Assistive Technologies for Reading

1. Assistive Technologies for Reading By Tracey Young

2. Who can use assistive technology? • A child who is entitled to special education, or who qualifies as disabled under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is also entitled to assistive technology as part of the free and appropriate special education plan.

3. What is Assistive Technology? • Assistive technology device means any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of a child with a disability.

4. Examples of Assistive Technology

5. Alternate Book Formats • - Large Text Books • - Braille • - Audio Books • - Computer Books • - Color Overlays • - E-Text • (e-books on notebook computers such as Kindle or Nook reader • - Symbolized Text - Supplements printed text with picture • symbols for beginning readers • Writing With Symbols (Mayer Johnson) • Clicker 4 (Crick Software) • PixWriter (Slater Software) • IntelliTalk 3 (IntelliTools

6. Reading Aids • Closed-circuit television • Magnification • Braille Readers • Text to Speech Programs • I-Pad Apps • Audio Aids • Reading Pens • Books on Disk • Many more . . . .

7. Benefits of Reading Aids • Productivity • Independence • Achievement • Motivation

8. Where can I find resources for Assistive Reading Devices? • A simple online search provides a wealth of information related to Assistive Reading. • The next few slides highlight a few of the resources available and how to find them.

9. Step 1: Choose a search engine • For this example, I am choosing to use www.google.com but you can use any search engine of your choice.

10. Step 2: Conduct a search • Type terms that will generate results into the search box. This is the search box. Type directly into this area. Key term to search: Assistive Reading Devices, Online help for struggling readers, Reading Devices in Education, Free assistive reading programs, How do I help a readers who needs a little extra help? WHAT OTHER TERMS DO YOU THINK WOULD GENERATE RESULTS?

11. Step 3: Get results from an online search • Explore the results. “Free online Assistive” Reading”Devices”

12. Step 4: Continue to search and compare • More searching finds infinite results. “Free online Assistive Reading Devices”

13. Step 5: Chose a reading device to meet the needs of your students.

14. HELP Read – (My choice) • HELP Read is FREE software that reads along with you while you do the reading. Whether you’re younger or older, new to reading or have your own library, HELP Read should be able to help you read more and understand more of what you read. • http://www.ldpride.net/helpread.htm

15. HELP Read (screen 1)

16. HELP Read (screen 2)

17. HELP Read (screen 3)

18. HELP Read (screen 4)

19. HELP Read (screen 5)

20. HELP Read (screen 6)

21. HELP Read (screen 7)

22. HELP Read Help Read is a FREE text reader that reads web pages and other text files out loud.

23. HELP Read – What is it? • HELPReadis a voice output screen reader program designed for use by individuals with learning disabilities, dyslexia, and low vision. • This screen reader program is also designed for those first learning to read, including adults and younger learners. • The goal is to make reading from a computer easier and less of a strain. • This program is a clipboard reader, meaning that the user or a teacher must highlight and copy text from a word processing file, text file, or web page onto a clipboard before it can be read. • Users can also change the font size and style in highlighted text.

24. More Result from Online Searches . . .

25. Tools for Assistive Reading Strategies? • Text enlargement technology • Allows for controlled enlargement of text to magnification level needed • Computer-based software applications • ZoomText • http://www.compuaccess.com/zoomtext.htm

26. Screen Readers • Screen Readers • Will read anything on the computer screen. • JAWS (Freedom Scientific) • http://www.freedomscientific.com/products/fs/jaws-product-page.asp

27. Kurzweil 3000 • Kurzweil 3000 Color Scan/Read System is an innovative Pentium PC-based reading tool that helps people with learning and reading disabilities improve speed and comprehension. • http://www.kurzweiledu.com/default.html

28. Text Readers A variety of programs that can be used to read text on the computer display. They convert text to speech via speech synthesizer software. Some can be downloaded from the Internet ReadPlease (www.readplease.com) E-Text Reader (www.readingmadeez.com) NaturalReader (http://www.naturalreaders.com/)

29. Picture Me Reading! • “Picture Me Reading!” is a visual-conceptual method of teaching the ABCs and the 220 high frequency sight words that are often known as “the Dolch Sight Words • A visual-conceptual approach for beginning/struggling readers to learn the Dolch sight words. Children like to play. It takes two to play checkers. http://picturemereading.com/

30. Assistance for finding Reading Devices • Media Specialist • Technology Specialist • Co-Workers • Administrators • Training Sessions • Special Education teachers

31. What sources do you use in the classroom to assist readers? Participants will have the opportunity to share ideas in an informal roundtable forum.