AppleWorks to the Rescue!!

[obsbedia2@aol.com (Obsbedia2)]

AppleWorks to the Rescue!!

	I made my presentation this morning before school at an IEP meeting using only
my AppleWorks3 generated report and it blew everyone away!  The modern testing
stated that the student was doing fine, but the parent and teacher both knew
that he was in trouble.  In separate word processor files, I entered the words
misread or read correctly for each of six different reading selections. 
TO.Analyst, selecting NOT to create a list for an index, alphabetically listed
each word read and the number of times that it was read.  

	Using the clipboard, each readings' wrong and right list was imported into a
single file and then TO.BlockCopy was used to paste them side by side and place
a line down the middle of the page.  TO.CR stripper tightened everything up
until I became better at aligning everything a little later on.  TO.BlockCopy
again was used to copy blank space over the original portion of the pasted list
that extended into the new pasting area (that saved a lot of character at a
time deleting).  A simple header was added, as was a new count of how many
unique words (words in a list, no matter how many times the words were
repeated) was easy to include, thanks to AppleWorks always presenting the line
number that it is on.  These pages were printed out straight from AppleWorks
(no TO.SuperFonts) on the ImageWriter printer at home.

	Using both the unique and total word lists, a VERY simple spread sheet was
created with simple labels and the findings from the word lists.  TO.Graph
created two stacked bar graphs, one for each type of list showing how many
words were in each reading.  The Title and Subtitle options made it clear what
the graphs were about and personalized the graphs with the student's name and
the date that the data was gathered.  Background grids made the graphs easier
to read at a glance.  Keys and borders finished up two impressive graphs.

	To make certain that the information was clear, I snuck back into TO.Graph and
selected Pie Graphs.  Reselecting data, each readings' wrong vs. right was
viewed as a pie graph with the percentages displayed to a tenth of a
percentage.  There's certainly a faster way to do this with a spreadsheet, but
I'm a novice and it was fun using the pie chart function.  I wrote the
percentages on the bars themselves for a final touch.

	The meeting was typical.  Parent and teacher both saying that the student
couldn't read and the school psychologist telling them that there was nothing
wrong.  First, I read what the student was actually reading aloud.  Then, I
laid out the word processor lists and then the summary graphs and it was clear
to everyone that the tests were wrong and that this student wasn't just having
trouble reading some words, but was misreading 30 to 35% of everything he read,
no matter the grade level or material.  He hadn't given up, but he needed help
and now he has it, thanks to Robert Lissner's gift and everyone since adding a
touch of their own minds to it.

	Jay Edwards
	Apple II and AppleWorks User for Life!