
• Flexibility – students are able to read the books independently, but they also make great centrepieces for your whiteboard lessons
• Speech support – they can use either digitized speech or a real sound recording.
• Connected activities – books can be combined with supporting comprehension and writing activities (e.g. the Planet Wobble series).

Talking books – for writing

Making Clicker talking books is not only easy for the teacher – you can give your students the opportunity to create talking books too! Start younger or struggling students with one of the easy-to-use book templates and switch on Click and Edit – it’s simple for children to enter their own text, images, drawings and even voice recordings, all with the support of Clicker.

Create your own activities

Clicker 6 makes it easier than ever before to create all the activities above and more! Check out the activity creation section below to find out more!

Or…let Crick Software do all the work for you!

When you buy Clicker, you also get free access to ready-made resources on the LearningGrids website. The resources cover a wide range of curriculum topics, and more are added every 2 weeks by the Crick Software Curriculum team. They are also incredibly easy to edit, enabling you to tailor activities to your exact requirements.

Crick Software have also created an acclaimed range of premium Clicker content – the ‘Powered by Clicker’ resources such as the Clicker SuperDrive, which harness the power of Clicker to further support students’ learning in specific curriculum areas.

Create your own personalised activities quickly and easily

The Clicker 6 wizards are a completely new way of creating Clicker activities. Simply add in your content, and the wizards instantly transform them into a Clicker activity. There are also lots of Clicker templates too!

Quick Grid Wizards

The Quick Grid Wizards enable you to create supportive Clicker Grids in a matter of seconds! Grids are used to enter text or pictures into Clicker Writer, either in place of, or in addition to, the computer keyboard.

Sentence Building

Create sentence building grids from any number of sentences:

Quick Page Wizards

The Quick Page Wizards make it easy to create full page Clicker activities. Include pictures, words, sounds or even your own photographs!

Encourage Students to Work Creatively

Adding a creative dimension to writing activities really helps children to actively engage with the task at hand. Clicker 6 encourages students to express themselves in a variety of ways.

Clicker and Edit books

It’s easy for students to put together resources that demonstrate their learning. Clicker’s child-friendly Click and Edit activities enable your students to independently create their very own talking books and presentations, on any topic!

Built-in painting tools

Crick Software popular painting program, Clicker Paint, is now fully integrated into Clicker!

Drawing a picture is a perfect starting point to get children writing, and the ability to talk about their picture offers a natural lead into the writing process. Add in sentence building grids and voice recording, and you have a unique environment for writers to express themselves.

Webcam support

It’s so motivating for students to use their own photographs in their work. With Clicker’s new built-in webcam support, students are able to take photographs that instantly appear in their Clicker document.

Clicker is extensively used to help students who are learning to understand, speak, and write English.

Develop writing skills

Use sentence building grids to teach students to write simple sentences.

Activities to teach and practise specific vocabulary

By creating activities with sets of alternative choices, you can use Clicker to teach specific vocabulary or language conventions.

LearningGrids World resources

The extensive range of free resources on the LearningGrids World ANZ site is widely used with English as a Second Language (ESL).

Motivate and Support Learners with Pictures

The enhanced Clicker 6 Picture Library contains over 2500 engaging curriculum pictures. The library makes it easy for students to illustrate their own books or documents, and for teachers to provide graphical support for learners who need additional help.

The library is divided into curriculum-related folders and provides a wide range of clear, instantly recognisable pictures. It’s easy to find the picture you want by browsing the library from within the program’s picture palette.

Drag and drop the pictures from the picture browser, or use Clicker’s unique “Instant Pictures” feature where you simply type in a word and the relevant picture appears automatically. The pictures can also be used in Clicker Sets, the predictor and the talking spellchecker too!

Based on the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Clicker offers a range of both curriculum and accessibility support to meet individual needs.

Clicker is a proven and essential classroom tool to support students with special needs. In addition to the extensive support for learners with reading and writing difficulties, Clicker offers unique benefits for students with a wide range of special needs.

Clicker and Symbols

Use Clicker with symbols to support students with special literacy or communication needs as they take part in reading, writing and communication activities.

The following symbol sets are available to use in conjunction with Clicker: Widgit Symbols, Mayer-Johnson PCS, and SymbolStix.

If you are using symbols, Clicker is the perfect tool to give easy access to them, whether you are using a mouse, touch screen or switches. Because it’s so easy to add graphics to Clicker cells, you can create grids using any pictures you like, including symbols.

Combining Clicker with a symbols set enables you to create reading and writing activities that cater for students requiring symbols support. As Clicker is suitable for students of all abilities, the entire class are able to work on different versions of the same task, ensuring that those who need to use symbols feel fully included and involved.

Writing support
Use symbols in Clicker writing grids to help children develop their writing skills. Simply clicking on a Clicker cell containing a symbol sends the symbol into Clicker Writer. Clicker Writer displays both the symbol and the text, encouraging learners to make the connection between the words and the images. By listening to the recorded speech as it reads their work back to them, learners develop their understanding of the link between the symbols they see and the words they hear.

Communication grids
Creating your own communication aid is easy with Clicker grids. Because you are able to link together as many grids as you like, there is no limit to the number of symbols you can access. You are free to mix different types of symbols and other graphics on the same grid, and it is up to you whether or not to display text underneath them. And, of course, you are able to make changes to the grids whenever you need to.

Dyslexia

Clicker’s writing support works by providing a child-friendly talking word processor supported by the unique Clicker Grids, enabling students to produce a piece of writing to be proud of.

The extensive range of Clicker talking books provides unique materials with reading support that your students with dyslexia can use independently. Every title includes carefully designed, varied reading and writing activities that teach and reinforce new literacy skills.

Read more about Dyslexia Support in Clicker…

Learning difficulties

Clicker is the perfect tool to use with students with learning difficulties, because it enables you to present students with activities that are broken down into small steps, and to revisit learning objectives many times using a variety of activities.

Clicker’s multisensory approach of using words, pictures and sounds keeps learners interested and motivated, and enables them to achieve success.

Clicker was designed for learners of all abilities – watch the video below to get an overview – you will see how its many support features make it a particularly powerful tool for students with learning difficulties.

Read more about Clicker and Learning Difficulties…

Speech or language impairments

Clicker is a great favourite among speech and language professionals as well as special needs teachers. Clicker activities are perfect for children struggling to acquire language or to express themselves.

Read more about Clicker’s support for students with speech or language impairments…

Physical disabilities

All Clicker activities are fully accessible with switches. Clicker grids are scanned either automatically (if you are using a single switch scan) or by pressing a second switch.

Note: Crick USB Switch Interface, IntelliSwitch, JoyCable 2, IntelliKeys USB or DJ Switch Interface Pro 6.0 (USB) is required – other switch interfaces are not supported at this time.

To optimise access for individual users, fine-tune the timing settings and customise how the scan is displayed. For further reinforcement, choose an auditory scan. All functions are accessible to switch users, including moving between grids and opening pop-up grids and keyboards. Everything is customisable exactly to the student’s abilities, so that they only have the options they can manage.

All ready-made Clicker materials are designed with scanning at the design stage, so all Clicker 6 templates, grids, and talking books scan in an intuitive way.

Mouse Dwell

Students who can use a mouse or tracker ball but struggle to press the buttons can access Clicker 6 with the new Mouse Dwell method. Just hold the pointer over a cell or button for a set period and it activates without any button press. Personalise the dwell time and other settings to optimise control for individual students.

Read more about accessing Clicker with switches…

Low vision

In addition to the high quality speech, the clean, uncluttered screen layout, and the customisable colour-coded grids, Clicker includes a range of extensive accessibility options for students with low vision.

• Customisable zoom options
• Special high-contrast colour options
• Variable line spacing
• Large toolbar option
• Large fonts option for cell tooltips

Want to find out more about how Clicker is being used with students with special needs? See Clicker Case Studies.

NETWORKING: All of Crick Software’s programs can be used on a network. Clicker 6 can be purchased for a single computer, 5 computers, 10 computers or 30 computers in one school, depending on your requirements. So, if you required 15 licences, you would need to buy both a 5 computer and a 10 computer licence.

Alternatively, you can purchase a OneSchool site licence, which will enable you to install the software on all existing and future computers in your school, any teacher laptops, and the home computers of your teachers and teaching assistants.

Minimum System Requirements for Windows Version

• Windows 7, Vista, XP
• A sound card is required if you wish to use the speech
• Crick USB Switch Interface, IntelliSwitch, JoyCable 2, IntelliKeys USB or DJ Switch Interface Pro 6.0 (USB) is required for switch access

Minimum System Requirements for Macintosh Version

• Mac OS 10.5 – 10.7
• Crick USB Switch Interface is required for switch access

View / Download

• Clicker 6 information sheet
• Clicker 6 Guide (1 MB)
• Clicker 6 Getting Started Guide (5.3 MB)
• Clicker Research Study Results
• Clicker teaching ideas…

Online Training by Spectronics is available for this product.