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Short video addressing the use of visual supports at home

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Dictate in several languages without touching the keyboard. Use the "Play" button to listen to what has been typed. Save, email, or tweet

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Dictate in several languages without touching the keyboard. Use the "Play" button to listen to what has been typed. Save, email, or tweet

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Type with your voice. Dictation turns your Google Chrome into a speech recognition app.

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Read and Write-comprehensive toolbar with features such as read, voice recognition, word predict, free to teachers who download extension and register at  https://www.texthelp.com/en-us/products/read-write/free-for-teachers/

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Read and Write-comprehensive toolbar with features such as read, voice recognition, word predict, free to teachers who download extension and register at  https://www.texthelp.com/en-us/products/read-write/free-for-teachers/

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Boost reading and writing confidence across all types of content and devices, in class, at work, and at home.

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Visor-screen dimmer and reading aid, may help with fluency, eye-strain, concentration and comprehension while reading

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Visor-screen dimmer and reading aid, may help with fluency, eye-strain, concentration and comprehension while reading

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Screen dimmer and reading aid, may help with fluency, eye-strain, concentration and comprehension whilst reading.

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Readline-allows user to control speed of words presented on the web. Use Options to control the features

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Readline-allows user to control speed of words presented on the web. Use Options to control the features

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Select and Speak-allows user to listen to selected/highlighted text

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Select and Speak-allows user to listen to selected/highlighted text

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Select and Speak uses iSpeech's human-quality text-to-speech (TTS) to read any selected text in the browser. It includes many...

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Manage all of your Google Extensions with Extensity

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Manage all of your Google Extensions with Extensity

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Quickly enable/disable Google Chrome extensions

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Crash Course is one of the best ways to educate yourself, your classmates, and your family on YouTube!

From courses like Astronomy to US History and Anatomy & Physiology it's got you covered with an awesome variety of AP high school curriculum topics. With various witty hosts at your service, you won't even notice you're getting smarter.

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Crash Course is one of the best ways to educate yourself, your classmates, and your family on YouTube!

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Free Text to Speech Reader

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Dyslexia and other reading-based learning disabilities are most common among students. NaturalReader text-to-speech makes learning more accessible by assisting with any reading, taking tests and promoting independence.

Students can have any text they need to read, read aloud to them so they can read along. Having the text provided both visually and auditory, allows the student to focus less on the act of reading, and more on the comprehension of the content. Other features like dyslexia font, flexible reading speeds, and highlighted text also ease the task of finishing readings.

For most students, learning does not stop when school ends. NaturalReader EDU enables students to be more independent and assists with learning at home. Whether they're doing homework, reading at home, or just surfing the web, our Chrome Extension and Mobile Application are always available.

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NaturalReader: Free Text to Speech for Online, Mobile App, Commercial license and Education with AI voices.

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9:00 AM - 5:00 PM CT

On-demand sessions available until December 1, 2021

Spotlight on Dyslexia is perfect for any K-12 educator or administrator who wants to learn more about dyslexia, the science of reading, and building a culture of literacy. Free premium access is available through BEESS for a very limited time. Register today using the discount code provided to be sure you don't miss your chance!

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Learning Ally | Florida School Grants - Department of Education Partner

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9:00 AM - 5:00 PM CT On-demand sessions available until December 1, 2021 Spotlight on Dyslexia is perfect for any K-12 educator or administrator who wants to learn more about dyslexia, the science of reading, and building a culture of literacy. Free premium access is available through BEESS for a very limited time.

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Learn online or on the go...word of the day, quizzes, core vocab. Also an iPad app that offers voice search, audio pronunciations, word of the day, and more.

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Find Definitions & Meanings of Words | Britannica Dictionary

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Clear and simple definitions in American English from Britannica's language experts. More usage examples than any other dictionary.

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Magnifier works like a digital magnifying glass, using the camera on your iPhone or iPad to increase the size of anything you point it at - from a prescription bottle to a candlelit menu. For those who are blind or have low vision and want more information about their physical surroundings, Detection Mode in Magnifier combines input from the camera, LiDAR Scanner, and on-device machine learning to offer intelligent tools like People Detection, Door Detection, Image Descriptions, Text Detection, and Point and Speak.

If you're standing in line, you can use People Detection to determine a person's proximity to you. Door Detection can help you navigate by identifying doors, text, and the presence of symbols - such as a restroom symbol, a no smoking symbol, or an accessible-entrance symbol - within a few feet of you. Image Descriptions and Text Detection let you hear more about people, objects, landscapes, and text in your camera's field of view. And Point and Speak makes it easier to interact with physical objects that have text, like household appliances, keypads, or labels on files. As you point and move your finger over or under different buttons or elements, your iPhone or iPad reads the text out loud, so you can perform everyday activities and tasks with more ease and independence.

Put moments into words.

Match your levels to your location.

Look down for a heads‑up.

Pinch.
Pinch.
Chat.

AssistiveTouch for Apple Watch lets people with upper-body limb differences use their Apple Watch without ever having to touch the display or controls. Using built-in motion sensors and on-device learning, Apple Watch detects subtle differences in muscle movements and tendon activity, letting you control the display through hand gestures like a pinch or a clench. Answer incoming calls, control an onscreen motion pointer, and access Notification Center, Control Center, and more. You can also use AssistiveTouch for Apple Watch to run shortcuts with Siri to complete tasks or modify VoiceOver and Switch Control settings on your iPhone.

AssistiveTouch for iOS and iPadOS helps you adapt standard gestures - like pinch, rotate, or swipe - to make them more comfortable for you. You can make other actions, like changing volume, accessible from the AssistiveTouch menu.

Cue
magic
here.

Let your voice call the shots.

Make your own calm.

This feature speaks for itself.

Assistive Access makes it easy for people with cognitive disabilities to tailor iPhone and iPad to reduce cognitive load and suit their specific needs. Designed with feedback from individuals with cognitive disabilities and their trusted supporters, this feature helps people focus on the activities they enjoy most and that are foundational to iPhone and iPad - connecting with friends and family, taking and sharing photos, and listening to music.

Assistive Access offers a distinctive interface with high-contrast buttons and large text labels, as well as tools to help individuals and trusted supporters focus the experience in specific apps - Phone and FaceTime (which have been combined into a single Calls app), Messages, Camera, Photos, and Music. You can also choose a more visual, grid-based layout for your Home Screen and apps, or a row-based layout if you prefer text.

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Apple products and services have built-in accessibility features to help you connect, create, and do what you love in the ways that work best for you.

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For those who have trouble reading, audiobooks are a powerful tool that supports improved comprehension, boosts confidence and leads to better grades.

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Audiobooks for Dyslexia & Learning Disabilities | Learning Ally

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Learning Ally solutions help struggling readers through audiobooks & support services for educators, parents, and students dealing with dyslexia. Reading accommodations

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Microsoft believes accessibility and inclusion are essential to delivering on our mission to empower everyone, everywhere.

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You can make your Chromebook easier to use by turning on accessibility features that work best for your needs.

Step 1: Find accessibility features

1. At the bottom right, select the time. Or press Alt + Shift + s.

2. Select Settings .

3. At the bottom, select Advanced.

4. In the "Accessibility" section, select Manage accessibility features.
Optional: To have quick access to accessibility features, turn on Always show accessibility options in the system menu.

Step 2: Turn on a feature

Choose the accessibility features you'd like to use:

Type text with your voice

Tap and drag your finger to move objects

1. At the bottom right, select the time. Or press Alt + Shift + s.

2. Select Settings .

3. At the bottom, select Advanced.

4. In the "Accessibility" section, select Manage accessibility features.

5. Under "Mouse and touchpad," select Open mouse and touchpad device settings.

6. Turn on Enable tap dragging.

To use tap-to-select, double-tap the object and hold, then drag it to move.

Use keyboard shortcuts one key at a time

1. At the bottom right, select the time. Or press Alt + Shift + s.

2. Select Settings .

3. At the bottom, select Advanced.

4. In the "Accessibility" section, select Manage accessibility features.

5. To perform keyboard shortcuts by entering them sequentially, under "Keyboard," turn on Enable sticky keys.

To use sticky keys, press Search , Launcher , Shift, Alt, or Ctrl, whichever key starts the keyboard shortcut.

To keep a key pressed until you finish the keyboard shortcut, press the key twice.

To unpress a key, press it a third time.

Use buttons to navigate in tablet mode

You can use buttons instead of gestures to switch between apps and interact with your Chromebook in tablet mode. Learn how to change from laptop to tablet mode.

1. At the bottom right, select the time. Or press Alt + Shift + s.

2. Select Settings .

3. At the bottom, select Advanced.

4. In the "Accessibility" section, select Manage accessibility features.

5. Under "Mouse and touchpad," turn on Show navigation buttons.

6. At the bottom, the buttons will appear.

To go back to the previous screen, on the bottom left, select Back .

To go to your Home screen, on the bottom left, select the Launcher . Or press Alt + Shift + L.

To view all your open app windows, on the bottom right, select Show windows .

Get more help

To learn more about how to use accessibility features on your Chromebook, check out the Chromebook Accessibility Video Series.

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Turn on Chromebook accessibility features

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You can make your Chromebook easier to use by turning on accessibility features that work best for your needs. At the bottom right, select the time. Or press Alt + Shift + s. Select Settings . At the bottom, select Advanced.

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The AIM Explorer is a free simulation that combines grade-leveled digital text with access features common to most text readers and other supported reading software.

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By customizing the display of information, you can reduce the effort it takes for your learners to read the information in web pages, ebooks and other digital content. Your learners can then dedicate more of their mental resources to actually understanding the content.

The good news is that many of the features that previously required the purchase and installation of specialized software are now often included as standard options on the devices many of your learners already own. This makes the process of finding a good feature match for a learner that much easier (and less costly).

Customizing the Display of Information

A good place to start exploring the many options for customizing the display of information is the web browser your learners use to access information on the Web. Most browsers now include a reading view for removing distractions and customizing the appearance of a web page:

In Apple's Safari brower the reading view is called Safari Reader. Activating Safari Reader will show you a less cluttered version of the page, without ads and site navigation that could be distracting to some readers. Safari Reader also provides some options for customizing the appearance of the page, such as changing the background and text color and resizing the text.

In Microsoft's Edge browser, the reading view is called Immersive Reader. It includes a number of options for customizing the appearance of the information along a number of literacy supports.

In Google Chrome, a number of extensions are available to adjust the display of information. One example is the Read and Write for Google extension, which has a Simplify feature with a number of display options.

E-reading apps provide even more options, including:

Text resizing: This option will only be available for some formats, such as EPUB, that allow content to reflow. Formats such as PDF have the text size set by the author.

Font selection: Choosing cleaner, sans-serif fonts can be helpful to some readers. Sans serif fonts do not have extra ornamentation at the end of their strokes, which makes them easier to read at smaller text sizes. Some e-readers also feature special fonts such as Open Dyslexic that are designed for learners with dyslexia, but research on the efficacy of these fonts is not conclusive yet.

Themes: The default setting of a white background with dark text may not provide sufficient contrast for some readers who have low vision, but it may provide too much contrast for others who have reading difficulties. Changing the theme can help, with options such as a dark background with light text for those with low vision, and a sepia (warm tone) one for those who need less contrast. Some apps allow even more options, with color pickers that allow the reader to select specific colors.

Flexible spacing: The default spacing may not be sufficient for some readers with dyslexia who experience crowding, where lines or characters that are too close to each other appear to run into each other. Adding some spacing can help. This can be line spacing, character spacing or even word spacing in some apps.

Adjustable Margins: For some readers with peripheral vision issues, it may be helpful to increase the margins so that more of the content appears near the middle where their vision is stronger.

Justification: Justified text has additional character and word spacing added so that the text falls flush with both margins. The additional space can be distracting to some readers, who may want to turn it off and read left-justified text only.

Reading guides: Some e-readers have a special focused reading mode where only a few lines of the text are visible while the rest of the screen is masked out to remove distractions.

The Center for Inclusive Software for Learning (CISL) at CAST has done extensive research into digital learning supports as part of its development of Clusive, a flexible, adaptive, and customizable digital learning environment.

Using Read Aloud

A read aloud or text-to-speech feature can help a number of readers: those who struggle with decoding, those with visual impairments, and those who speak English as a second language. When word and sentence highlighting are available, it can also help learners focus their attention while reading. In the past, text-to-speech often required the installation of a separate program. Today, many devices used in schools include text-to-speech as a standard option:

On the iPad, the Spoken Content features (found under Accessibiility in the Settings app) provide two options for using text-to-speech: your learners can select some text to have it read aloud (Speak Selection) or they can have the entire contents of the screen read to them (Speak Screen). Your learners can turn on word and sentence highlighting, select from a number of voices and adjust the speaking rate. A feature similar to Speak Selection is available on the Mac, where it is activated with a simple keyboard shortcut once it is enabled in the System Preferences.

On a Chromebook, Select-to-speak works in a similar way: learners can select some text to have it read aloud with their chosen text-to-speech voice. A number of extensions (add-ons for the Chrome web browser) are also available. For example, the Read and Write for Google extension has a trial period, but the text-to-speech feature remains free for learners even after the trial is over.

Windows devices only include a screen reader called Narrator intended for learners with visual impairments, but text-to-speech is available within individual apps. For example, your learners can use the Immersive Reader built into the Microsoft Edge web browser and a number of Office applications to hear text read aloud.

Smart speakers running the Alexa personal assistants support a number of commands for reading Kindle books with text-to-speech or Audible audiobooks with human narration. Similarly, devices running Google Home can read audiobooks purchased on the Google Play Books store. These devices will often recognize the voices built into augmentative and alternative (AAC) apps for those learners who use them to communicate.

Try it yourself

Ready to explore some of the above features that are built into your technology? Here are some things to try.

Remove distractions while you read

A lot of web pages include content that can get in the way of keeping you focused on your reading. Advertisements are a good example of this. Wouldn't it be nice to clear a web page of everything except what you need to learn? You can! Try it.

If you use Safari on your iPad or Mac: try Safari Reader

If you use a Chromebook: try free extension such as Mercury Reader

If you Microsoft Edge on Windows: try Immersive Reader

Customize how you view the information

Most of us look at a web page without thinking about our own preferences for how it might appear. Did you know you have options? Give them a try. Be sure to make note of what works well.

If you use Safari on your iPad or Mac: try the display options built into Safari Reader

If you use use a Chromebook: try a free extension such as Deluminate or Visor in your Chrome browser

If you use Microsoft Edge on Windows: try Immersive Reader

Hear the content read aloud

Did you know your device can become your own personal reader? And best of all, it is available anytime you need it and often works along with the other options you've already explored to provide a truly personalized reading experience just for you!

If you use an iPad or Mac: try the Spoken Content features.

If you use a Chromebook: try the Select-to-speak feature built into your device or install the trial for the Read and Write for Google extension.

If you use Microsoft Edge on Windows: try the Immersive Reader.

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By customizing the display of information, you can reduce the effort it takes for your learners to read the information in web pages, ebooks and other digital content. Your learners can then dedicate more of their mental resources to actually understanding the content.

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Welcome

Welcome to Tar Heel Gameplay, a collection of free, easy-to-play, and accessible games. Each game is speech enabled and may be accessed using multiple interfaces, including touch screens and 1 to 3 switches.

You may create your own games using videos from the huge collection at YouTube.

Note the little well icon in the upper left corner of the page; clicking it will allow you to access the main menu.

Tar Heel Gameplay is being developed and tested in the Google Chrome browser. It may work in other modern browsers but save yourself some confusion and try it with Chrome.

Your browser is unsupported.

Ready to get started?
Latest Announcements

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Welcome to Tar Heel Gameplay, a collection of free, easy-to-play, and accessible games. Each game is speech enabled and may be accessed using multiple interfaces, including touch screens and 1 to 3 switches. You may create your own games using videos from the huge collection at YouTube.