One of the screen readers that seems to work very well for those with
reading disorders is from Premier Assistive Software. Available at
www.readingmadeeasy.com <http://www.readingmadeeasy.com/> 

The developer/owner has presented at LDA conferences the last two or three
years.   

 

Nancie Payne

 

  _____  

From: learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of
RKenyon721 at aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 10:04 AM
To: learningdisabilities at nifl.gov
Subject: [LearningDisabilities 1930] Screen Readers

 

Hi,

 

As a follow up to Glenn's interesting discussion, I noticed that the
Technology Discussion List (Moderator - Maryann Fedele) also picked up on
his topic after a post by David Rosen.

 

Here is a pertinent response that was just posted from the Technology List.

 

 

HI all,

It may be called a "text reader," but for computers, is often called a
"screen reader." They all have their good points and not so great points,
but the premise of having things read to assist with learning is one that is
commonly used with kids in special education programs. There are a number of
reading programs that highlight the words as the program reads the text as
well.

Some vendors text readers include:
Don Johnston, Inc. http://www.donjohnston.com/
Intellitools: http://www.intellitools.com

These are, of course, primarily designed for school-aged children, but look
closely for the tools that may be able to do what you want for adults. 
Write:Outloud and  Read: OutLoud are likely the programs that make the most
sense and are very versatile - they operate within or like a word 
processor. I know a lot of people who use them who have learning 
disabilities. They are also electronically based.

I do know there are text readers that can read printed text, but I can't, 
for the life of me, remember the name of the one I have seen or find one 
quickly while writing this. They do exist - look in tools for people who 
are blind and visually impaired.

There are many different screen readers for computers while surfing the web
and doing email.  Some of the more common are
JAWS: 
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws.asp  (expensive)

One that I downloaded to use for a demonstration was free and very easy to
use is:
http://www.screenreader.net/

As for the understandability of the more formal language often used in 
pamphlets and books, I would imagine it depends on the target audience. I
believe there are many people who are very comfortable with formal 
language, but cannot read as well as those who will need the less formal 
approach. But being able to hear information - even if the language still 
needs to be decoded - is better than not being able to access the
information at all!

If you have access to a search engine that can scour education journals, I 
would recommend a lit search for use of text readers, text-to-speech, and 
so on in journals for special education. This is a huge area for the folks 
in assistive technology and augmentative communication. I'm sure there are
articles that can lay the groundwork or be generalized for further studies 
with people who do not have "disabilities."

Take care,
Joan
-----------------------------
Joan E Guthrie Medlen, R.D., L.D.
Clinical Advisor, Health Literacy & Communications
Special Olympics Healthy Athletes
joan at DownSyndromeNutrition.com 

 

 

 

Based on the above, I would be interested in knowing how many of you use
screen readers with adult education and literacy students that have a
learning disability.  If so, please share with us.......

 

Thanks,

 

Rochelle

 

 

 

Rochelle Kenyon
Moderator, NIFL/LINCS Learning Disabilities Discussion List
Center for Literacy Studies at the University of Tennessee
RKenyon721 at aol.com 
 
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