dysTalk Reading On The Computer - General Advice Other - Forum - dysTalk

Has anyone found any good text enlargers/ text-to-audio converters for dyslexics? Ive been using Claro Read since I bought a copy at last year's BETT Education Fair and it's alrite but was wondering whether anyone had any joy with others?

B

19/10/2008 10:51:57
Barbara

I have recently been on a course showing the different types of assistive software available for dyslexics. A dyslexia consultant, Sharon Goldie, demonstrated a product called Read and Write Standard which looks impressive. She also demonstrated mind mapping software called Inspiration, speech recognition software called Dragon and an on-screen vocabulary toolbox called Wordbar. For more information you could look at www.dyslexic.com and look for Sharon's corner.

19/10/2008 12:44:47
Michelle

Thanks very much for those suggestions, Michelle. I have had a good rummage around on dyslexic.com.

Today I was sent an email from Dolphin about something called EasyTutor and the Dolphin pen. I don't suppose you (or anyone else) has had experience with that?

Have a good week,

B

20/10/2008 01:00:58
Barbara

My sons using Dragon 9, which is impressive. Now they've bought out dragon 10, which is to be included on the ''claro read std'' (Feb). Does your version have a homophone check using pictures? I thought this good but sadly not on Learning access suite sold through BDA

We thought Claroread quite good but is there anything that can read power points or words which are pictures on websites?

It would be helpful to have some independant advice on differences between gold talk & write and claro/dragon. Sharon Goldie is linked to distributors.

21/01/2009 09:51:42
sarah myf

Both Kurzweil and Read Write and Gold are text to speech program, which also have other enhanced capabilties. They both have optical character recognition as a function of the program -- so they are able to read words on pictures. Just make sure you purchase the versions that have the scanning capabilities.

Dragon is a speech to text software that works quite well for some. It may have difficulty recognizing an imature voice -- as we initially had some problems with it recognizing younger children.

I also like Inspriation/Kidspiration to help map out ideas for the creation of outlines and written output.

31/01/2009 23:02:33
Darla Hatton

The CALL Centre at the University of Edinburgh has developed text to speech software (with a Scottish voice) which is free to schools and parents in Scotland, and possibly elsewhere.

It's called 'WordTalk' which does exactly what it says: reads aloud everything in any MS Word document, including alternative spelling suggestions. It is incredibly easy to use - more accessible than Wordbar in my opinion (and it's free!)

Read and Write Gold is more sophisticated and used widely in high schools in Scotland.

All Scottish schools have licences for Kidspiration and Inspiration - wonderful resources for organisation and planning.

22/04/2010 19:31:49
Hilery (Member)