Specially written to support the “MANY STORIES ONE VOICE WRITING CONTEST” that is being run by ISAAC (http://www.aacawareness.org/index.htm) this grid set can also be used as a general support to help students to organise their ideas and plan stories. Find out more about our work at www.contactcandle.co.uk or email us at contactcandle@btinternet.com

 The story aims to enable students to point to options and develop ideas for a story who might not be able to independently type a story  .

 Assistants who are helping students using Motor Planning Training will be able to support the student to type at steps 8, 9 or 10 rather than the step 12 usually needed for writing a story.

 The front page has links which are headed with the various elements of planning for a story. Selecting the cell will take you to a set of the most common options under that heading with the addition of “it’s not here”. Selecting “it’s not here” will allow the student to type a response using either an 8 location key board or a 48 location key board. There is also an option for the teacher or assistant to set up further multiple choice options if the student is unable to spell.

 Also on the front page is a “quick responses” page which allows the student to indicate their wishes using “yes” “no” and other responses that clarify the plan to careful questioning from an assistant. This makes story telling possible for those who cannot spell but who can access symbols, as long as the assistant is trained to ask the right kind of closed question.

 The “typing up” option on the front page is for those who can spell (or for whom further multiple choice options have been developed) to start to write their story once the plan is complete.

 The “controls” option on the front page takes you to a set of controls which enable you to set up your page with underlining, bold, centering, saving and opening documents etc.

 It is best to work through the pages systematically starting at the top left blue jump cell on the front page and working through the blue jump cells until you come to the “end” cell. In each section there are purple cells that can be used to develop you plan using the correct grammar. The characters page has an option for you to jump to the animals page in case you want the story to be told from the point of view of an animal. There is an "and" on each page so that you can choose more than one option and then point to "home" when you have finished choosing.

If you are happy with your plan you can then begin to write your story. It is recommended that you print out your plan and refer to it often as you write your story. It is also important to remember that you can change your mind as you write. Don’t feel that you have to stick to the original plan in all its detail.

 You need to be in the “word processing” mode for this grid set. If you find you are not able to save your work on the “controls” page check you are in the right mode by selecting “current workspace” at the top of the grid and making sure that “word processing” is ticked.

 Find out more about our work at www.contactcandle.co.uk or email us at contactcandle@btinternet.com

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