Special Education Services
Plano Independent School District

Co:Writer Basics

Moving Between Co:Writer and
AlphaWord
The wakeup key, “tab”, will take you from the Co:Writer screen to the
AlphaWord screen and vice-versa.

Writing a Sentence in Co:Writer and
Sending it to AlphaWord

1. As soon as AlphaWord loads and opens a file, “wake
up” Co:Writer by pressing .
After a pause, the Co:Writer screen will appear.

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1 The 4 Are /
2 Is 5 A /
3 I 6 It
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Co:Writer works with you to write sentences one at a time. The Co:Writer screen shows the sentence you are writing
on the top and up to 6 numbered guesses in the lower 3 lines. The guesses change as you type. The only time Co:Writer does
not show guesses is if you type a letter combination which Co:Writer cannot match to any words in its dictionaries.

2. If the word you want is in the list of guesses, you select the word by:
• typing its number or
• pressing the up or down arrow keys to point to it, then
pressing to select that guess.
You can select a guess at any time, even if you are in the middle of a word. If the word you want is not in the list, continue
typing until it is, or until you finish the word. After a guess is chosen, Co:Writer automatically adds a space. Co:Writer also
adds a space after any punctuation mark (comma, dash, colon, semicolon, closing parenthesis or quote). Co:Writer then
adjusts the space between the punctuation mark and the last word chosen.

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Dinosaurs l_ /
1 like 4 liked /
2 look 5 live /
3 let 6 love
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3. Continue typing and choosing until you are done with the sentence.
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Dinosaurs lived a long time ago _ /
1 the 4 that / /
2 a 5 in / /
3 when 6 not / /
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4. When you are done with the sentence, end it with a period, question mark, or exclamation point. Co:Writer takes the
space out between the punctuation and the last word, transfers the completed sentence to the active AlphaWord file, and
switches to AlphaWord, displaying the sentence you wrote.
________________________________________________________________
Dinosaurs lived a long time ago.
________________________________________________________________

You can also send a sentence or phrase to AlphaWord without ending punctuation by pressing – this will send the line to
AlphaWord and put in a carriage return. This is most often used for lists or poetry.

Getting Back to Co:Writer from
AlphaWord

Notice the “>” in the lower right corner of the AlphaWord screen? This symbol lets you know that Co:Writer is ready for your next sentence. Think of it as a right arrow that means “go ahead, keep on typing.”
1. Type the first letter of your next sentence. You don’t
need to press to capitalize the first word — Co:Writer automatically does that for you.
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Dinosaurs lived a long time ago. i
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When you type a letter, the AlphaSmart switches back to the Co:Writer screen. Co:Writer shows the letter you just typed and
the first set of guesses. Co:Writer also automatically capitalizes the letter.
_______________________________________________________________
I /
1 Is 4 Isn’t /
2 I 5 In /
3 It 6 I’m /
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If you don’t want the first word capitalized, don’t type in AlphaWord.
Press to get back to Co:Writer, then type .

 

 

 

Plano Independent School District
Department of Special Education Services
2700 W. 15th Street
Plano, Texas 75075-7543
469-752-8240