DWYER'S SIMPLIFIED THEORY of 2016: Machine Shorthand Course - SOUND Writing (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781540771711)

Roberta Lee Dwyer: My Court Reporting journey began in the late 1960s as a secretary for a huge company, but also as a person going to a Court Reporting school which offered night classes. When my funds ran out, my learning continued on my own with speed tapes and practicing nightly alone at home until reaching a desired 225 wpm Q&A. Unfortunately, my Freelance Court Reporting career ended in the early 1980s due to "ringing in the ears" (tinnitus). Then as a Legal Secretary for a large prestigious law firm, I had the privilege to work for an attorney dealing with Native American Indians; whereby he actually presented the case of "gaming" on Indian Reservations before the Supreme Court, and he won. While working at the law firm, one of the secretaries asked me to please teach her how to write machine shorthand, as it was her desire to become a Court Reporter. I began tutoring her in my home, which meant writing lessons for each visit. She learned so fast and so easily that I began in earnest to think about having my own school. Thus, with the advice and encouragement from two attorneys, I decided to create a "night-time only" Court Reporting school. There was no such course available at that time. In 1988, I wrote a 197-page teaching manual with 36 Lessons, and in 1999, a 173-page teaching manual with Lessons 36 to 70 was printed entitled "DWYER'S SIMPLFIED Briefs and Phrases Book, a Machine Shorthand Course for Court Reporting, Sound-Writing, Computer-Compatible." These manuals were used at the school and were never published. The school remained for eight years in Arizona until three other large daytime schools in the area copied my night-time only system which ended my small school's existence. My Court Reporting days were over. In June 2015, it was out of curiosity that I purchased a book on Amazon entitled "Stenotypy - Primary Source Edition" written in 1914 by Ward Stone Ireland, the inventor of the machine and keyboard for writing "machine shorthand." I was in awe of the genius of this gentleman. It was then that I was compelled to write teaching lessons using some of his perfect, long forgotten keystrokes and also designing some of my own new outlines. Because my "ringing in the ears" has never left me, I use "Closed-Captioning" for television viewing. As always, I am well aware when there are fingering errors that appear on the screen. So writing machine shorthand is a part of me. It truly is a fascinating skill and a beloved profession.**