Never, EVER rely on the grammar check from word. Very bad advice.

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I would like to set up my MS Word to catch as many grammar errors as possible.  Should I just check every box? 

Thanks

1.  Is your son in kindergarten or 1st grade?

2.  Did he have problems at his prior school situation for pre-k or kindergarten, nursery school, etc?

3.  What is the nature of the problems, i.e. is it that he's misbehaving, not feeling like the other kids like him or is it that he's having a hard time learning the things he's being presented at his age?

Now that you've thought about these basic questions we need to move it up to another level.  If he's misbehaving you need to try to find out why.  Is it because of peer pressure?  Is he misbehaving because he's trying to draw attention away from the fact that he may not understand an assigned task?  Is he just having a hard time adjusting to school emotionally?  Are there possibly some learning disabilities?

If you believe that he is capable of learning without struggling and the problems are more behavioral then often times those are corrected with setting goals that include rewards for good behaviors and restrictions for bad behaviors.   I  have a 5-year-old bipolar child who understands that when she has a good day at school that she gets a sticker on the sticker chart at home and for every week that she goes 5 days without my getting a phone call or note from the teacher about a behavior problem then she gets to go into the grab bag and get a prize.  For each day I receive a note or phone call she loses TV privileges, and if I get 2 negative communications from the teacher in a week then she also loses privileges to go to the art room at home (her favorite place).   For the grab bag it's a dark heavy duffel bag that I put things in that I pick up at the dollar store, and includes everything from gum to neat pencils to puzzles to games.   She isn't allowed to see what is in the bag, just has to reach in and grab something for her reward. 

If you see that your child is struggling to learn then you need to write the school a letter requesting that an IEP evaluation be done.  This stands for Individualized Educational Plan.  By federal law they will then have to do some screening tests on your child to check for learning disabilities when you request this and will have to assist with whatever needs he may have.  Also if there are known emotional problems then  he would also qualify for an IEP.  

I hope that you're sitting down with your child and teacher and discussing what the problems are. Open communication is the best thing and remember to stay objective.  We always want to think I kids can do no wrong and are angels at school all day.  Also if you don't feel comfortable with the child's teacher then talk to the teacher about that and if you don't feel the issue is being resolved then set up a meeting with the principal.

As far as homeschooling goes, realize that this is a very major step and that you will be required to provide 6 hours of education a day.  If you can do this and work then go for it.  I know a lot of people that home school but most of the ones I know that do this only work part-time or not at all.  

Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions about anything I've said and I'll try to help you in any way that I can.   I've dealt with the educational system for several years as a foster parent of special needs kids so I know pretty well what the rules and laws say in the states. 

They also will accept new words, which I've never done.  As far as the BOS, it's firewood in my eyes, but I guess it helps the newer MTs find a standard.

I also used to capitilize every drug while on-site and no one seemed to mind.  It actually in my eyes made the drugs stand out from the rest of the report.  Most physicians give a little, it is the QA process that doesn't like it; it gives them something to do.

If QA was consistent, then fine but most are not.  QA will admit that they are learning just like the MT, so to me, they are basically another set of ears.  Often, they don't know either, so it gets sent to the client with a blank or "made up word."  It is ultimately the dictator who is responsible and should catch the errors.

I'm tired and I just did the dumbeest thing and have to share it -   I did a global search and replace to turn ER into emergency room and CAT into computed tomography  - there are just tons of words with "er" in the middle and who would think about "cat" being in the middle of the word medications among others!

can anyone tell me if it is worth purchasing word expanding software, or does the auto correct option in word do the same thing?

I'm using ExText (Word based?), ran spell check, and accidentally clicked on 'Add' (adding a misspelled word) when I meant to click on 'Change' (to change it to the correctly spelled word).  I know, I know, I shouldn't be using the mouse, I should be using the Keystrokes anyway, right?.  LOL 

But now that I have a misspelled word in spell check, how do I remove it?  Does anyone know?  TIA!

I occasionaly find that I forget to put a period at the end of a sentence and can't figure out why word will check for everything under the sun but that?....or is there a way to do it that I am not aware of?

Hi All,

I will be starting a new job soon, and it looks like I will be typing in my own computer's Word program.  I managed to download my old Expander entries from my old job into Notepad, so I now have a list of my expansions.  I am wondering if anyone has any good tips on doing something  with the Notepad entries to get them into AutoCorrect in Word, or do I have to just go through the whole list manually and make new entries into Word AutoCorrect to use for my new expander?

I am also open to any and all suggestions to the Word spellchecker since it does not know LOTS of medical terms and drugs.  Just start entering them manually or buy a medical spellchecker that interphases with Word? I saw some listed when I Googled it, but they seem awful expensive.  100$ and more.  Any suggestions?

THanks!

In my old QA days, I found too many errors that were obviously the cause of word Expander errors, things not caught by spellcheck, etc.  I doubt that it really slows you down that much.  I have been doing it that way for so long, it is just second nature and quick to go up and fix something real fast, than wait until the end and hope that spellcheck catches it.

Good luck!

Unfortunately, some proprietary platforms seem to run two instances of MSword (as best as I can tell) which prevents you from saving your normal dot.  My post was addressed specifically to those who are encountering that problem.  An Autoclose/AutoExit macro should save the normal dot for you, and may be the ONLY way you can save it, even if you have selected the prompt for normal save on your options toolbar.

In any case, autoclose and/or autoexit macro that saves your normal dot will ensure that most, if not all of your recent autocorrect/autotext/macros present in your normal dot are saved, should you have an unexpected power failure or crash, or if you are using a template that is provided to you by an employer -- a template which may have been programmed in such a way as to prevent your normal dot from being when you exit word.

In any case, whether or not the "prompt to save normal template" is selected really shouldn't affect whether or not the normal is saved, the normal should automatically be saved as you exit MsWord.   The fact that normal.dot doesn't always save is, or worse vanishes entirely, is just one of these weird idiosyncracies which sometimes makes word (which really is a pretty wonderful program) so frustrating to use. (Hint, back up your normal.dot -- frequently!)

In my experience, the only time that a template reliably does not save is if you are writing macros (as opposed to recording macros) and if you fail to manually save your changes inside your Editor before exiting word.  

I have had the experience more than once of opening word to find that my newly programmed template is gone -- sometimes representing many hours of work  -- and that is where "the prompt to save" toolbar option really can be useful.

In short, I am fully aware of the "prompt to save normal" in the options toolbar (and mine is selected to prompt) and if I had thought this was best solution for the professional medical transcriptionist, I would not have bothered posting this information in the first place. 

So to make a long post short:  The best solution to make absolutely sure your normal dot is saved is to use autoclose and/or autoexit macros that instruct word to save your normal template, and don't just depend on the "save normal prompt" on your toolbar.  Regard it as an extra precaution, which is what it really is, don't depend on it, it can get unselected, and poof your normal.dot is gone!

For someone who just writes an occasional letter or term paper on with MSword the occasional loss of the normal.dot, albeit aggravating, probably isn't all that serious, but for the MT who depends on her paycheck to support her family, losing her normal dot and its 37,954 autocorrect entries is a real economic hardship.  She just might appreciate knowing that there is something she can do to prevent this from happening, even though you happen to think it is "complicated."

Isn't this forum here to provide fellow MTs with useful information they can use or not as they please?  Medical transcription after all, isn't a game or a hobby, it is real grown-up work, and it is prudent to take the time do real grown up things to maintain the tools of the trade.

Unlike some posts I have seen, particularly on the word-help forum that just make me want to scream, I will not post useless or wrong information -- even if it is "complicated" -- after all it's just information.  Writing autoclose/autoexit macros to save your normal dot are not pointless or useless exercises; and in any case you can disregard my posts, or not, as you please.  

I have been an MT for over 10 years.  I also am getting burnt out, tired of my job, day in day.  However, I do love transcription and make excellent money at it, have grossed over $50,000 per year the last 5 years.  I decided to go back to nursing school and am very happy with my choice.  However, over these 10 years of transcription I have had my ups and downs.  My biggest issue with being at home working is lack of socialization, being home day in and day out with just the kids and the animals really gets to a person, sure hubby is home at night and thinks working from home is the easy life, thus the return to school and boy has my overall enjoyment of life changed once I realized I was the problem, not everyone else and I needed to find myself again.

Anyway, my biggest advice to you three-fold:

1.  Get into counseling for yourself, find out who you are and what your needs are, whether or not you think you need to, I sense you are feeling overwhelmed and need someone other than your family to talk to that can be nonjudgmental to your feelings and needs.

2.  If you're only making $100 after you pay preschool you can either keep doing it and be miserable, or quit because you are lucky enough to have a husband who can support the family without your income. (See how fast his mind changes just by losing the income you do have as to whether your job means anything.)  Or look for a different company or office that you like more and are more productive if you really want to do transcription (lots of fish in the sea as far as companies).

3.  Find a local "mom's" group where you can get out and socialize.  MOPS (mother's of preschoolers) is an excellent one that is nationwide, they have a website.  Also Mom2Mom is in a lot of areas.  They provide a once a week time for moms with kids the same age to get together, socialize, (some offer spirtual guidance some don't) and each week a different mom takes a turn watching everyone else's children at the facility that hosts it so the other moms can talk about things they have in common.  Every stay-at-home and work-from-home mom needs to socialize with adults, without their kids, or they will have a nervous breakdown eventually no matter how much they love their kids.

Sorry so long but it does get better but you have to take the first step at making yourself happy.

Go to SSA.gov and research the payee options.  You may have to use the search engine, but your answer to this particular issue should be there.

I am disabled and while my kids were minors, I had to fill out a form each year on how I, as the payee spent each and every penny of the money they received.  I don't see how his mother can justify how she spent his money for things that you normally would pay.

That said, he is getting Social Security right?  Is your son receiving a dependent check?  Under law, if a parent is disabled and has minor children, each and every one of those children also receive a check until they turn 18 or graduate from high school, which ever comes first.

The check is a percentage of your husbands, so for 800.00, your son should receive at least 350.00.  If you have not been getting this, they would pro-rate it back to when your husbands disability started and that in itself, could solve a lot of your financial problems.  You can also find this out on their website,  HTH

Some of the stuff I saw from subcontractors during testing made my jaw drop to the level of my fanny in utter disbelief!  We are talking about the use of grammar equivalent to what a sixth grader knows.  It is unbelievable  - that and things they don't even take the time to research. 

My personal favorites?  

"skin graph" 

"dorsalis peterson pulses"  

How about accuracy and grammar? Medicatios, etc. Sometimes the dictator will not even dictate if the report remains the same from last visit - What happens in this case??  

Thanks  

The use of commas depends on whether the clause is restrictive or nonrestrictive.  If it is nonrestrictive - that is, it may be informative but not necessary to the meaning of the sentence, then it is set off by commas.  On the other hand, if the clause is restrictive - that is, its use is imperative to the meaning of the sentence, then no commas are used.

Example:  That is the dog which ran off with my sandwich.   Restrictive because "which ran off with my sandwich" is necessary to the meaning of the sentence.

On the other hand:  That dog, which is wearing a yellow collar, ran off with my sandwich.  "Which is wearing a yellow collar" is not necessary to the meaning of the sentence; thus it is nonrestrictive and requires commas.

This subject can confuse a lot of people, because all they remember is setting the clauses off by commas and forget the restrictive and nonrestrictive rules.

English is a growing, changing language, and sometimes what were rules 50 years ago are no longer the rules for today.  We may argue against that - that grammar is grammar and should remain - but if that were the case we would all still be writing like Shakespeare or the early constitutionalists.  Look at their writings and decide if you would like to still have to write like that. 

Fewer commas is the trend for today, and I guess we will have to embrace the fact that time doesn't stand still for any of us, nor does the English language.