Printed text into audio: quickly and easily

Such convenient access to the printed word can be life changing for people with vision or reading-related disabilities, blindness, or low vision.

The portable Intel Reader takes pictures of printed material. It then converts it to digital form and allows magnification and/or audio playback. Conversion is fast, and the Intel Reader can hold large amounts of text.

With the Intel Reader, you have convenient and flexible access to a variety of printed content. Can increase freedom, enjoyment, and confidence, and it can help accomplish more at school or work.

Capturing and playing back text with the Intel Reader is as easy as point, shoot, listen. You just hold it over the printed text, push the Capture button to take a picture of the page, and the Reader will play it back to you on the spot. (You can listen to it through the earphones if you want more privacy.)

You can also store content on your Intel Reader and listen to it when it’s most convenient for you. If you want to capture a chapter, an article, or a book, the Intel® Portable Capture Station makes it easier to shoot large amounts of text. The Intel Reader also plays most audio content including MP3, DAISY* digital talking books, and even text that you transfer from a computer.

• Listen to Text, Word, HTML, PDF and RTF documents (plus in Leopard: DOCX and ODT documents)
• Create personal and educational podcasts by converting text to audio files
• Convert text to iTunes tracks with the encoding of your choice: AAC, MP3, WAV, AIFF, Apple Lossless
• Create your own bookmarkable audiobooks by exporting to iTunes tracks
• Speak selected text in any application using the GhostReader tool palette or a keyboard shortcut
• Simply point your cursor at text in Safari, Pages 2008, TextEdit, or Mail and listen to the paragraph below the cursor instead of reading
• Use the included pronunciation editor to modify the way a word is pronounced or to add new abbreviations
• Includes high quality voices in a language of choice
• Universal Binary (PPC and Intel) requiring Mac OS X Tiger 10.4 or later (fully Leopard compatible)
• Localized in English, French, Italian and German
• Software can be downloaded from www.convenienceware.com and costs $39.95 for single user, $79.95 for 5 Macs.

WordQ is a writing tool that lets you write by speaking. It suggests words for you and provides spoken feedback as you go. The transparent state-of-the-art word prediction program eliminates the need for additional windows on the screen. WordQ includes fully integrated text-to-speech feedback and flexible spelling options. It also adapts to specific writing styles and improves its performance as its used.  This is a good option for students who need audio proofing options as they write, and/or if they are not good spellers. Word Q with Speak Q are Windows compatible only.  The Word Q Mac version is set to be release very soon, however, they will never have the Speak Q option.  The cost for the Word Q is $199, and Speak Q is $99, the two programs together are then $298 and can be purchased through www.wordq.com.

TEXT-to-SPEECH:  Kurzweil 3000 is a scanning, reading and writing software solution for people with learning disabilities or reading difficulties such as dyslexia, attention deficit disorder (ADD) and other literacy difficulties, and it can be of assistance for persons with low vision. Documents can be scanned in color or black and white or opened from another application and saved into Kurzweil 3000 proprietary format. Spoken documents can also be saved as audio files. Tests can be scanned & saved to accommodate students. Kurzweil can read web sites also.   Kurzweil can be purchased as a single user starting at $1095 or can purchase multi packs at a discounted rate.  See website for details http://www.kurzweiledu.com.  Kurzweil is compatible with both Windows and Mac.

SPEECH to TEXT: Use your voice to dictate, edit and control applications such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook Express, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and AOL. Surf the Web by voice or dictate and edit in Microsoft Word and Excel, Corel WordPerfect, and most other Windows-based applications. Create voice commands to quickly insert blocks of texts or images — such as your name, title, and signature. Dictate into a handheld device when you’re away from your PC, or use a Bluetooth microphone for the same great dictation results without the wires. Dragon NaturallySpeaking installs quickly and requires no special script reading. It has on-screen help and tutorials.  This program is for Windows only.  The cost is $199 and can be purchased through www.nuance.com .

If you think that iPods are used just for listening to music, you obviously haven’t been keeping up with the latest technology. The Apple-developed music player now features all kinds of accessories to help you study better, and now other companies are in a rush to get their designs in sync with the iPod. Pre-teens, college kids and even adults are taking advantage of the educational benefits an iPod affords them. From downloadable podcasts to just-for-iPod study guides and applications, learning on the go has never been easier.  For 101 Ways to use an iPod Touch in Education visit http://oedb.org/library/beginning-online-learning/100-ways-to-use-your-ipod-to-learn-and-study-better. 8GB iPod Touches run approximate $199, and can be purchased from various vendors.

Proloquo2Go Communication Software for iPod Touch:

Proloquo2Go provides a full-featured augmentative and alternative communication solution for people who have difficulty speaking. It provides natural sounding text-to-speech voices, up-to-date symbols, powerful automatic conjugations, a default vocabulary of over 7000 items, full expandability and extreme ease of use.

Utilizing the latest in electronic-ink display technology, Kindle provides a crisp black-and-white 6″ screen with the same appearance and readability of printed paper. Sharp and natural with no glare or backlight. Read-to-Me: With the experimental Text-to-Speech feature, Kindle can read newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books out loud to you, unless the book’s rights holder made the feature unavailable

Touch Screen monitors provide unique simplicity, so even the disabled would be skilled enough to operate a computer. Furthermore, the barriers of learning/working are broken when a disabled person has equal access to his/her peers.

Those who cannot understand the concept of using a keyboard or mouse (left/right clicking, dragging) have a much easier time touching the screen. Young and autistic children can now focus on learning applications as opposed to learning how to use computer hardware.

re K–5 Software for Building Reading, Writing and Math Skills

Classroom Suite 4 is a unique intervention tool that combines direct instruction with a flexible tool environment to help students in grades Pre K through 5 achieve mastery in reading, writing and math.

Classroom Suite 4 provides students with explicit instruction, constructive practice and embedded assessments to allow teachers to gauge progress and individualize instruction for their students.

Classroom Suite 4 includes research-based activity templates that can be used out-of-the-box, or easily customized to meet targeted needs. Lessons can even be sequenced into “intelligent” units to align with district or core curriculum.

Classroom Suite 4 features:

• Reading instruction aligned with national standards
• Math instruction targeting number sense and automaticity
• Writing templates across many genres
• Creativity tools for whole class instruction and student presentations
• Early Learning activities for emergent learners

This software can be purchased at www.intellitools.com and the cost starts at $335.00

NEWS FLASH!!!  You can download a program called MyScript for $29.95 from LiveScribe  that will take the LiveScribe SmartPen ink to text!!!