Clicker
3
Windows Software.Clicker 3 single user £80, 5 users £120 (ex. VAT) Switch
version, £140, 5 users £180 (ex. VAT) Crick Software Ltd. 1 The Avenue,
Spinney Hill, Northampton, NN3 6BA
Some
of the best educational software has been created for children with special
needs, then made available to all children. Usually that's because it has been
designed with children in mind! Commercial software is sometimes designed
because the computer can do something clever, and later adapted to children.
Clicker, the word-bank software from Crick, has been created in response to real
curriculum needs and has been adapted and refined over the past few years,
adding in the refinements that teachers have suggested. As an example of this,
since I started to review it, another version (3.6) has come out, adding full
network capability. The latest version is an excellent example of what can be
done with educational software.
Clicker,
if you haven't seen it, addresses one of the basic problems of classroom IT: if
access to the computer depends on keyboards, what happens to the child who can't
type? The Clicker answer is to present word banks. A word bank is a grid of
boxes on the screen, each one containing a word or picture. When you click on a
'cell' the word pops into your word-processor page. This gives immediate support
to the child who finds it difficult to write. But that's only the beginning. A
cell can lead to another grid, so simple boxes at the bottom of your screen can
provide whole dictionaries. Clicker comes with sets of words assembled into
grids, but it is very simple to create and save your own grids, providing
support for children in any curriculum area. These word-banks can run alongside
any other program such as a word processor. If you visit the Crick web site (www.cricksoft.com)
you can download grids created by other teachers from their new 'Clicker Grids
for Learning' area.
The
latest version of Clicker refines this even further. Instead of having to run
the program alongside a word-processor, Clicker now provides its own built in
word processor. This makes everything much simpler, and also means that you only
need to buy one program for Special Needs word processing. Clicker Writer has
all the usual text functions, apart from spell checking. It can speak the text
to you as you write, using the new Microsoft speech system.
In
many Special Needs situations the children need picture support with their
writing. This is now built into Clicker. If the 'pictures-as-you-type' option is
turned on, typing 'dog' will immediately bring in a picture of a dog. There are
2000 new colour graphics with the program, and also 1800 of the commonest
pictures from the Mayer-Johnson PCS collection. Similar support for other symbol
systems such as Rebus or Makaton is available. The program now also supports the
graphics created by digital cameras and scanners, so it is really easy to drop
in a picture of a child's face. The same child's voice could be recorded through
a microphone directly into the program.
As
we have come to expect from Clicker, the design is clear and simple, and all
tasks are straightforward and intuitive. The manual is very clear, but you
probably won't need to use it very much. A very good piece of software.
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