Transcription may be defined as the act of putting ideas and thoughts in to visual form. In mainstream education, it is generally thought of as transforming the spoken word into written form. However, a developmentally inclusive approach would be to avoid specifying ideas in spoken word form, as some students may not yet be able to express their ideas in this way. Similarly, it is far more helpful to widen the scope of the written form to include a range of visual images. Many students may not yet have the skills or be at the developmental stage to effectively apply the alphabetic code in expressing their ideas. Consequently, students may need to use drawings, symbols and photographs in their transcription instead of the written word.

A strong emphasis on physical skills is involved in transcription, regardless of how a student accesses tools for writing. For example, students may require practice in using their eyes to select images, letters, words, etc to express themselves. Alternatively, fine motor hand skills may be required to access a computer keyboard, pencil, touchpad, or point to symbols.

However we define transcription, it is helpful to think of ‘how’ students will be transcribing their ideas and which skills they need to be taught to enable them to achieve this with increasing fluency.