Dyslexia Friendly Libraries
By Dyslexic.com,Publication Date: March 2005
Article discusses technological tools available to assist people with dyslexia when using the library. Speech recognition technology can allow people to transcribe notes, references, and data onto a computer without having to write or type. Products include Dragon NaturallySpeaking Preferred, which is a continuous speech recognition program for Windows, and IBM’s ViaVoice Pro, which is speech recognition software available for both Windows computers and Macintosh machines. Text-to-speech and scanning tools can help people with reading or visual disabilities to access text, as the application read text on the computer screen out loud. The can help people with dyslexia or visual disabilities to read any electronic catalogues, directories, or text. Examples include TextHelp! Read & Write Gold and Version 7, as well as Kurzweil 3000, which combines text-to-speech with optical character recognition capabilities. The Quicktionary Reading Pen II provides scan and read functions in a portable package, so it is valuable for people who are on the go. The device cannot read a whole page of text at once, but will scan a word or sentence and read it back to the user. Concept mapping software such as Mindgenius, Inspiration, and MindManager are used to take and organize notes and information, as well as to plan essays and projects. Information can be displayed visually and converted to outline or paragraph form.
Assistive Products Discussed: KURZWEIL 3000 FOR MACINTOSH
DRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING
QUICKTIONARY II
VIAVOICE PRO USB EDITION
INSPIRATION
KURZWEIL 3000 FOR WINDOWS
TEXTHELP! READ & WRITE
READ & WRITE GOLD, READ & WRITE GOLD FOR MAC, & READ & WRITE GOLD MOBILE
Published by: Iansyst Technology Services, Ltd. (Website:http://www.iansyst.co.uk)
Link to text: http://www.dyslexic.com/database/articles/print/library.html
