sentences: This paper describes an efficient system for entering data into a pen-enabled computer, particularly handheld devices. While keyboard input typically is faster than handwriting input, this is not true for the small PDA interfaces. For this reason, we designed and developed a prototype that uses chatroom abbreviations and shorthand symbols to increase the speed of data entry for these devices. This system was also developed as a prototype system that would enable persons with speech impairments to rapidly convert hand-drawn symbols on a pen-enabled device into speech output. We created a library of chatroom abbreviations and shorthand symbols, and developed a k-nn classification system to recognize the symbols. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the system in terms of speed and accuracy.