De Witt & Associates, Inc.
700 Godwin Avenue,
Suite 110
Midland Park, NJ 07432
Voice: (877) 447-6500
E-mail: info@4dewitt.com
Exclusive Sales Agent for PC Talking Typing Tutor
or
Rehabilitation Technology Services
WWW: http://www.talktypetutor.com
Exclusive Copyright Holder
Copyright 2000-2002, Rehabilitation Technology Services, All rights reserved
COPY AND USE RESTRICTIONS
The personal version of PC Talking Typing Tutor is licensed to an individual person. No person other than the licensed individual is authorized to use the tutorial program. The licensed individual can use the program on any computer they wish as long as they are the only person using it. The licensee cannot transfer their rights to PC Talking Typing Tutor program to any other individual, group or organization by sale, exchange or gift of the program. New users of PC Talking Typing Tutor must purchase their own personal license. The license to use of the software expires after one year.
The Site License Version of PC Talking Typing Tutor provides a means for training centers to economically and efficiently teach computer typing skills. A training center holding the site license for PC Talking Typing Tutor may freely use the program with any student participating in computer training. Each copy of PC Talking Typing Tutor may be used on only one computer at a time. If copies are needed for more than one computer or at another location within the training center, additional copies need to be purchased for those computers and locations. Additional copies can be purchased at a discounted price. Copies of PC Talking Typing Tutor cannot be transferred to a students personal computer at the completion of their on site training. The student can purchase a discounted version of the PC Talking Typing Tutor at the completion of training if they want to continue using the software. Please call for current pricing. The student is then under the jurisdiction of the Personal Version license. The site license must be renewed periodically for continued use of the software. The time period depends on the license purchased.
NO WARRANTIES. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, RTS expressly disclaims any warranty for the SOFTWARE PRODUCT. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT and any related documentation are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, without limitation, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk arising out of use or performance of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT remains with you.
De Witt & Associates (D&A) warrantees the original disk is free from defects in material and workmanship assuming normal use, for a period of 90 days from date of purchase. If defect occurs during this period, you may return faulty disk to D&A, along with a dated proof of purchase; D&A will replace disk free of charge. After 90 days, you may obtain a replacement by sending your defective disk and a check for $15.00 to D&A.
PC Talking Typing Tutor requires a registration code. Part of the registration code is used for determining the end of the license for use of the software. At the end of the license the software will not function until the code is updated. The end date of the current license and the registration code can be accessed in the option in the .
PC Talking Typing Tutor is designed to help people with visual impairments and some types of learning disabilities learn how to type. The program provides speech output and adjustable font size, font face and colors for text information displayed on the screen so users can customize the program to their own needs. The tutorial options can be selected through a simple menuing system that requires the use of a small number of keys. The speech prompts provide directions on which fingers to use and the location of keys in relation to the home row keys. When typing mistakes are made, the tutorial provides information on what key was actually typed, the key that the user should have typed and how far way the two keys are from each other. The site license version of the product allows for the management of several different students.
There are 14 lessons in the tutorial and one additional practice option. Each lesson has one option to learn the new keys associated with the lesson and additional options to practice the new keys in different contexts. For letters the contexts can include:
Punctuation keys have similar menus, but typically only allow you to learn and practice that subset of keys.
PC Talking allows for extensive customization of the user interface to meet the needs of the user. The colors, font family, font size, speech engine, speech rate and speech volume can all be changed with a minimal number of keystrokes. Review the preferences menu (Alt-R) for a full view of the options.
The first step is to start PC Talking Typing Tutor. You can do this with either the keyboard commands or with the mouse pointing device.
The button can be activated by typing the Control-Escape key combination or by pointing to the start button with a mouse and performing a left click. Next activate the "Programs" menu option by typing the letter P or highlighting the programs option
When PC Talking Typing Tutor starts the user is presented with the PC Talking Typing Tutor menu in the middle of the screen. Only one menu item is presented at a time.
There are windows menus that provide access to all of the functions and configuration options for PC Talking Typing Tutor. The windows menus can be accessed through pressing and releasing the ALT key or typing the F10 key. The menu options include:
Select this option to exit the program.
The student menu is used to manage the current student in the educational version of the program. New students can be created, can switch to a current student and change the directory used to store student information. The directory function is designed for network systems to access a student file from multiple computers on the network.
The is used to start learning and practicing sessions. The options available are based on the currently selected lesson. Some lessons do not have words or sentences that the user can practice.
The allows the student to receive summary information about there current typing accuracy and typing rate. The educational version has capabilities to save keystroke level performance information as an HTML file and it also allows the user to reset performance information of the current user.
The allows the user to adjust the colors, font style, font size, speech voice, speech rate, speech volume, keyboard, layout and the practice repetitions for each type of session.
The provides access to this document, information on shortcut keys and registration information.
The Exploring the Keyboard option allows you to identify keys on the keyboard. As you type a key it is spoken to you. This is useful for finding function keys or testing if the current keyboard configuration maps to the actual keyboard. To exit out of exploring the keyboard mode type the same key 3 times.
Before using the learning and practice keyboard capabilities it is important to learn the functions key commands to control PC Talking Typing Tutor. The interface is designed to allow users to access the functions of PC Talking Tutor with a small number of keys. The Learning the Talking Typing Tutor Function Keys trains the user to learn the location and function of the main keys used for navigating and starting the functions of PC Talking Typing Tutor.
The learning new keys session allows the user to learn the fingering for typing the new keys associated with the current lesson. For each key the user is told which home key to use and where to move there finger from the hoome key to type the new key. If the user types the wrong key, the user will be alerted to where to move the finger to type the correct key.
Pressing the space bar will repeat the last speech message to the user.
In the educational version, the number of times a new letters are practiced can be adjusted in the preferences menu.
The practicing keys session allows users to practice individual keys. There are four options for practicing keys, including:
When practicing the typing of letters the space bar provides help in typing. Press space key once to repeat the letter prompted for typing, press the space key again to hear the letter in Aplha-Zulu codes and a third time to repeat the command and to hear the home row key to use to type the letter.
After the last letter is typed the user will be presented with the typing rate and accuracy and have the option of repeating the session. To repeat the session type the Space bar, to return to the lesson menu type any other key.
In the educational site license version the number of practice letters in a session can be adjusted. To adjust the number of letters go to the Preferences Menu (Alt-R) and select the Practice Options menu item. Type Alt-W to adjust the number of letters to practice during a lesson.
The practicing words option allows users to practice words with the letters learned in previous and the current lesson. Words can be practiced in all lowercase or with the first letter capitalized. You must type a space at the end of the word to move to the next word in the session.
When practicing the typing of words the space bar provides help in typing. Press the space bar once to repeat the word, press the space bar again to have the word spelled and press the space bar again to have the word spelled using Alpha-Bravo words for each letter.
After the last word is typed the user will be presented with the typing rate and accuracy and have the option of repeating the session. To repeat the session type the Space bar, to return to the lesson menu type any other key.
In the educational site license version the number of words the user types in each session can be adjusted. To adjust the number of words go to the Preferences Menu (Alt-R) and select the Practice Options menu item. Type Alt-W to adjust the number of words for each lesson.
The practicing sentences session allows users to practice typing entire sentences using the letters they have learned in previous and the current lesson. Sentences require that the first word be letter capitalized and that the sentence end with a period and space.
When practicing the typing of sentences the Space Bar provides help in typing. Press the Space Bar once to repeat the entire sentence, press the Space Bar again to repeat the current word in the sentence you are typing, press the space bar again to spell the current word, press the space bar again to have the current word spelled using Alpha-Bravo words and press the Space Bar again to have the next letter you need to type announced.
After the last sentence is typed the user will be presented with the typing rate and accuracy and have the option of repeating the session. To repeat the session type the Space bar, to return to the lesson menu type any other key.
In the educational site license version the number of sentences the user types in each session can be adjusted. To adjust the number of sentences go to the Preferences Menu (Alt-R) and select the Practice Options menu item. Type Alt-S to adjust the number of sentences.
The improving performance sections allow the user to practice all the keys on the keyboard. This option is usful when you are trying to improve your typing performance, after you have learned the keyboard. The options are similar to the other lesson options, except there is no learning new keys option. The options available are practice all keys, words, capitalized words and sentences.
The Performance Menu option (Alt-F) allows you to review your current typing accuracy and typing rate and compare it to previous accurcay and typing rates. There are separate menu selections for accuracy and typing rate. The previous typing rate is based on the previous times you have used PC Talking Typing Tutor.
The Educational Site License Version of PC Talking Typing Tutor allows you to save detailed performance information as an HTML file for use in identifying keys that a student may be having particular trouble learning to type. The Educational Version also allows you to reset the typing performace of a student.
The Educational Version of PC Talking Typing Tutor allows you to manage a number of students using the same computor or a computer network. One of the management features is to add a new student. To add a new student type go to the Sudent Menu option (Alt-S) and select the add option. Enter the student name in the text box and then select the OK button. If you entered the add student dialog box by mistake, you can select the cancel button. This student will now be the current student and performance information from their lessons will be saved to their file.
When PC Talking Typing Tutor is started it will display the Open Student dialog box which displays a list of the current students. You can use the arrow keys to move the selection to one of the students from the list of students and then use the OK button (Enter Key) to make the student the current student. The selected student will become the current student and performance information from the lessons will be saved to their file. You can also change students once PC Talking Typing Tutor is running. To change students go to the Student Menu option (Alt-S) and select the Open option from the student menu. The Open Student dialog box will appear and you can select the student from the list of students. Use the arrow keys to move the selection between students and the OK (Enter Key) to select a student. If you entered the Open Student dialog box by mistake, you can select the cancel button.
There a number of adjustments that are available for PC Talking Typing Tutor. The ability to adjust PC Talking Typing Tutor to the needs of a person with a disability is very important in helping the person learn to type.
Colors for the background, standard text and highlighted text used in the main window from the lessons can be adjusted directly in PC Talking Typing Tutor or through slecting a color scheme from the Display item in the Windows Control Panel. Colors for dialog boxes and menus can be only be adjusted using the features of the Display item in the Windows Control Panel. The Windows Control Panel is one of the options found under the Settings option of the Start Menu.
The font face and size used to display text used in the main window are adjustable. Colors for dialog boxes and menus can be only be adjusted using the features of the Display item in the Windows Control Panel. The Windows Control Panel is one of the options found under the Settings option of the Start Menu.
The speaking voice characteristics are adjustable. Male and female sounding voices are available
The speaking rate can be adjusted at any time with keyboard commands or through the Adjust Speech dialog box. The Adjust Speech dialog is an option in the Preferences menu option (Alt-R).
The speaking volume can be adjusted at any time with keyboard commands or through the Adjust Speech dialog box. The Adjust Speech dialog is an option in the Preferences menu option (Alt-R).
The arrangement of keys on the keyoards are typically very similar, but many of the special character keys can vary widely. PC Talking Typing Tutor can adjust to these variations by allowing different keyboard configuration files to be loaded. Loading the correct keyboard configuration hels when typing tutor is teaching fingering for special character keys and for providing corrective feedback when someone makes a typing mistake.
Note: A utility is currently under development to allow custom keyboard arrangements to be defined by users
The number of letter, words and sentences used in the learning and practice sessions can be adjusted in the Practice Options dialog box. The Practice Options Dialog box can be selected in the Preferences menu option.
Please go to the web site: http://www.talktypetutor.com for contact and technical support information
Copyright 2001-2002, Rehabilitation Technology Services, all rights reserved