Dr. Peet’s PictureWriter
Reviewers: Head Start Students and Louise Dannehl – Assistive Technology
Funding Coordinator/Regional A.T. Consultant
Cozad, NE 69130
ldannehl@esu10.org
Dr. Peet’s PictureWriter by Interest-Driven Learning, Inc.
http://www.drpeet.com/
PictureWriter 1.2, PictureWriter 2.2 disks, Manual included
Evaluated on Power Macintosh 5500/250
Technical Support: Call: 1-800-Bill Peet (1-800-245-5733) or E-mail: wpeet@drpeet.com
Date Reviewed: May, 2001
List Price: School version $49.95, Consumer version $29.95
Rating: A+
Dr. Peet’s PictureWriter is a great program for young students who are
just beginning to read and write or who already just plain don’t like to
read and write. This program makes writing a very simple process—as simple
as pointing to pictures and clicking the mouse, and the young writer is in control.
Dr. Peet’s PictureWriter is designed to enable young writers to create,
edit, save, and print simple sentences about topics of interest to them. There
are two levels which are exactly alike except for the picture content. Level
1 is for younger, newer writers, and Level 2 is for older writers.
Dr. Peet’s PictureWriter is not a new program; in fact, it was published
in 1991 and is on 3 in. floppy disks, but that takes nothing away from the effectiveness
and usefulness of the program. It has stood the test of time.
PictureWriter begins by welcoming the child to Dr. Peet’s PictureWriter
and instructing the child to click one of three activities to begin. The three
activity choices are: 123/ABC, Picture Words, and Things I Like.
123/ABC gives young users the opportunity to explore and practice upper and
lower case letters and also number words. When the upper case screen is displayed,
the child can produce the corresponding lower case letter simply by clicking
the letter in the display. The letter is read as it is clicked. The display
on the screen can be changed from upper to lower case by clicking in the upper
right corner of the display. Additional letters may be typed next to the selected
letter using the keyboard. By clicking the 123/ABC main menu screen, the screen
display changes to numbers 1-10 with hands showing the corresponding number
of fingers. When a number is clicked on, the number word is spelled in the box
and pronounced. Number word spelling practice may occur as the child continues
to copy and type the number word.
Picture Words lets the user explore pictures and their spelling from picture-word
banks. One click on the Picture Word screen brings pictures of Fruits on Level
1 and Music on Level 2. Another click changes to Animals on Level 1 and Vehicles
on Level 2. The pictures in each category say and produce the spelling of the
object from that category i.e. Category Music, Click on picture of cowboy playing
guitar, says and produces the words country music on the screen.
Things I Like gives the user a screen that provides picture/word options and
structure for sentence production. The first column (subject column) provides
a list of pictures and choices for "I" or individual names. The second
column (verb column) provides words and pictures for feeling and action verbs.
By using the scrollbar and scrolling down the column, the child can see the
options while gaining valuable computer skill practice. The third column is
empty at this point. The fourth column provides five category choices (clothes,
vehicles, food, toys, music) for the user to add the object to the sentence.
By double clicking the category, specific items within that category appear
in the column. Simultaneously, to make writing more fun and interesting, adjective
words and pictures fill the third column. When one is selected and clicked,
it appears in the sentence.
Up to 12 sentences may be written in the text box by using the scrollbar to
scroll down the box. Pictures in the Subject column may be renamed using a child’s
family or friend’s names by selecting and clicking once. This goes to a
screen that instructs the child to type in the name they want, listen to it,
type a phonetic respelling if necessary, and click okay. Words of choice may
also be added to the text box by highlighting a word and inserting a new word
before or after. A toolbar to the right of the screen gives the following options:
Return to main menu, erase the sentence in the text box, erase all sentences,
print sentences, print sentences with pictures, edit pronunciation, and read
entire sentence. Students may need assistance with orientation of Page Setup
so that long sentences are printed on wider orientation and shorter ones on
narrow. Files may be named and saved so students don’t lose their writing.
Dr. Peet does a great job of guiding the user and the teacher through the program
through the manual that comes with the program. He also gives activity suggestions
for the different activities in the program.
Dr. Peet’s PictureWriter is a high success writing program that encourages
novice writers and/or discouraged beginning writers. It provides the structure
that enables children to make a variety of choices, yet doesn’t permit
failure. What a great way to build motivation and self-confidence for writing!!
My hope is that Dr. Bill Peet continues to produce software for early learners.