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Inclusive Technology in a 21st Century Learning System - NCLD

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Inclusive Technology in a 21st Century Learning System - NCLD

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National Center for Learning Disabilities

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Written by NCLD Policy Team | 6 days ago

Technology is part of nearly every aspect of our daily lives, including the public education system. However, students with disabilities and other traditionally disadvantaged students are often not considered from the outset when these technologies are being developed, creating even greater inequalities and opportunity gaps in our country's education system.

In collaboration with 12 other national partners, NCLD created a set of resources that identify new ways to think about education technology and equity: Inclusive Technology in a 21st Century Learning System. The report explores the conception , design, procurement, use, and continuous improvement of ed tech initiatives.

NCLD also worked with partner organizations to translate how local, state, and national policy makers can play a role in ensuring technology closes educational, economic, and civic opportunity gaps for individuals with disabilities. The following resources include actionable steps and key considerations:

NCLD believes it is the responsibility of many stakeholders to ensure that students with disabilities are provided access to ed tech that facilitates deeper engagement and learning. We also believe that these deeper learning experiences can only happen when ed tech initiatives and products are designed with the needs of students with disabilities and other traditionally disadvantaged students considered at the outset of visioning and design, rather than retrofitted down the road. We hope you will share these resources and join this important conversation about equity and inclusion.
NCLD is grateful for the collaboration of the following partners in developing "Inclusive Technology in Modern Learning Environments: A Local Primer": NCLD is grateful for the collaboration of the following in developing "Inclusive Technology in Modern Learning Environments: Student Experiences and Four Key Federal Laws ":

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Inclusive Technology in a 21st Century Learning System

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Written by NCLD Policy Team | 6 days ago Technology is part of nearly every aspect of our daily lives, including the public education system. However, students with disabilities and other traditionally disadvantaged students are often not considered from the outset when these technologies are being developed, creating even greater inequalities and opportunity gaps in our country's education system.

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Apple Previews Accessibility Enhancements Coming with macOS Catalina, iPadOS, and iOS 13 | AppleVis

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Apple Previews Accessibility Enhancements Coming with macOS Catalina, iPadOS, and iOS 13 | AppleVis

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Update: since posting this article we have recorded an interview with Sarah Herrlinger, Director of Global Accessibility Policy and Initiatives at Apple; and Dean Hudson, Accessibility Evangelist at Apple, who discussed the enhancements mentioned below and shared a few others which we didn't already know about.

These include:

The use of machine learning in iOS 13 and iPadOS to help VoiceOver users with unlabelled buttons.

The ability in iOS 13 and iPadOS to customize VoiceOver's gestures and keyboard shortcuts.

Braille Screen Input is now capable of much faster typing speeds.

Enhancements to Zoom on tvOS 13 for low vision users.

You can listen to the podcast here.

Apple has shared details on new and changed accessibility features coming to macOS Catalina, iOS 13, and iPadOS this Fall.

Voice Control

During its keynote presentation Apple showcased a new Voice Control accessibility feature that allows users to fully control Mac, iPadOS, and iOS devices entirely with your voice.

Voice Control will reportedly improve on the existing Enhanced Dictation feature by using the Siri speech recognition engine, so you get the latest advances in machine learning for audio-to-text transcription.

Although Apple included a very impressive demonstration of Voice Control during the keynote, the additional information now made available offers a more complete preview of the feature's capabilities and limitations:

Add custom words: Whether you're writing a biology report, filling out a legal document, or emailing about a favorite topic, you can add custom words to ensure that Voice Control recognizes the words you commonly use.

Rich text editing: Thanks to rich text editing commands, you don't have to rehearse before you speak. Making corrections is quick and easy. You can replace phrases by name. Try saying "Replace I'm almost there with I just arrived." Fine-grained selection also makes it simple to select text. Try saying "Move up two lines. Select previous word. Capitalize that."

Word and emoji suggestions: If you need to correct a word, there's a new interface just for that. Simply ask to correct a word, and you'll be presented with a list of suggested replacements.

Seamless transitions from dictation to commands: Voice Control understands contextual cues, so you can seamlessly transition between text dictation and commands. For example, say "Happy Birthday. Tap send." in Messages, and Voice Control sends "Happy Birthday" - just as you intended. You can also say "delete that", and Voice Controls knows to delete what you just typed.

Comprehensive app navigation: You can rely entirely on your voice to navigate an app. Comprehensive navigation is provided by navigation commands, names of accessibility labels, numbers, and grids.

On iOS devices and iPadOS, Voice Control will allow you to use your voice to perform gestures, such as tap, swipe, pinch, zoom, press the Home button, and more.

Additionally, you can record multistep gestures for apps on iPadOS or your iOS device. Apple gives the example that if you love to send messages with fireworks, you can record the gestures to do this and use the recording to quickly send messages with fireworks.

If you have an iPad or iPhone that supports Face ID, Voice Control will make use of the Attention Awareness capabilities to go to sleep when you turn your head away from the TrueDepth camera. It doesn't activate until you look back at the screen - so you can talk to a friend nearby without triggering Voice Control on your device.

All audio processing for Voice Control will take place on your device, ensuring that your personal data is kept private.

New Features and Changes for VoiceOver Users

VoiceOver improvements also feature in what's coming in macOS Catalina, iOS 13, and iPadOS.

Top of the list for many in our community might be the news that Siri is getting a new voice.

Neural Text to Speech is a new voice that's entirely generated by software with a more natural cadence. In the on stage demonstration of the new voice, Siri sounded much more natural, especially with longer sentences.

Apple states that with macOS Catalina, VoiceOver users will enjoy simplified keyboard navigation that requires less drilling into unique focus groups. The Tab key now more simply advances through selection of elements - such as window stoplights, toolbar buttons, and scroll bars.

VoiceOver users with multiple Apple devices will be pleased to learn that any customized preferences for how punctuation marks are spoken will now be stored in iCloud, giving you a consistent experience across macOS, iPadOS, and iOS.

For blind developers, VoiceOver now reads aloud warnings, line numbers, and break points in the text editor of the upcoming Xcode 11.

Additional International Braille Tables

macOS Catalina adds more international braille tables and lets you quickly switch between them.

Apple only mentions this enhancement on its macOS Catalina preview page, so we do not know at this point if iPadOS and iOS 13 will be gaining braille improvements. Considering that braille support has appeared a lower priority than VoiceOver in recent iOS releases, we certainly hope that it will be receiving some much needed attention on iPadOS and iOS 13.

Improvements for Low Vision Users

Low vision users will be gaining some enhancements on macOS Catalina:

Hover Text displays high-resolution zoom of text, text fields, menu items, buttons, and more in a dedicated window. Just press the Control key when hovering over text with your cursor, and a window with zoomed text appears alongside the standard interface - helping you stay contextually aware. Text is crisply displayed in a font and color of your choice. And you can interact with buttons and type right in the zoomed window.

While using a second display, you can see the same screen up close and at a distance simultaneously. You can keep one monitor zoomed in and another at a standard resolution. Or keep a personal Mac zoomed in while giving a presentation.

Users with color vision deficiencies can adjust display colors using new color filter options. Your Mac shifts the colors onscreen, helping you easily differentiate areas of confusion. And you can turn this preference on and off through the Accessibility Options pane using Command-Option-F5.

A new display option lets you tint your entire screen using a color of your choice. Some users may find that certain color tints help make text easier to read.

In Closing

It's possible that this Fall's software releases will include additional accessibility enhancements which Apple has chosen not to preview yet. We also hope that it will bring fixes for the outstanding bugs and issues present on all platforms.

For now, we would love to hear your opinions on what's known. Are you excited, disappointed, or simply somewhere in-between. Let us know by posting a comment below.

Resources

At this time, Apple has said nothing about any accessibility enhancements coming to either watchOS 6 or tvOS 13.

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Apple Previews Accessibility Enhancements Coming with macOS Catalina, iPadOS, and iOS 13

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Update:** since posting this article we have recorded an interview with Sarah Herrlinger, Director of Global Accessibility Policy and Initiatives at Apple; and Dean Hudson, Accessibility Evangelist at Apple, who discussed the enhancements mentioned below and shared a few others which we didn't already know about.

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Supporting All Learners with Google for Education Accessibility Tools

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Supporting All Learners with Google for Education Accessibility Tools

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Supporting All Learners with Google for Education Accessibility Tools

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At Google, we believe that every student and every educator, in every classroom, deserves the tools and skills that set them up for success in building the future they want for themselves. Accessibility is a core component of this.

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Building for all learners with new apps, tools, and resources

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Building for all learners with new apps, tools, and resources

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Assessing with accessibility in mind

Teachers use locked mode when giving Quizzes in Google Forms, only on managed Chromebooks, to eliminate distractions. Locked mode is now used millions of times per month, and many students use additional apps for accommodations when taking quizzes. We've been working with many developers to make sure their tools work with locked mode. One of those developers is our partner Texthelp®. Coming soon, when you enable locked mode in Quizzes in Google Forms, your students will be able to access Read&Write for Google Chrome and EquatIO® for Google that they rely on daily.

Another partner, Don Johnston, supports students with their apps including Co:Writer for word prediction, translation, and speech recognition and Snap&Read for read aloud, highlighting, and note-taking. Students signed into these extensions can use them on the quiz-even in locked mode. This integration will be rolling out over the next couple of weeks.

Learn more about the accessibility features available in locked mode, including ChromeVox, select-to-speak, and visual aids including high contrast mode and magnifiers.

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Building for all learners with new apps, tools, and resources

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Teachers use locked mode when giving Quizzes in Google Forms, only on managed Chromebooks, to eliminate distractions. Locked mode is now used millions of times per month, and many students use additional apps for accommodations when taking quizzes. We've been working with many developers to make sure their tools work with locked mode.

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6 Steps to Planning UDL Lessons (+ 3 Teacher Stories!) | Inclusion Lab

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6 Steps to Planning UDL Lessons (+ 3 Teacher Stories!) | Inclusion Lab

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Over the past few months, I've had the pleasure of sharing some excellent UDL success stories from our readers (linked at the bottom of this post, in case you missed them). Today I want to put UDL success in the context of a more specific framework, with the help of a great new book on UDL lesson planning.

In Your UDL Lesson Planner, Patti Kelly Ralabate outlines six critical steps to UDL lesson planning and explores each one in depth. In today's post, I'll give you a brief rundown of these steps to success-and then share three short case studies adapted from the book, so you'll have a few different concrete examples of how teachers can put this six-step process into practice.

1) Define flexible, clear SMART goals. Ask yourself, "What is the goal of this lesson?" (The CCSS or your state standards will often serve as the base for your goal.) Effective learning goals are SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, results oriented, and t ime bound.

2) Consider learner variability. Assess the readiness levels, skills, and needs of your learners and the challenges of the learning environment. Anticipate learning gaps and barriers that may distract, frustrate, or confuse learners. Apply UDL guidelines to plan for learner variability and determine what scaffolds are needed.

3) Determine appropriate assessments. Choose assessments that provide meaningful information, are flexible, and assess individual student growth. Find out what assessment accommodations are listed in students' IEP or 504 plans and provide these during instruction.

4) Select methods, materials, and media. Consider the types of assistance you need to include in order to address learner variability: scaffolds? Supports? Accommodations and modifications? Choose methods, materials, and media that offer flexibility and relevance and balance assistance with challenge.

5) Teach and assess learning. Put it all together and deliver your UDL lesson. Assess student learning with flexible, informative assessments matched to your learning goal.

6) Refine educator learning through self-reflection. Review the data you collected through your assessments and think about your observations. Did your students achieve the learning goal? What worked well? What will you do differently next time?

This basic six-step plan will look different for every teacher, depending on grade level, goals, and the specific needs of students in the classroom. Below are three diverse examples of how teachers can put the UDL "success steps" into action.

LAURA'S LESSON: KINDERGARTEN READING READINESS

Laura teaches a very diverse kindergarten class with different learning needs in the areas of language and early literacy skills:

A few students are already reading at a first-grade level but need to improve listening and social skills. Most students can recognize the alphabet and a few common words like stop and

Three students who are English language learners need support in understanding and using basic English vocabulary.

Two students with special needs have trouble listening for more than a few minutes without calling out in class

Several students are shy, rarely speaking during large group time.

Laura is intrigued by UDL and would love to focus on applying it to her lesson planning, but she's so overwhelmed with the varying needs of her students that it seems like a lot to take on. She wants to go slowly-so to avoid feeling overwhelmed, Laura decides to focus on the UDL Principle of Representation for her next circle time lesson.

Learning Goal

Laura believes her curriculum should focus primarily on building language and social skills. After reviewing the CCSS, she selects a kindergarten-level English Language Arts Literacy standard and uses it to set a learning goal: Students will listen to a poem ("Rain, Rain, Go Away"). With prompting as needed, through a Q&A and group picture-card exercise, students will recall key details from the poem and answer four out of five who and what questions.

Laura's learning goal is flexible and SMART. It has embedded scaffolding that allows all her students to participate. She designs a reading-readiness lesson focused on recalling information from a short poem.

Learner Variability

Laura is careful to address the variable learning needs of her students:

For students who are reading or starting to read, Laura pairs words with visuals to help her students make the decoding connection and build sight vocabulary.

To scaffold vocabulary development for the English language learners, Laura includes gestures and facial expressions as she reads the poem. She also pairs ELLs with students who are already reading and can serve as models.

For shy students, Laura provides multiple opportunities to respond during partner time and keeps a close eye on them.

To keep the attention of students who have difficulty listening in large groups, she moves them close to her and keeps her teacher-talk to a minimum.

Teaching Methods and Materials

Laura selects 5 teaching methods for her lesson: direct instruction, mental modeling, Q&A, discussion, and cooperative learning. As she reviews UDL guidelines for the principle of Representation, Laura adds a representation option she hasn't used before: word cards paired with symbols (e.g., Who, What, Listen, Answer). To clarify vocabulary, sentence structure, and text decoding, she uses a call-and-response technique, physical response (clapping), and photos of students paired with their names. To promote social skills and engagement, she selects a student-to-student Q&A strategy.

Assessment

Laura embeds a simple check for understanding at the beginning of her lesson ("Hold up two fingers"). She uses a skill checklist to keep track of how the students respond to who and what questions during the Q&A and the group picture-card exercise.

Reflection

After planning and implementing this lesson, Laura realizes that she uses a lot of UDL strategies already. This makes embedding them purposefully rather than accidentally a reasonable shift in her thinking. Because all of her students were fully engaged in the lesson with no behavior issues, Laura concludes that UDL is definitely worth doing.

PAT'S LESSON: MIDDLE SCHOOL MATHEMATICS

Pat is a seventh-grade math teacher whose district requires a lesson plan structure based on backward design (i.e., designing curricula by setting goals before choosing instructional methods and assessment). Pat sees some parallels with UDL and wants to work UDL principles into his existing lesson plan. He discusses it with the chair of the mathematics department, who is intrigued with Pat's idea. She agrees to let Pat adapt his current lesson plan if he reports on his efforts at a future department meeting.

Pat agrees. He opts to focus on incorporating the UDL principle of Action and Expression and on building in multiple opportunities for assessment throughout the lesson. Even though his seventh-grade students are engaged during class, almost half of them failed his end-of-unit test-and Pat believes the scores would improve if students had more practice solving high-interest problems during class.

Here's how Pat adapts his lesson plan structure:

Learning Goal

Pat selects a topic of keen interest to his seventh-graders: shopping. His flexible, SMART learning goal is this: Given shopping examples, students will use proportional relationships to solve 10 multistep ratio/percent word problems with 90% accuracy.

Learner Variability

Pat accommodates learner variability in multiple ways:

The students have varied interests, so he creates four different shopping "wish lists" centered around popular student interests: technology, sports equipment, clothes, and music.

Eight of his students read below grade level, three of them at a second-grade level. So Pat incorporates multiple visual representations for these learners, pairing text and mathematical notation with pictures.

Pat arranges his students in mixed-ability groups, believing this will provide good models for the students with weaker reading skills.

He offers students multiple options for producing illustrations of their work, so that students with lower-level writing skills have the scaffolding they need.

Teaching Methods and Materials

As Pat selects materials and media for the math lesson, he focuses on offering flexibility, choice, and many different displays of the concept of proportional relationships.

Pat shows a brief animated video on sales tax to enhance understanding and sustain student interest.

He provides students with multiple representations of the concept, including slides, a math vocabulary word wall, a poster, a spreadsheet of state sales taxes displayed on a U.S. map on a whiteboard, a problem-solving checklist, and a group product planning guide.

He offers different media that the students can use to create their final illustrations, such as an array of materials for creating posters and iPads with apps for producing slides or short videos.

Assessment

Pat would like to be more aware of what and how his students are learning so that he can adjust the pacing of his instruction if necessary. Throughout the lesson, Pat adds multiple opportunities to assess what students know. Through strategies like a stand-up quick check, a team work-product illustration, and real-world application exit cards, he checks their knowledge and progress at multiple intervals.

Reflection

Pat realizes that UDL has been a huge help after implementing this lesson plan. Instead of limiting students to solving a few word problems on worksheets, he can now incorporate flexibility and choice into his lessons. Doing this ensures that his students have meaningful opportunities to practice new content. He's now able to embed any necessary scaffolds almost invisibly, and he has the daily data he needs to adjust his instruction before students start falling behind.

RAY'S LESSON: HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH

Ninth-grade English teacher Ray has concerns about learner engagement-he's known as one of the best teachers in the school, but some of his students still don't participate in class. He wants to change up his lessons because he's bored with doing the same thing year after year, but he's not sure what to do first.

After a UDL workshop, Ray decides to completely revamp the way he plans his lessons. His main focus is the UDL principle of Engagement. He gathers and studies some sample lessons online for inspiration, and then he gets started with his lesson redesign.

Learning Goal

Ray reviews the CCSS and develops this SMART goal focused on determining a themes in a text: Students will create a brief musical summary that demonstrates their analysis of connected details and at least two emerging themes in Kurt Vonnegut"˜s Slaughterhouse-Five (measured by music product rubric).

Learner Variability

In Ray's classroom, student reading levels span the spectrum. One student with special needs reads at a fourth-grade level, a number of readers are highly gifted, and many fall somewhere in between. Ray incorporates multiple strategies to help all students engage with Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five and complete the project.

For students who need an alternate version of the text, Ray offers an audiobook and a video of Ethan Hawke reading the narrative.

Ray highlights big ideas from the text-for example, by adding vocabulary to the word-wall poster of key words from the text.

Some students need vocabulary scaffolding, support for information processing, or help organizing their ideas. Ray gives them copies of key text sections, a vocabulary checklist, a product guide, and character and plot charts.

Ray also provides a library of CDs and sample music organized by genre.

Teaching Methods and Materials

To increase student participation and engagement, Ray knows he has to reduce the time he spends lecturing in front of the class. He designs a cooperative learning task that requires students to work together on the project. Focusing on the UDL principle of Engagement, Ray:

Starts the lesson by highlighting topics that relate to his students' interests.

Asks students to establish personal learning goals and clarifies from the beginning what will happen during the lesson.

Builds in background information so no one feels lost or left behind.

Uses multiple methods to support learner engagement and peer interaction throughout the lesson.

Gives learners choices about how they'll show their knowledge.

Closes the lesson with a summary and discussion of what comes next.

Assessment

At the beginning of the lesson, Ray uses a quick thumbs-up/thumbs-down informal assessment. He observes student engagement as he walks around the room while the students are working in groups. Ray develops a Music Product Rubric to assess the final projects.

Reflection

Ray changes his role in the classroom by focusing on the UDL principle of Engagement, and his teaching becomes better for it. He's no longer standing in front of the class dispensing knowledge-now he's a true facilitator of learning, moving from group to group and offering suggestions and encouragement. All of his students are engaged in the lesson now, and their learning is deeper and more relevant.

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Have a UDL success story to share? Submit yours here!

6 UDL Myths (and the Facts Behind Them!) Debunk 6 common UDL misconceptions with this post inspired by Loui Lord Nelson's Design and Deliver. Includes an awesome infographic to pin and share!

"Start Small": A UDL Q&A with Loui Lord Nelson . Loui offers valuable real-world tips for getting started with UDL in your classroom.

and The Little School That Could . UDL Facilitator Stephanie Craig shares lessons learned from her own success stories in these two fantastic posts (part 3 is coming soon, so stay tuned!).

The UDL Investment . Educator Joni Degner tells a memorable story about her personal "aha!" moment with UDL.

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6 Steps to Planning UDL Lessons (+ 3 Teacher Stories!) - Brookes Blog

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Over the past few months, I've had the pleasure of sharing some excellent UDL success stories from our readers (linked at the bottom of this post, in case you missed them). Today I want to put UDL success in the context of a more specific framework, with the help of a great new book on [...]

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(3) Universal Design for Learning Overview (Week 1) - YouTube

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(3) Universal Design for Learning Overview (Week 1) - YouTube

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Universal Design for Learning Overview (Week 1)

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(3) Multiple Means of Engagement (Week 2) - YouTube

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(3) Multiple Means of Engagement (Week 2) - YouTube

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(1) Intro to Chrome & Chrome OS Accessibility Video Series - YouTube

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(1) Intro to Chrome & Chrome OS Accessibility Video Series - YouTube

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Intro to Chrome & Chrome OS Accessibility Video Series

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The Chrome browser and operating system offer a variety of accessibility features like magnification, keyboard navigation, screen reading, and much more. Watch and learn how to customize your settings in Chrome and Chromebooks to make the experience more accessible and usable for you! Additional Resources: https://google.com/accessibility https://google.com/usability

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Free Technology for Teachers: Google Has Added a Captioning System to Google Slides

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Free Technology for Teachers: Google Has Added a Captioning System to Google Slides

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Today, Google announced a new Google Slides feature that some teachers are going to love. Google Slides now has a real-time captioning system. This system works when you are presenting your slides (full screen) and have a microphone connected to your computer. When you turn on the captioning option Google will automatically create and display captions of what you're saying to your audience. Those captions will be displayed at the bottom of your slides.

For now this new captioning system is only available if you use the Chrome browser in U.S. English. In their announcement of this feature Google noted that captions may not be accurate if you don't speak clearly, have a distinct accent, or there is a lot of ambient noise near your computer's microphone. (Speaking of microphones the ones that I recommend the most are this Snowball Microphone made by Blue Microphones and this omnidirectional lapel microphone made by Insignia).

Here's a short video introduction to the new Google Slides captions feature.

This feature is being rolled-out gradually. It could be a couple of weeks before you see it in your Google account.

Applications for Education
Automatic captioning of your presentations could make your presentations accessible to more students. Even if you don't have students who need the captions, it might still be a good idea to turn them on anyway as means to aid your students who are taking notes during a presentation.

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Google Has Added a Captioning System to Google Slides

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Today, Google announced a new Google Slides feature that some teachers are going to love. Google Slides now has a real-time captioning system. This system works when you are presenting your slides (full screen) and have a microphone connected to your computer.

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Pocket's redesigned app reads all your articles aloud with one tap

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Pocket's redesigned app reads all your articles aloud with one tap

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You'll have a better time when you do want to look. The redesign includes a less cluttered article view, night-friendly app themes (including dark and sepia) as well as new fonts and text layouts to promote extended reading sessions. This isn't just the reading mode you see in some browsers -- in some ways, it's closer to a dedicated e-book app than an article saver.

Both mobile Pocket updates should be available now, while the web version is available as a beta test.

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Pocket's redesigned app reads all your articles aloud with one tap

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You'll have a better time when you do want to look. The redesign includes a less cluttered article view, night-friendly app themes (including dark and sepia) as well as new fonts and text layouts to promote extended reading sessions.

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What’s that you say? Present with captions in Google Slides

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What’s that you say? Present with captions in Google Slides

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Years ago in a Long Island doctor's office, four-year-old Laura was fitted with her first pair of hearing aids, customized to compensate for her specific hearing loss. However, they didn't work very well, particularly in noisy backgrounds, so she eventually stopped wearing them.

A few years later on a school bus in Bethesda, MD, nine-year-old Abigail sat next to a classmate who taught her how to communicate using American Sign Language. In high school, she worked in a biology lab at the National Eye Institute where she researched retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disorder that causes loss of vision.

Flash forward to today where we, Laura and Abigail, work at Google, building products with accessibility features that help billions of users across the globe. We met earlier, through the accessibility community at MIT, where we studied computer science with the hopes of using our technical skills to make a difference in people's lives.

During our time at university, Abigail built a solution that helped a blind man use his touch-screen oven, led a team that enabled blind individuals to sign legal documents independently, and co-founded an assistive technology hackathon. Laura researched a new signal processing algorithm for hearing aids in noisy environments, built an app for residents in a neurological disease care facility to call for help in a more accessible way, and worked on a hands-free page turner for individuals unable to use their arms. This work not only made us see what an impact technology can make on people with accessibility needs, but also motivated us to focus our careers in this area when we graduated.

When we landed at Google, we both independently joined the G Suite accessibility team. As part of this team, we've improved screen reader, Braille and screen magnifier support on Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, and we have represented the Google Accessibility team at external conferences. We're also involved with the American Sign Language community at Google, which promotes inclusivity among all Googlers through shared language.

Recently, an internal hackathon led us to work on a project that is deeply personal. Upon observing that presentations can be challenging for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing to follow along, we both teamed up with the idea to add automated closed captions to G Suite's presentation tool, Google Slides.

This work has moved from a passion project to our full-time job, and today we're officially launching automated closed captions in Google Slides. The feature will gradually roll out to all Slides users starting this week.

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What's that you say? Present with captions in Google Slides

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Years ago in a Long Island doctor's office, four-year-old Laura was fitted with her first pair of hearing aids, customized to compensate for her specific hearing loss. However, they didn't work very well, particularly in noisy backgrounds, so she eventually stopped wearing them.

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The Most Awesome Presentation on Diving Into UDL and AT Ever! - Google Slides

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The Most Awesome Presentation on Diving Into UDL and AT Ever! - Google Slides

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The Most Awesome Presentation on Diving Into UDL and AT Ever!

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST. The UDL Guidelines can be used by educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and anyone else who wants to implement the UDL framework in a learning environment. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

Coming soon! UDL Guidelines 3.0

The UDL Guidelines are a living, dynamic tool that is continuously developed based on new research and feedback from practitioners. In 2020, CAST launched our most recent effort to update the UDL Guidelines, with a specific focus on equity. There has been a strong call from the field-both practitioners and researchers alike-to more fully develop the Guidelines to address critical barriers rooted in biases and systems of oppression. The current update aims to respond to this call and to work toward fulfilling the promise of the Guidelines as a tool to guide the design of learning environments that more fully honor and value every learner.

Since our launch in 2020, we have been committed to a community-driven, inclusive, and transparent updating process. As part of this effort, we are:

Collaborating with an Advisory Board, a UDL Guidelines Collaborative, and a Young Adult Advisory Board to guide our work

Conducting focus groups with a diversity of participants to learn from their perspectives, lived experiences, and feedback

Reviewing the research on the UDL Guidelines research pages to understand the balance of different research fields, methodological approaches, epistemological approaches, and author positionalities

Conducting literature reviews of equity-oriented research that connect to and extend the Guidelines, such as disability studies and critical pedagogy studies

We are excited to share this next iteration of the UDL Guidelines in 2024. If you are interested in receiving our UDL Guidelines 3.0 newsletter to stay updated on our progress and to share your ideas and perspectives, please complete this brief form.

Review the Summary

Explore the Full Draft

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST.

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Friendly Disruption Podcast – An education podcast that focuses on accessibility in the classroom for all learners.

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Friendly Disruption Podcast – An education podcast that focuses on accessibility in the classroom for all learners.

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An education podcast that focuses on accessibility in the classroom for all learners.

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Friendly Disruption (@FDisruption) | Twitter

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Friendly Disruption (@FDisruption) | Twitter

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In this Episode, Maggie and I discuss our reflections from ITEC 2017 including our session. Here's the Google slide deck for this presentation.

In this Episode, Maggie and I visit with Buddy Berry, superintendent of Eminence Schools in Eminence, Kentucky. We also demo the mobile app, Prizmo for capturing analog text and converting it to digital text.

In this episode, I visit with Kevin Brookhouser author of Code in Every Class and The 20Time Project. Unfortunately, Maggie could not join us this week due to a family emergency. However, she was able to share some great resources for Google Chrome that are great for personalized learning and accessibility.

In this episode, we talk about the future of digital learning with Infinite Campus founder and CEO Charlie Kratch. We also look at the website Wonderopolis. Enjoy!

In this episode, we visit with Dr. Scott McLeod and take a look at the writing tool, Grammarly.

In this episode, we visit national speaker and assistive tech consultant Estin Talavera @estintalavera. As a sight-impaired learner and now educator, Estin has some fascinating and valuable insights on instruction for all teachers and learners.

This week we look at an awesome tool, Snap&Read, as well as visit with internationally acclaimed educator, Kevin Honeycutt. As always, you can follow us on Twitter (@fdisruption) to get more information.

This week we overview Google Read&Write and talk student engagement with Dr. Jerry Valentine, creator of the I nstructional Practices Inventory. Here are some quick references for Google Read&Write -- toolbar guide and brief tutorial video. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter -- @FDisruption #FrienldlyDisruption.

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In this Episode, Maggie and I discuss our reflections from ITEC 2017 including our session. Here's the Google slide deck for this presentation. In this Episode, Maggie and I visit with Buddy Berry, superintendent of Eminence Schools in Eminence, Kentucky. We also demo the mobile app, Prizmo for capturing analog text and converting it to digital text.

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Free Technology for Teachers: October: Dyslexia Awareness Month

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Free Technology for Teachers: October: Dyslexia Awareness Month

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October is Dyslexia Awareness Month. Perhaps you have a student with dyslexia and want to find out more about it. This post contains informational articles as well as links to different apps that have helped students with dyslexia.

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October is Dyslexia Awareness Month. Perhaps you have a student with dyslexia and want to find out more about it. This post contains informational articles as well as links to different apps that have helped students with dyslexia.

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Assistive Technology: Resource Roundup | Edutopia

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Assistive Technology: Resource Roundup | Edutopia

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Discover websites, blog posts, articles, and videos related to understanding, selecting, and assessing assistive technology.

Getting Started

Whether low-tech, high-tech, or somewhere in between, assistive technology and related services play an important role in reducing barriers to learning for students with a variety of special needs and challenges. Before exploring the resources below, watch VideoAmy's " Five-Minute Film Festival: The Power of Assistive Technology," to better understand how technology can empower kids and help them build independence.

For Educators

Assistive Technology Module: To review the basics, check out this great overview of assistive technology for classroom teachers. (IRIS Center/Vanderbilt University)

Assistive Technology: Find general information on assistive technology and accessible educational materials, including relevant federal laws. Assistive Technology Resources is a comprehensive list of national organizations, conferences, state resources, and transition resources. (National Center on Accessible Educational Materials)

AEM Navigator: Explore a decision-making tool -- designed for use by Individualized Education Program teams -- that can help determine the need, selection, acquisition, and use of accessible educational materials. (National Center on Accessible Educational Materials)

For Parents

Finding Assistive Technology

Explore the following websites for information about specific technologies and guidance on finding appropriate tools.

For Educators

TechMatrix: Search a database of over 400 assistive and educational technology tools and resources. The products are searchable by content area, grade level, IDEA disability category, and type of instructional support. (U.S Department of Education/American Institutes for Research)

Consumer Guide for School Administrators: Download TechMatrix's useful consumer guide for guidance on technology purchases. Also available are research articles on the theory and practice of using technology to improve student learning. (National Center for Technology Innovation and the Center for Implementing Technology in Education)

For Parents

Tips and Tools

Social-Emotional Apps for Special Ed: Find apps to help students of all ages build emotional literacy, learn self-regulation, and focus on problem solving and task planning. (Edutopia, 2015)

Apps to Support Diverse Learners in the Classroom: Find apps to help diverse learners gamify tasks, learn social cues, prioritize, strengthen math skills, and sharpen language abilities. (Edutopia, 2015)

It's a Snap! 4 Ways to Use Music With Special Needs Students: Discover ways to supplement visuals with music, teach through students' favorite songs, emphasize rhythm, and generalize lessons into non-musical settings. (Edutopia, 2014)

Creating a "Least Restrictive Environment" with Mobile Devices: See how mobile devices can help create a "least restrictive environment," not only for students with disabilities, but for everyone else as well. (Edutopia, 2013)

Dictation Technology Will Change Writing Instruction: Consider this thoughtful examination of how dictation technology is likely to change the future of writing instruction. (Edutopia, 2013)

Resources to Address Specific Challenges

Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

What is UDL?: Understand the basics of universal design for learning. (National Center of Universal Design for Learning)

UDL and Technology: Read about the relationship between UDL and technology. UDL strategies do not replace the need for AT, but UDL and AT can be complementary. (National Center of Universal Design for Learning)

Universal Design for Learning: What It Is and How It Works: Explore key takeaways for parents, including information about advocating for children. (Understood.org)

Was this page helpful? Are you familiar with other useful resources? Please share your feedback in the comments, and let us know if you'd like to see other types of resources included on this page.

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Discover websites, blog posts, articles, and videos related to understanding, selecting, and assessing assistive technology.

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Assistive Technology for English Language Learners | Study.com

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Assistive Technology for English Language Learners | Study.com

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What is Assistive Technology?

Assistive technology (AT) is a program, type of support, or piece of technology that improves student learning. When it comes to English language learners (or ELLs), assistive technology includes tools that assist in the acquisition and comprehension of both language and content area learning. This lesson will review different forms of assistive technology that can be used specifically for ELLs.

Types of Assistive Technology for ELLs

The following forms of assistive technology can be used either in the classroom, or, if students have access to mobile devices, at home for extra language practice. Each suggestion is geared toward making the learning process easier for English language learners as they work on acquiring both language and content comprehension skills.

Text-to-Speech Software

Text-to-speech software is a program that converts text into spoken voice output. While it is commonly used for those with visual impairments or reading disabilities, it is also very helpful for ELLs. Here are some highlights about this type of technology:

Can be installed on mobile devices (phones, tablets, laptops, etc.)

Students can use it in the classroom

Students hear the text while reading - aids in word-sound recognition, and pronunciation

Increases students' focus on comprehension rather than sounding out words

Supports multiple languages and text types

Many students qualify for free digital text-to-speech books

Audio Recorders

For many ELLs, repetition and practice are necessary in the classroom. Audio recorders can be used to record and play back oral explanations of new material taught in class. Here are some reasons why audio recorders are beneficial assistive technology tools:

Can be bought individually or installed as an app on mobile devices

Students can use it in the classroom

Can be used for recording class lessons, important lectures, key content, vocabulary definitions, or even word pronunciation

Students can replay and better comprehend class content

Students can record themselves talking to self-check their own pronunciation as they read or speak in English

Pocket Translators

Pocket translators are electronic devices or mobile apps that translate words or phrases between multiple languages. Vocabulary development should be an essential element in all English language learning classrooms, so students should not be encouraged to rely solely on pocket translators for vocabulary acquisition. With that being said, students still benefit from translators when they get stuck, so here are some reasons why ELLs benefit from this device:

Portable; can be purchased individually, or as an app for a mobile device

Can be used for vocabulary building exercises

Allows for quick retrieval of vocabulary, spelling, or pronunciation when stuck

Beneficial for learning when student is out of class and does not have a teacher to provide assistance

Visual Aids

Visual Aids are visual displays of content for students to refer to when clarification is needed. These are very helpful for ELLs because repetition and frequent reminders of new vocabulary, concepts, ideas, and language rules are important for understanding and retaining what is being taught. Visual aids can be target posters (posters that remind them of language rules, context clues, pronunciations, etc.), pictures, flashcards, items being learned, etc. Here are the benefits of visual aids:

They help students understand new concepts or content

Familiarity helps advance the learning process

Assist students in recalling important details, rules, concepts, or vocabulary

Create an ELL-friendly environment

Promote the acquisition of new language learning skills and comprehension

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assistive technology for english language learners | study.com

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Assistive Technology for English Language Learners | Study.com

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Assistive technology (AT) is a program, type of support, or piece of technology that improves student learning. When it comes to English language learners (or ELLs), assistive technology includes tools that assist in the acquisition and comprehension of both language and content area learning.

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Which Tablet Works Best for a Dyslexic? * The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity

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Which Tablet Works Best for a Dyslexic? * The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity

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the yale center for dyslexia and creativity

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Which Tablet Works Best for a Dyslexic? * The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity

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Editor's note: The following is by no means a complete comparison of all available tablets; nor is it a comprehensive review of each of the tablet's overall functions. The intent with this project was to look at features that would be relevant to someone looking for assistive technology features to help compensate for dyslexia.

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Apps for Dyslexia and Learning Disabilities | Dyslexia Help at the University of Michigan

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Apps for Dyslexia and Learning Disabilities | Dyslexia Help at the University of Michigan

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In this free app, Leo the Lion teaches the basics of multiplication before putting them to the test. Compared to other multiplication apps, this puts a much greater emphasis on teaching the topic rather than just testing and practice. Once children have mastered the lessons, they are put to test in the form of a race between Leo the Lion and an animal competitor. Teachers and parents can also engage with this app in the say-it-aloud activity, where there is a pause for a response after a math question. In-app purchases are available to unlock more difficult times tables. This app is available for Apple on the App Store.

Application URL: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1104769468

Epic! is the leading digital library for kids, with access to over 25,000 resources, including ebooks, audiobooks, learning videos, and quizzes. Designed for ages 12 and under, Epic! provides a fun way to engage in reading. Free for both iPhone and iPad, children can explore and learn in a whole new way.

Application URL: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/epic!-books-for-kids/id719219382?mt=8

Storyboard That is an online tool that allows users to create engaging and creative storyboards, for both educational and entertainment purposes. Creating storyboards is great for school projects, and teachers can use this resource for reinforcing ideas to ESL and students with disabilities. The website provides a variety of customizable templates for teachers that are ready to export or present in minutes. Storyboard That also provides an extensive image library and special tools that make the website easy to use, while also being compatible with iPad and Android.

Learn more about Storyboard That and start your own Storyboard on their website.

Application URL: http://www.storyboardthat.com/

Teen and Adults Phonics, also known as TAP, has introduced an app that is a library of novels written for teenagers and adults with dyslexia and other learning disabilities. Their stories are fully decodable, meaning that they include a cumulative phonic progression meant to build readers’ confidence and capabilities. Additionally, there is a decodability tool and 7 different levels of reading. The app is free to download exclusively for iPad, and full access to each book is available for $2.99 USD. You can read more about TAP here.

Download for iPad through the iTunes store.

Application URL: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/teen-adult-phonics-library/id1189152100?mt=8

Compatibility: Requires iOS 10.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

The Leo app specializes in recording and transcription, all in real time for the user’s benefit. This app is especially designed for individuals with dyslexia and other learning disabilities, giving them the tools they need to succeed. The app transcribes voice to text, helping to get thoughts to written words faster and easier. Once recorded, all transcripts are saved and backed up so that you can go back through them later on. To reduce confusion, there is a calendar organization system built in, as well as the ability to edit and customize your recordings. Overall, the simplicity and easy to use aspects are some of the most appealing for this app, along with its ability to perform real-time transcription for a long period of time.

You can get the Leo- Recorder and Transcription app for $8.99 at the iTunes App store here.

Application URL: https://itunes.apple.com/dk/app/leo-recorder-transcription/id1140324040?mt=8

Compatibility: Requires iOS 8.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

The A+ Spelling Test is a free app that helps students master new vocabulary words that is catered to their own needs. The app allows a parent, teacher, or older student create a customized list of words for the child to spell. There are over 400 pre-made lists with over 6,300 words already built-in the app for easy set-up. Once the list is created, the student can choose from a variety of activities to learn the words including Practice, Unscramble, Ace It, and Test. These four activities are easy to use and great for any child learning to spell. In addition, this app allows you to track the child’s progress and submit his or her results through email to a teacher or other adult.

Application URL: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/a-spelling-test/id501211008?mt=8

Compatibility: Requires iOS 7.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Recently featured by Apple, the app Reading Machine takes reading for beginners to a new level. With the overall goal of reducing frustration amongst readers, this app assists in the reading process by modeling how the letters and sounds in a word go together. How it works is that when a child comes to a word he is unfamiliar with and unable to read, he simply types it into the Reading Machine. The app, with a dictionary of over 5,000 words, sounds out the word so that the child can try figuring it out by blending the sounds together to make the word. He can then “ask” for additional help, and the whole word is stated. This strategy helps children become better readers because they are forced to decipher the word instead of guessing or memorizing words that they see. Creators of the app say this is the type of letter-sound skill that the brain needs in order to develop quality reading skills. In addition, this app empowers the reader because it transforms them into a self-teacher of new words. Whether a new reader or a dyslexic, this app allows the reader to enjoy the reading experience without feeling embarrassed by what he doesn’t know. With the Reading Machine in hand, it keeps reading fun and children on track to become advanced readers.

You can download the Reading Machine app for free from the iTunes store. Also, visit the Reading Machine website to learn more about how the app works.

Application URL: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/reading-machine-full-install/id368974482?mt=8

The Root Words dictionary app helps you in learning English root words to improve your vocabulary. Root Words has all the important Latin and Greek root words along with explanations and examples. The app also lets you quiz your knowledge of root words using multiple choice tests.

This English Root Words dictionary app offers the following features:

Offline application

Add important root word to favorite list

Search using intuitive search functionality

Flashcards

Multiple choice tests

Off line pronunciation

Add root word to mastered list if you are familiar with that

After each test, a summary is displayed indicating your marks and percentage

Application URL: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.praveenj.root&hl=en

Action Words is an application for iPhone and iPad that teaches beginner readers over 100 action words using real photographs to increase their early vocabulary and improve their writing skills.

Users can select which category of action words they want to work on (emotions, movements, etc) and, within a category, turn action words “on” or “off” so they can monitor how many new words are presented in each round. When the user selects which category he or she wants to work on, an action word appears on the screen accompanied by four photographs. The user must select which photograph best depicts the given action word. There are no hints or penalty for selecting the wrong photograph, the user just keeps guessing until he or she chooses the correct photograph. This application is made to be engaging for its user, so the existing 500 photographs, concepts, and accompanying audio are all customizable. Users can also add their own categories, action words, and photographs.

You can learn more about Action Words at the AppStore.

Application URL: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/action-words/id511783094?mt=8

Build spelling confidence with a mystery

News Bulletin: The Huevos Rancheros Gang stole the gold and they are hiding out amongst the good citizens of Word Town.

Your Mission: Help the sheriff, a friendly and curious little ghost, recover the missing gold and catch the outlaws.

Find the letters you need to solve the word puzzles

Spelling practice integrated with a rich, immersive game experience

Record your own words and make your own custom word lists

Unlimited user accounts - create your own avatar and save your game progress

3 skill levels and 2 game modes provide a highly customizable and flexible learning experience for a range of ages

Optional audio hints speak the words from the selected word list

Visual hints provide scaffolding for difficult words

Quirky characters and backstory are revealed as you recover the missing gold and capture the outlaws

Promotes strategic and critical thinking

Application URL: https://artgigapps.com/apps/mystery-word-town

Easy Spelling Aid is a tool to help you spell problematic words. Simply touch the microphone button, say the word or phrase, and receive the correct spelling, displayed in your chosen writing style. The software is designed to recognize a variety of accents and is fine-tuned to pick up on children’s voices. Easy Spelling Aid is suitable for students of all ages.

Easy Spelling Aid Benefits:

Improves literacy performance and spelling

Helps with comprehension and vocabulary

Gives children and adults alike a quick and easy way to find out the spelling of a word without relying on a parent or teacher. As a result, creative thought processes are interrupted less often, allowing for greater creative flow

Helps children learn homophones and understand word usage by using context to determine the correct spelling of a word

Assists children and students to become independent writers

Develops recognition and correct spelling of words in their appropriate context (for example, they’re, their, there)

Features a History Log with saved spelling results, including translations

Application URL: http://www.easyspellingaid.com/

SightWords free and printable materials are designed to promote learning in the classroom and also at home. They have recently introduced a great new curriculum for teaching Phonemic Awareness (also called Pre-Phonics) to children.

The site's features include:

A Curriculum covering the full range of Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

Classroom-tested Lessons based on the latest research, complete with “how-to” videos

Printable picture cards, word lists, and game boards

Teaching Tips for tailoring games to the specific needs of your students

Application URL: http://www.sightwords.com/phonemic-awareness/

Ghotit Real Writer assists people with dyslexia and dysgraphia in their English writing and text correction.

The application corrects badly spelled words, confused words, homophones, grammar, and punctuation like no other writing assistance tool and offers advanced word prediction with grammar and phonetics awareness capabilities.

The main features:
- Phonetic and context-sensitive spell checker;
- Word-Prediction with grammar and phonetics awareness;
- Quick-Spell Word-Prediction with instant correction for creative/phonetic writers;
- Advanced grammar and punctuation corrector;
- Effective proofreader;
- Speak as you write (speech feedback);
- Reading assistance with dual highlighting;
- Independent text editor;
- Importing and sharing of text with other iPad applications;
- Integrated dictionaries;
- US, UK, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and South African English dictionaries;
- AirPrint compatible.

Application URL: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ghotit-real-writer/id956782250

Write in Style is every writer’s best friend. Smart text prediction helps you write in selectable styles, fast and without typos. Writers and bloggers can write in the style of their favorite authors. How would Jane Austen finish this sentence? How would the president phrase the next few words? Write in Style has the answers!

Write in Style combines the gray text suggestions known from search engines with the simplicity of a free text area. As you write, the next few words are always predicted and laid out in front of you. Arrow keys help you find fitting alternatives and when you’re done, you can export the text directly to your email or wherever you need it.

The best thing is that you can select from a variety of topics, styles and languages to get suggestions fitting your needs:

Available styles: W. Shakespeare, J. Austen, F. Nietzsche, F. Kafka, A. Dumas

Available languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Catalan, Danish

Available topics: Political Speech, Basic.

Application URL: http://www.gerlingo.com

Promptoo...The Actor's Toolkit. Bringing the actor's script into the 21st century.

The app help actors to read and learn a script in a more time effective way, specialising in the needs of actors with reading disabilities to help neutralize their difficulties with reading, learning, and rehearsing text.

Promptoo is a valuable aid for any actor, it allows you to customise the entire script; from changing each characters font to adding notes, Promptoo can even read out your script, making learning and rehearsing on your own an easier task.

Application URL: https://appadvice.com/app/promptoo/1140405234

Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 7.0 or later.

Created by a doctor to help his son learn to read, this multi-book adventure starts with a few simple words on each page. Gradually the simplistic cartoon façade falls away to reveal a thought-provoking plot that champions loyalty and determination. You can also download books 2 and 3.

Application URL: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spy-sam-reading-book-1-big/id644904139

Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later.

This app teaches advanced reading and spelling skills to children and adults who struggle in those areas.

Application URL: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/learn-to-read-write-and-spell/id658169485?ls=1&mt=8

Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Requires iOS 5.1 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

This app introduces letter/sound relationships to help kids with reading.

Application URL: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/reading-intro-by-oz-phonics/id564753775?mt=8

Requirements vary.

Hemingway is an advanced text editor. It edits documents such as essays, reports, letters, and email messages for grammar mistakes, hard-to-read sentences, uses of passive voice, and much more.

Application URL: http://www.hemingwayapp.com/

Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later.

This app provides a unique and fun way to learn and practice math. Join Jack on his epic adventure of mathematical proportions as it unfolds one step at a time.

Application URL: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jack-beanstalk-mathematical/id682232291?ls=1&mt=8

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Apps for Dyslexia and Learning Disabilities

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The following is an extensive and meticulously organized list of apps that may be helpful to individuals with dyslexia, parents of dyslexics, or the professionals who work with dyslexics (teachers, tutors, reading specialists, etc.). We carefully consider each app before we add it, ensuring that it claims to help dyslexics in ways that are in line with the evidence on how to help dyslexics.

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Tech Tools That Have Transformed Learning With Dyslexia | MindShift | KQED News

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Tech Tools That Have Transformed Learning With Dyslexia | MindShift | KQED News

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Press photo from "The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia." ( Shadow Creek Films)

Fifth-grade teacher Kyle Redford remembers with emotion the day she unwittingly put an iPad in the hands of one of her 10-year-old dyslexic students, a day she called "a complete game changer."

While the rest of the class was working in a writers workshop, she handed the student an iPad and told him to try and experiment with its speech-to-text feature. With minimal expectations, Redford figured that the newness and the boy's curiosity would at least keep him busy during writing time, which he usually found frustrating.

While Redford described the boy as "very bright," he "couldn't even compose a sentence to save his life" because of his dyslexia. Any classroom assignment having to do with writing made him moody. So, as Redford guided the rest of the class through the workshop, the student stepped outside the classroom and spoke his ideas for his writing assignment into the iPad.

At first, it was difficult. Redford said earlier versions of voice-to-text had a hard time picking up the sounds of young male voices, and some of his sentences ended up translating into hilarious results. But the student, who soon began a quest for Siri to understand him, asked Redford if he could keep trying. Before long, he was completing all his writing assignments through the iPad, and showing the other dyslexic students in his class how to use it, too.

"Some of my most brilliant kids in the class, put them on an iPad, and say, 'Speak into this,' " she said. "The same kid who would give me one incomplete sentence is now telling me in complete paragraphs exactly what he knows."

Redford herself has a grown dyslexic son, Dylan, and has been a fierce champion of dyslexia awareness for more than two decades - a journey she speaks about candidly in the HBO documentary " The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia." The documentary was made with the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, where Redford serves as education editor, and it was directed by her husband, James Redford.

Kyle Redford said there is no doubt that technology has changed the lives of those who struggle to read and write, and that educators should embrace the changes. In articles for the Yale Center, she outlines in detail how to help struggling readers with classroom assignments - many with the aid of technology - and in one piece she even says good riddance to mandatory cursive. For dyslexics, a keyboard and spellcheck allow them to express their ideas without such monumental effort.

School psychologist and dyslexia expert Martha Youman often gives ideas and suggestions for how teachers at her middle school can make accommodations to dyslexic students using technology.

"I tell them, don't ask this student to write something long, because he's going to do a terrible job. He's going to spend way too much time trying to spell everything correctly," she said. "Let him take a screen shot on his phone, because it's not that important for him to transcribe something."

But in order for teachers to really embrace how tech can help their students with learning differences, Youman said schools must let go of expectations that each student is going to get to the same place in the same way. She said resistance often comes from a misunderstanding that it's somehow "cheating" when dyslexics use technology as an aid.

But thinking of accommodations as cheating highlights a fundamental misconception about dyslexic students and schoolwork: Most dyslexic students don't have a problem understanding information; their issues lie with getting information through reading or sharing information through writing. It's why, as Redford said, technologies that allow dyslexic students to record classes and speak essays into tablets may be the biggest game changers of all.
The Rise of Technology
Part of what makes dyslexia such a challenge is that, even with years of intervention and tutoring, reading and writing may continue to be a lifelong struggle because of the dyslexic brain's unique setup. Even more than 30 years ago, when the Strategic Alternative Learning Techniques Center (SALT) at the University of Arizona was founded to support those with learning and attention differences through college, founder Eleanor Harner's first hire was an educational technology specialist. Rudy Molina, current director and former student at the SALT Center, said even then Harner understood that computer technology would bridge the gap for struggling college students.

"The spirit behind hiring the technical specialist first was that technology can help students learn," Molina said. "The conversation hasn't changed much in how it's used, but the sheer number of technologies for dyslexics has grown." The current tech team at SALT sifts through all the latest apps and gadgets to help students determine which option is best for them to use.

College students with learning differences flock to SALT, a full-service student support center that served 600 students the last school year, with an 80-student waitlist. Molina said that while most think of SALT as a tutoring center, what it actually provides is much more comprehensive: In addition to tutoring, specialists help college students with educational planning, organization and managing their technology. Today's college students not only have to worry about their studies, but their online life, too - which is where most college interactions take place.

"One good example is CatMail," Molina said, referring to the university's official email program. "You'd be amazed at how many - hundreds of emails coming in for each student. It's overwhelming," especially for students who take much longer to read. Strategic learning specialists help students organize their inboxes, tagging and color-coding emails not to be missed, especially from professors.

And technology for note-taking, Molina said, is critical because it's probably the most used skill on campus. Students with legible writing use LiveScribe Smartpen, a small computer located inside a pen that records and saves what students hear while taking notes as well as what they write into a notebook. Students can go back to any place in their written notes and tap on it, and the Smartpen will play the notes that were being said at that moment. For students like him whose handwriting wasn't legible, Molina said, simple digital audio recording worked just as well.
Helpful Tech Tools
Speech-to-Text*
Apps like Dragon Dictation or Google's VoiceNote allow students to record their voices and turn their speech into text. This helps dyslexic students who have trouble with writing to compose essays or compositions.

KurzweilAccording to Mary Beth Foster, educational technology coordinator at the SALT Center, the Kurzweil software, with study skills features and Texthelp Read and Write, are "phenomenal." "Students can highlight different colors, add sticky and voice notes, and extract all the notes and highlights into a separate study guide," she said. "Files can also be exported into sound files like mp3."

WhisperSync
This Amazon app allows readers to switch between reading and listening to a book. For those whose slow reading can be exhausting, they can switch to audio to listen for a while.

Audiobooks with Accompanying Readers
Amazon's Immersion Reading and VOICEText by Learning Ally both allow readers to read and listen to a story at the same time. Each comes with a highlighted text feature that helps dyslexic students follow along, allowing them to read books at the level of their peers.

Livescribe Smartpen
A special computerized pen that allows students to record what's being said, as well as what they're writing. They can tap the pen on any written note to replay what was said while they were writing.

With its handy lists of confusable words and context-sensitive help text, these mini-electronic dictionaries also offer spellcheck, print and cursive options for words, and an arithmetic tutor.

Free Options Already on Computers
Foster also said that many students are surprised to learn that there are free options already on their computers to help with reading and writing. For Windows, students add "Speak" to the Customized Access Toolbar; for Mac, choose "Dictation and Speech" in System Preferences. And for Google Docs, search for "Voice Typing," available in a Chrome browser.

Update: If there are tools missing from this list, please add them in the comments section. We'd love to hear about others!
*Note: A previous version of this post named this category as "Text-to-Speech". We regret this error.
Tech Tools That Have Transformed Learning With Dyslexia

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Tech Tools That Have Transformed Learning With Dyslexia

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Fifth-grade teacher Kyle Redford remembers with emotion the day she unwittingly put an iPad in the hands of one of her 10-year-old dyslexic students, a day she called "a complete game changer." While the rest of the class was working in a writers workshop, she handed the student an iPad and told him to try and experiment with its speech-to-text feature.

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Control Alt Achieve: 21 Chrome Extensions for Struggling Students and Special Needs

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Control Alt Achieve: 21 Chrome Extensions for Struggling Students and Special Needs

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Chrome Extensions for Struggling Students and Special Needs

Technology can be a powerful tool to assist students when learning, as it provides accessibility and accommodations to support everyone. In particular the Chrome web browser allows users to install a wide variety of web extensions that provide tools that can help all learners.

In this blog post we will take a look at dozens of Chrome web extensions and apps and other tools and features that can assist students in seven main categories:

🗣️ Text to Speech

☑️ Behavior, Focus, and Organization

Some of the tools fit into more than one topic, but each is only listed once. Certainly this list does not cover all of the useful web extensions and tools available for learners, but it is a great place to begin.

In addition to the list of extensions and tools, I have also linked in the video from a webinar I did on " Google Tools to Support All Learners" along with my ever-growing resource document and slideshow from the session.

▶️ Training Video (54 minutes)

🗣️ Text to Speech Tools

Read&Write for Google Chrome
Chrome web extension link
The "Swiss Army Knife" of extensions with tools including word prediction, dictionary, picture dictionary, text to speech, screenshot reader, speech maker, screen mask, translator, highlighters, voice note, and more. Works on webpages, PDFs, Google Docs, and Google Slides.
Note: There is a paid version with all the tools and a free version with a subset of the tools. Educators can get the paid version for a year at no cost by filling out the form at: https://www.texthelp.com/products/free-for-teachers/

The Immersive Reader extension can read aloud any text you have selected, as well as providing additional reading supports. These include Text Preferences to change the text size, increase or decrease spacing, change fonts, and colors, Grammar Options to break words into syllables, as well as color code and label the parts of speech, and Reading Preferences to turn on or off the picture dictionary option, and to select the language for translation.

Read Aloud
Chrome web extension link
This text-to-speech extension will read either the entire page or just the text that you have selected. In addition to the normal options to adjust the speed, pitch, and volume of the voice, the best feature is the wide collection of high-quality voices to choose from.

Announcify
Chrome web extension link
This is another text to speech tool that not only reads a webpage, but also removes distracting elements from the site. The only drawback is the inability to select specific text to read, as the entire page is read aloud.

ChromeOS Select-to-Speak

If you have a Chromebook, there is a built in tool for text-to-speak called " Select-to-speak". Nothing needs to be installed. It just needs to be turned on.

First click in the bottom right corner of your Chromebook screen to open the system menu.

Here click on the "Accessibility" icon.

Note: If you do not see the "Accessibility" icon you can click on the gear to go into the advanced settings to turn it on.

Now from the "Accessibility" menu click on the "Select-to-speak" option.

This will put a little speaker icon down in the bottom right corner.

Anytime you need to have something read aloud, just click the icon and drag your mouse to select the text you want to hear.

Using the toolbar you can also pause, change speeds, and jump forwards and backwards through the text.

Docs Voice Typing is not an extension that needs to be installed, but instead is actually built right into Google Docs and Google Slides. With voice typing you can simply speak and anything you say will automatically be typed for you.

When we are in a Google Doc we click the "Tools" menu and then choose "Voice Typing" from the drop down menu.

This will open up a floating microphone.

To start dictating to the document, we simply click the microphone icon.

Now anything you say will automatically be typed into the document.

In addition to words, you are also able to say punctuation. For a full list of all the commands you can speak, click the question mark icon below the microphone, and this will open up a help menu with all of the details.

When done, we just click the microphone again to stop the speech to text.

VoiceIn Voice Typing
Chrome web extension link
This speech-to-text extension allows the user to dictate text for any text box or text entry portion of a web page. You can either click the extension or right-click and choose "Start recording" to use it. Be sure to click the extension again to turn off the speech-to-text function when done.

Chromebook Dictation Tool

First click in the bottom right corner of your Chromebook screen to open the system menu.

Here click on the "Accessibility" icon.

Note: If you do not see the "Accessibility" icon you can click on the gear to go into the advanced settings to turn it on.

Now from the "Accessibility" menu click on the "Dictation" option to enable speech to text.

This will put a little microphone icon down in the bottom right corner.

Anytime you need to do speech to text just click on the "Dictation" icon and start speaking.

Anything you say will automatically be typed into the computer wherever you are.

This works in websites, documents, forms, and more.

If you are using a Chromebook there is actually a speech to text tool built right in. Nothing needs to be installed. It just needs to be turned on.

Present your slideshow as normal.

Click the "3-dots" button on the navigation bar.

Choose "Captions preference" and then toggle on the captions.

As you speak your words will be live captioned and will display on the screen.

Using the same menu you can adjust the size and position of the captions.

Live captions are available in several Google products including Slides and Meet. In Google Slides you can display live captions as follows:

👓 Readability Tools

Lexend fonts are intended to reduce visual stress and so improve reading performance. Initially they were designed with dyslexia and struggling readers in mind, but Bonnie Shaver-Troup, creator of the Lexend project, soon found out that these fonts are also great for everyone else.

Mercury Reader
Chrome web extension link
Make any website easier to read by removing ads, comments, and all other distractions, so just the core content remains. Users can also adjust the font size and color scheme of the new text.

Chrome web extension link
Override all fonts on a webpage with the OpenDyslexic font, making the text more easily readable.

Dyslexia Friendly
Chrome web extension link
This extension replaces the fonts on a web page with either OpenDyslexic or Comic Sans, and provides a horizontal shaded bar to help the user stay on the correct line when reading. The only drawback is there is no easy way to toggle it on and off, so you will want to use an extension management tool to let you turn it off when not in use.

WaspLine Reader
Chrome web extension link
This tool creates a more readable version of a web page by applying color gradients that make it easier for the eyes to chain together the ending of a line with the beginning of the next.

Color Overlay is a filter which puts a tint on your browser viewport to make text more readable. This could be used by people suffering by visual distortions reading the content on the normal background (Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome). The colored overlay can improve reading abilities of such users by reducing or eliminate perceptual processing errors.

ATbar
Chrome web extension link
Similar to the Color Overlay extension, this toolbar can generate color overlays for webpages, but also has features for a dictionary, text to speech, word prediction, and more.

MagicScroll Web Reader
Chrome web extension link
Turn web pages into a flippable e-book with easy clickable or keyboard control, as well as control over font size and page color as well.

Chrome web extension link
This screen overlay tool darkens out the page except for a horizontal band you can move up and down as you read, helping the student focus.

High Contrast
Chrome web extension link
This tool can make webpages easier to read by changing the colors to increase contrast, invert the colors, or switch to gray-scale.

Color Enhancer
Chrome web extension link
For people who are partially color-blind, this tool can help adjust and improve webpage colors.

Additional ChromeOS Features

📗 Reading Comprehension Tools

Google Dictionary
Chrome web extension link
Don't get stuck on an unknown word. Double-click on any word to get a pop-up definition, as well as spoken pronunciation for many words.

SMMRY
Chrome bookmark link
While not technically an extension, this tool functions very much like one and is launched from your Chrome bookmarks bar. Summarize any online article with a simple click of the SMMRY bookmark link. This will generate a simplified version with fewer sentences (7 by default) and just the most important information. Settings can be adjusted for longer or shorter summaries, as well as emphasis on certain desired words..

The QuillBot Chrome extension will summarize text as a new paragraph or by key sentences, in multiple levels of length. Sign in with your Google account for free to be able to summarize texts up to 5,000 characters at a time.

Auto Highlight
Chrome web extension link
This extension takes a different approach to summarizing. Instead of removing the non-essential portions of the text, it highlights what is most important. This allows the reader to still look at the rest of the article if needed. Three levels of highlighting can be chosen.

Behaviour, Focus, and Organization Tools

Simple Blocker
Chrome web extension link
This tool helps students to stay focused on their work by blocking distracting websites. The user can choose the sites to block, how long to block them, and optional password protection.

uBlock Origin
Chrome web extension link
A simple but powerful ad-blocking extension to help remove distracting ads from websites, making pages less cluttered and easier to read.

Move It
Chrome web extension link
For students who need a break, this extension can be set to periodically have them stop working and do something physical for a moment.

Google Keep
Chrome web extension link
Keep allows users to save and retrieve any information they come across including text, links, pictures, speech, handwriting, doodles, and more. The tool works as an extension, web site, Android app, and iOS app, and integrates into Google Docs, Slides, and Drawings.

Ambient audio sites and tools can let students create their own custom mix of background sounds to help them concentrate and drown out potentially distracting noises.

Pear Deck lets you add interactive elements to your slides including multiple choice, text entry, numeric entry, drawing, and draggable activities.

You can insert pre-made template slides provided in the Add-on.

Or you can add interactive elements to slides you have already created.

When you present the slideshow through the Pear Deck Add-on, students join the presentation and can interact with it.

You can show students responses by clicking the "Show Responses" button in the bottom right corner of the screen. Responses can be shown individually or aggregated together to look for patterns.

Pear Deck Webinar (1 hour) - Blog post

Pear Deck Add-on for Slides

This extension can make it easier for students to locate their mouse cursor by allowing them to customize the size and look of the mouse cursor.

Click-free Browsing
Chrome web extension link
For users who have a difficulty clicking a mouse, this extension adds on-screen navigation buttons the user can simply hover over to use.

Vimium
Chrome web extension link
Provides keyboard shortcuts for navigation and control for someone with difficulty using a mouse.

CrxMouse
Chrome web extension link
Use mouse gestures to navigate including forward, backward, scrolling, refreshing, switching tabs, and more. The user can even program their own custom mouse gestures to open programs and perform other tasks.

Caret Browsing
Chrome web extension link
This extension gives you a movable cursor in any web page, allowing you to move through the text with your arrows keys and select text with the keyboard.

Additional ChromeOS Features

Tools to support learners are constantly being created and improved, so be sure to check back often as I continue to update my resource documents " Google Tools to Support all Learners". And be sure to let me know of any tools you would recommend for the list. I look forward to learning from you!

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Chrome Extensions for Struggling Students and Special Needs

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Technology can be a powerful tool to assist students when learning, as it provides accessibility and accommodations to support everyone. In...

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ChromeVox Next Screen Reader for Chrome OS (beta).

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Type with your voice - Docs editors Help

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Type with your voice - Docs editors Help

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You can use your voice to type and edit your document in Google Docs and your speaker notes and captions in Google Slides.

This feature works with the latest versions of:

When you turn on voice typing or captions, your web browser controls the speech-to-text service. It determines how your speech is processed and then sends the text to Google Docs or Google Slides.

Tip: If this feature is not enabled in your organization, it may have been turned off by your administrator.

Step 1: Turn on your microphone

To use voice typing or voice commands, your computer microphone needs to be on and working.

Devices and microphones vary, so check your computer manual for instructions. Microphone settings are typically in the System Preferences on a Mac, or the Control Panel on a PC.

Step 2: Use voice typing

Type with your voice

Start voice typing in a document

1. Check that your microphone works.

2. Open a document in Google Docs with a Chrome browser.

3. Click Tools Voice typing. A microphone box appears.

4. When you're ready to speak, click the microphone.

5. Speak clearly, at a normal volume and pace (see below for more information on using punctuation).

6. When you're done, click the microphone again.

Start voice typing in Slides speaker notes

1. Check that your microphone works.

2. Open a presentation in Google Slides with a Chrome browser.

3. Click Tools Voice type speaker notes. The speaker notes open, and a microphone box appears.

4. When you're ready to speak, click the microphone.

5. Speak clearly, at a normal volume and pace (see below for more information on using punctuation).

6. When you're done, click the microphone again.

Correct mistakes while voice typing

If you make a mistake while you're typing with your voice, you can move your cursor to the mistake and fix it without turning off the microphone.

After you correct the mistake, move the cursor back to where you want to continue.

To see a list of suggestions, right-click words underlined in gray.

Languages that work with voice typing

Voice typing works in these languages and accents:

Afrikaans, Amharic, Arabic, Arabic (Algeria), Arabic (Bahrain), Arabic (Egypt), Arabic (Israel), Arabic (Jordan), Arabic (Kuwait), Arabic (Lebanon), Arabic (Morocco), Arabic (Oman), Arabic (Palestine), Arabic (Qatar), Arabic (Saudi Arabia), Arabic (Tunisia), Arabic (United Arab Emirates), Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bahasa Indonesia, Basque, Bengali (Bangladesh), Bengali (India), Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Hong Kong), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English (Australia), English (Canada), English (Ghana), English (India), English (Ireland), English (Kenya), English (New Zealand), English (Nigeria), English (Philippines), English (South Africa), English (Tanzania), English (UK), English (US), Farsi, Filipino, Finnish, French, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Italian (Italy), Italian (Switzerland), Japanese, Javanese, Kannada, Khmer, Korean, Laotian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Malaysian, Marathi, Nepali, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Serbian, Sinhala, Spanish, Spanish (Argentina), Spanish (Bolivia), Spanish (Chile), Spanish (Colombia), Spanish (Costa Rica), Spanish (Ecuador), Spanish (El Salvador), Spanish (Spain), Spanish (US), Spanish (Guatemala), Spanish (Honduras), Spanish (Latin America), Spanish (Mexico), Spanish (Nicaragua), Spanish (Panama), Spanish (Paraguay), Spanish (Peru), Spanish (Puerto Rico), Spanish (Uruguay), Spanish (Venezuela), Sundanese, Swahili (Kenya), Swahili (Tanzania), Swedish, Tamil (India), Tamil (Malaysia), Tamil (Singapore), Tamil (Sri Lanka), Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu (India), Urdu (Pakistan), Vietnamese, Zulu.

Add punctuation

You can use different phrases to add punctuation to your text. Punctuation might not be available in every language:

Period

Comma

Exclamation point

Question mark

New line

New paragraph

Step 3: Use voice commands

After you start voice typing, you can use commands to edit and format your document. For example, "Select paragraph," "italics," or "Go to the end of the line."

Tips:

Voice commands are available only in English. The account language and document language must both be English.

Voice commands are not available in Slides speaker notes.

Select text

To select text, say these commands:

Select [word or phrase]

Select all

Select all matching text

Select list item

Select list items at current level

Select next character

Select next [number] characters

Select last character

Select last [number] characters

Select line

Select next line

Select next [number] lines

Select last line

Select last [number] lines

Select paragraph

Select next paragraph

Select next [number] paragraphs

Select last paragraph

Select last [number] paragraphs

Select word

Select next word

Select next [number] words

Select last word

Select last [number] words

Deselect

Unselect

Select none

Format your document

To format your document, say these commands:

Text formatting

Apply heading [1-6]

Apply normal text

Apply subtitle

Apply title

Bold

Italicize

Italics

Strikethrough

Subscript

Superscript

Underline

Uppercase

Title case

Lowercase

Text color and highlighting

Text color [color]

Highlight

Highlight [color]

Background color [color]

Remove highlight

Remove background color

Tip: The colors available are: red, red berry, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, cornflower blue, purple, magenta, black, white, and gray. For all colors except black and white, you can add "light" or "dark" along with numbers 1-3 (for gray, 1-4), such as "dark purple 3." If you say "highlight" by itself, the highlighting color is yellow.

Font size

Decrease font size

Increase font size

Font size [6-400]

Make bigger

Make smaller

Paragraph formatting

Decrease indent

Increase indent

Line spacing [1-100]

Line spacing double

Line spacing single

Alignment

Align center

Align justified

Align left

Align right

Center align

Left align

Right align

Columns

Apply 1 column

Apply 2 columns

Apply 3 columns

Column options

Insert column break

Lists

Create bulleted list

Create numbered list

Insert bullet

Insert number

Remove formatting

Clear formatting

Remove formatting

Remove bold

Remove italics

Remove strikethrough

Remove underline

Edit your document

To edit your document, say these commands:

Copy

Cut

Paste

Delete

Delete last word

Delete [word or phrase]

Insert link [then say the URL you want to use]

Copy link

Delete link

Insert table of contents

Delete table of contents

Update table of contents

Insert comment [then say your comment]

Insert bookmark

Insert equation

Insert footer

Insert footnote

Insert header

Insert horizontal line

Insert page break

Tips:

If you say "Delete" by itself, you delete the word before the cursor.

If you select the text of a URL and say "Insert link," the selected text becomes a hyperlink.

Add and edit tables

To add and edit tables, say these commands:

Insert table

Insert table [1-20] rows by [1-20] columns

Insert row

Insert column

Insert new column

Insert new column on the left

Insert new row

Insert new row above

Insert new row below

Delete column

Delete row

Delete table

Remove column

Remove row

Remove table

Exit table

Move around your document

To move around your document, say these commands:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Example:
Go to end of paragraph

Go to

Move to

end of

start of

paragraph

column

line

row

table

document

Go to

Move to

next

previous

character

column

footnote

formatting change

heading

heading [1-6]

image

line

link

list

list item

misspelling

paragraph

row

table

word

page

Go

Move

forward

backward

[number] characters

[number] words

Go

Move

up

down

[number] lines

[number] paragraphs

Scroll

Stop voice typing

To stop voice typing, say "Stop listening."

Resume voice typing

To move the cursor to the end of the paragraph and start voice typing again, say "Resume."

To move the cursor to the end of a particular word or phrase, say "Resume with [word or phrase]."

Here are all the commands you can say to resume voice typing:

Resume

Resume with [word or phrase]

Go to the end of the paragraph

Move to the end of the paragraph

Go to the end of the line

Move to the end of the line

Go to [word]

Commands to open help

To open a list of voice commands in your document, say these commands:

Voice typing help

Voice commands list

See all voice commands

Speak (for accessibility)

To use these commands, turn on screen reader support. It's best to wear headphones so the screen reader feedback isn't typed into your document.

Speak cursor location

Speak from cursor location

Speak selection

Speak selection formatting

Speak table row and column headers

Speak table cell location

Speak table column header

Speak table row header

Troubleshoot

If voice typing isn't working, try these steps.

"We're having trouble hearing you"

If you see an error message that says "We're having trouble hearing you," try the following:

Move to a quiet room.

Plug in an external microphone.

Adjust the input volume on your microphone.

The microphone isn't working

If you can't get the microphone to work on your computer, try the following:

Make sure that the microphone isn't broken.

Check your microphone settings in your computer system preferences.

Check that your microphone is plugged in and is not being used by another application.

Move to a quiet room.

Restart your computer.

Voice commands aren't working

If voice commands aren't working, try the following:

Speak more slowly and clearly

Pause before and after each command. The text of your command might show in the document for a moment. For example, if you say "select all," the words "select all" show up before your text is selected.

The microphone shows a bubble containing the most recent command. Verify that Docs or Slides heard the right command. If not, you can simply say "Undo."

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You can use your voice to type and edit your document in Google Docs and your speaker notes and captions in Google Slides. This feature works with the latest versions of: Chrome Edge Safari

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Snap&Read offers the most complete reading toolkit available to meet the different ways students learn today.

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Free Technology for Teachers: Read&Write Assistive Technology App

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Free Technology for Teachers: Read&Write Assistive Technology App

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Read and Write is an extension from texthelp that is designed to help students feel more confident with reading and writing. Teachers can get free access by installing the extension then filling out a request on this page. Once you complete this step, your trial account will be converted to a premium account for one full year.

This assistive technology app makes text more accessible for students. One of the features of this app is that it include the both text and picture dictionaries. Students highlight a word and then they can either view the definition of the word or view an image that represents the word. Students can also use the FactFinder button to access a Google search that contains a highlighted word. There is another feature that allows students to highlight text and collect it in a new Google Doc or opt to have the words turned into a vocabulary list. If they choose the vocabulary option, a Google Doc is automatically generated which contains a table and has a column for the word, its meaning, a symbol for the word, and a blank column where students can write notes or use the word in a sentence.

One of the most useful aspects of Read&Write is the read back feature. This feature allows the students to select text on a Google Docs, website and common file types to be selected and read back to them.

Applications for Education
Students of all ages could benefit from some or all of the features found in this app. Students who are learning how to read or who struggle with reading can use Read&Write to have text read to them at their own pace. Students could use this app to create their own customized vocabulary lists.

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Read and Write is an extension from texthelp that is designed to help students feel more confident with reading and writing. Teachers can get free access by installing the extension then filling out a request on this page. Once you complete this step, your trial account will be converted to a premium account for one full year.

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Free Technology for Teachers: Read & Write - An Accessibility App for Google Docs

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Free Technology for Teachers: Read & Write - An Accessibility App for Google Docs

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Read & Write is a free Google Chrome Web App that increases the accessibility of the text of documents in your Google Drive account. After installing the app you will see a Read & Write tab appear at the top of your browser window whenever you have a document open in Google Drive. Clicking that Read & Write tab will open a menu of accessibility options.

Some of the accessibility options include a picture dictionary and a talking dictionary. To use either dictionary just highlight a word then click on the dictionary that you want to use. The dictionary that you select will pop-up in your document. Read & Write will also read the text of your documents aloud. In the settings menu you can select from nine voices and three playback speeds. Learn more about Read & Write in the video below.

Thanks to Jen Deyenberg for sharing this handy Chrome app.

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Read & Write - An Accessibility App for Google Docs

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Read & Write is a free Google Chrome Web App that increases the accessibility of the text of documents in your Google Drive account. After installing the app you will see a Read & Write tab appear at the top of your browser window whenever you have a document open in Google Drive.

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Free Technology for Teachers: Google's Guides to G Suite Accessibility Options

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Free Technology for Teachers: Google's Guides to G Suite Accessibility Options

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Google offers two G Suite accessibility guides. There is a guide for administrators and there is a guide for users.

The G Suite user guide to accessibility is designed for end users. The user guide is divided into sixteen sections. In the first section you will find recommendations for the best screen readers to use while using G Suite on Mac, Windows, and Chrome OS computers. The other sections of the guide are devoted to specific products within the G Suite including Google Classroom. Each section contains information on accessibility shortcuts, screen reader instructions for each app, and in some sections you will find how to videos like this one for using a screen reader with Google Docs.

The G Suite administrator guide to accessibility covers much of what you will find in the user guide, but also includes recommended settings to apply within your Google Apps admin console.

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Google's Guides to G Suite Accessibility Options

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Google offers two G Suite accessibility guides. There is a guide for administrators and there is a guide for users. The G Suite user guide to accessibility is designed for end users. The user guide is divided into sixteen sections.

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Free Technology for Teachers: How to Add Accessibility Options to Google Chrome

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Free Technology for Teachers: How to Add Accessibility Options to Google Chrome

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I was setting up a new Chromebook today with a brand new Google Account. One of the things that I did on that Chromebook was enable some accessibility options (more on Chromebook accessibility in a future post). The Chrome web browser supports a handful of accessibility options.

To enable accessibility options in the Chrome web browser visit the Chrome Web Store list of accessibility extensions. While signed into your Google Account select "Add to Chrome" listed next to any of the extensions.

In the video embedded below I provide a short overview of how to enable accessibility options in the Chrome web browser.

Join me at the Practical Ed Tech Chromebook Camp to learn more about using Chrome, Chromebooks, and Google Apps in your classroom.

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How to Add Accessibility Options to Google Chrome

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I was setting up a new Chromebook today with a brand new Google Account. One of the things that I did on that Chromebook was enable some accessibility options (more on Chromebook accessibility in a future post). The Chrome web browser supports a handful of accessibility options.

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Free Technology for Teachers: Google's Guides to Apps Accessibility

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Free Technology for Teachers: Google's Guides to Apps Accessibility

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This morning I received an email from a reader who wanted to know if I had any resources about user accessibility of Google Apps. I couldn't think of a better resource to share than Google's own guides to Google Apps accessibility.

Google offers two Google Apps accessibility guides. There is a guide for administrators and a guide for users.

The Google Apps user guide to accessibility is designed for end users. The user guide is divided into sixteen sections. In the first section you will find recommendations for the best screen readers to use while using Google Apps on Mac, Windows, and Chrome OS computers. The other sections of the guide are devoted to specific products within the Google Apps suite including Google Classroom. Each section contains information on accessibility shortcuts, screen reader instructions for each app, and in some sections you will find how to videos like this one for using a screen reader with Google Docs.

The Google Apps administrator guide to accessibility covers much of what you will find in the user guide, but also includes recommended settings to apply within your Google Apps admin console.

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This morning I received an email from a reader who wanted to know if I had any resources about user accessibility of Google Apps. I couldn't think of a better resource to share than Google's own guides to Google Apps accessibility. Google offers two Google Apps accessibility guides.

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Expanding Literacy for Learners with Intellectual Disabilities: The Role of Supported eText - Learning & Technology Library (LearnTechLib)

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Expanding Literacy for Learners with Intellectual Disabilities: The Role of Supported eText - Learning & Technology Library (LearnTechLib)

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Journal of Special Education Technology ISSN 0162-6434

Abstract

A series of single-subject experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of presentational, translational, illustrative, instructional, and summarizing supports on the reading and listening comprehension of students with moderate intellectual disabilities. The specific eText supports under investigation included digitized voice and text-to-speech, text highlighting, video summaries, text-linked photographs, and graphic organizers. Two eText supports were found to be effective in supporting text comprehension for this population: reading the text out loud (using either recorded voice or text-to-speech), and graphic organizers. The findings also revealed the importance of providing explicit instruction in how to use eText supports. The article summarizes six studies and discusses the implications of the results for students with moderate intellectual disabilities, their teachers, and their parents.

Citation

Douglas, K.H., Ayres, K.M., Langone, J., Bell, V. & Meade, C. (2009). Expanding Literacy for Learners with Intellectual Disabilities: The Role of Supported eText. Retrieved October 11, 2017 from Journal of Special Education Technology, 24(3), 35-44. https://www.learntechlib.org/p/108063/.

Keywords

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Expanding Literacy for Learners with Intellectual Disabilities: The Role of Supported eText

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A series of single-subject experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of presentational, translational, illustrative, instructional, and summarizing supports on the reading and listening comprehension of students with moderate intellectual disabilities. The specific eText supports under investigation included digitized voice and text-to-speech, text highlighting, video summaries, text-linked photographs, and graphic organizers.

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Supported eText: Effects of Text-to-Speech on Access and Achievement for High School Students with Disabilities - Learning & Technology Library (LearnTechLib)

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Supported eText: Effects of Text-to-Speech on Access and Achievement for High School Students with Disabilities - Learning & Technology Library (LearnTechLib)

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Journal of Special Education Technology ISSN 0162-6434

Abstract

Students with disabilities often lack the skills required to access the general education curriculum and achieve success in school and postschool environments. Evidence suggests that using assistive technologies such as digital texts and translational supports enhances outcomes for these students (Anderson-Inman & Horney, 2007). The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of a text-to-speech screen reader program on the academic achievement of high school students with disabilities in an online transition curriculum emphasizing information literacy. The text-to-speech support was introduced and withdrawn in a reversal design across 10 curriculum units. Findings suggest that the text-to-speech support increased unit quiz and reading comprehension performance with large effect sizes. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Citation

Izzo, M.V., Yurick, A. & McArrell, B. (2009). Supported eText: Effects of Text-to-Speech on Access and Achievement for High School Students with Disabilities. Retrieved October 11, 2017 from Journal of Special Education Technology, 24(3), 9-20. https://www.learntechlib.org/p/105162/.

Keywords

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Supported eText: Effects of Text-to-Speech on Access and Achievement for High School Students with Disabilities

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Students with disabilities often lack the skills required to access the general education curriculum and achieve success in school and postschool environments. Evidence suggests that using assistive technologies such as digital texts and translational supports enhances outcomes for these students (Anderson-Inman & Horney, 2007).

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Use of Text-to-speech Software to Improve Reading Skills of High School Struggling Readers - ScienceDirect

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Use of Text-to-speech Software to Improve Reading Skills of High School Struggling Readers - ScienceDirect

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Use of Text-to-speech Software to Improve Reading Skills of High School Struggling Readers - ScienceDirect

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The purpose of this paper is to present research findings on the effectiveness of a TTS software intervention in two pilot studies with approximately 104 high school students (grades 9-12) with a disability and at-risk for referral to special education services because of reading difficulties.

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Assistive Software Tools for Secondary-Level Students with Literacy Difficulties - Learning & Technology Library (LearnTechLib)

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Assistive Software Tools for Secondary-Level Students with Literacy Difficulties - Learning & Technology Library (LearnTechLib)

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Abstract

The present study assessed the compensatory effectiveness of four assistive software tools (speech synthesis, spellchecker, homophone tool, and dictionary) on literacy. Secondary-level students (N = 93) with reading difficulties completed computer-based tests of literacy skills. Training on their respective software followed for those assigned to the Assistive Software and the Microsoft Word Control groups. Posttests revealed an improvement for the Assistive Software group on reading comprehension, homophone error detection, spelling error detection, and word meanings. The Microsoft Word Control group also improved on spelling error detection and word meanings, but performed worse on homophone error detection. A Full Control group showed no significant improvements on any of the measures. Overall, results indicate a significant assistive value of the four software tools (from the software package Read & Write Gold, 2002) across several domains of literacy. (Contains 2 tables and 4 figures.)

Citation

Belson, S.I., Sherman, D.H.a.J., David Bruce, D.M.D.C., Sullivan, M., Belson, S.I., Sherman, D.H.a.J., David Bruce, D.M.D.C., Sullivan, M., Carol Sue Englert, M.M., Belson, S.I., Sherman, D.H.a.J., David Bruce, D.M.D.C., Sullivan, M., Carol Sue Englert, M.M., Belson, S.I., Sherman, D.H.a.J., David Bruce, D.M.D.C., Sullivan, M., Carol Sue Englert, M.M., Lange, A.A., McPhillips, M., Mulhern, G. & Wylie, J. (2006). Assistive Software Tools for Secondary-Level Students with Literacy Difficulties. Retrieved October 11, 2017 from Journal of Special Education Technology, 21(3), 13-22. https://www.learntechlib.org/p/100366/.

Keywords

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Assistive Software Tools for Secondary-Level Students with Literacy Difficulties

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The present study assessed the compensatory effectiveness of four assistive software tools (speech synthesis, spellchecker, homophone tool, and dictionary) on literacy. Secondary-level students (N = 93) with reading difficulties completed computer-based tests of literacy skills. Training on their respective software followed for those assigned to the Assistive Software and the Microsoft Word Control groups.

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Research Shows Text To Speech For eLearning Beneficial To Students - eLearning Industry

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Research Shows Text To Speech For eLearning Beneficial To Students - eLearning Industry

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I recently came across an article titled Don't Use Text To Speech Software For eLearning. In it, the author argues that using Text To Speech for eLearning can present information, but doesn't actually help students learn. He claims that only a good teacher or trained voice talent can successfully teach.

Working in the Text To Speech industry myself, I've spent a lot of time looking into why Text To Speech is used for eLearning purposes, and how it affects a student's learning experience.

First off, the why can be answered with one word, accessibility. Much like how eLearning makes education more accessible to students outside of the classroom, Text To Speech makes the content within an eLearning course more accessible to students by reading it out loud. This is especially beneficial to students with visual or learning disabilities.

Text To Speech is also an economical and time-saving solution when compared to hiring a voice talent. It is cheap and very easy to implement. Because of these reasons, we have seen many eLearning providers turn to Text To Speech to enunciate their courses.

The original article touches on all of these points and doesn't dispute them. However, the author goes on to say that learning does not easily take place with Text To Speech and compares it to a dry, mono-toned lecturer that is unable to engage with the listener. In short, he claims that Text To Speech doesn't positively benefit a student's learning experience.

First, as I mentioned earlier, I've looked a lot into how Text To Speech affects a students learning experience. Over the past decade a lot of research has been done on this topic. Overwhelmingly, the results show that Text To Speech is indeed beneficial to students and helps them learn. I'll highlight a few of these studies below.

Second, I disagree that Text To Speech is dry and can't engage with the listener. The technology has advanced greatly over the past few years and sounds incredibly realistic (if you choose a high-quality Text To Speech provider that is). A natural sounding Text To Speech voice can easily bring life to any text.

I'll touch on this later as well, but first, let's get to the research.

What Research Says About The Effectiveness Of Text To Speech

To start, a study published in the Journal of Special Education Technology wanted to see if Text To Speech improved literacy abilities. Students who had literacy difficulties were broken up into groups with one of the groups given assistive software (Text To Speech) to help them read. The students in assistive software group saw an improvement in reading comprehension, spelling error detection, and understanding word meanings. The rest of the students in the control groups saw no significant improvement in any of these areas.

Another study, which you can read in its entirety here, also tested the effects of Text To Speech on struggling high school readers. The results found that the participants using Text To Speech software with their reading materials had significantly improved their reading skills.

In these cases, being able to hear the text, as opposed to just reading it, significantly helped the students improve their reading comprehension. Even though it wasn't a real human reading out the text to them, they were still able to learn better thanks to the Text To Speech software.

Two more studies published in the Journal of Special Education Technology tested the effectiveness of Text To Speech for students with special needs.

The first one examined the effects of a Text To Speech screen reader on students who had learning disabilities ranging from traumatic brain injuries, autism, cognitive disabilities, and emotional disabilities. The results showed that the students using the Text To Speech reader had improved their performance in school. The researchers concluded Text To Speech positively affected the student's learning experience by helping them understand concepts better and keeping them motivated.

The other study involved giving students with moderate learning disabilities a reading in Microsoft Reader to go through while at home. Students who were provided with Text To Speech tools were better able to independently understand the information. This study showed that Text To Speech can help students with learning disabilities learn and study on their own.

Now, I'm not saying that the same results wouldn't have been achieved in each of these cases if a pre-recorded voice talent had read the text aloud. However, these studies did prove that Text To Speech technology on its own successfully helped the students learn. In each of these studies, as well as several others I've read, Text To Speech improved the student's learning experiences.

I have no doubt in saying that using Text To Speech for eLearning is beneficial to students. The claim that Text To Speech only presents information without actually teaching doesn't hold up against the research.

Text To Speech Voices Can Be Engaging

The other point I wanted to make was that Text To Speech technology has advanced enough that it can be very engaging, as opposed to dry and boring. Text To Speech might be known for the robotic sounding voices of the 90s, but times have certainly changed. High-quality voices can have a surprisingly human-like sound to them. Here's a short exert from a lesson about Benjamin Franklin. You can listen to it be read aloud by NeoSpeech's Julie voice here.

"Ben Franklin, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was also a scientist, philanthropist, statesman, civic leader, and diplomat. He is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States."

As you can hear for yourself, a modern, high-quality Text To Speech voice can sound very realistic, and a big part of that is because Julie's Text To Speech engine analyzes every piece of text it receives to understand the meaning and context of the text. Once the engine has applied meaning to each word and sentence, it inserts proper inflection, tone, and timing throughout the speech.

A side note on that point, notice that I said a high-quality Text To Speech voice can do those things. If you want your eLearning Text To Speech voice to be as engaging as possible, make sure you don't skimp out on quality.

The research shows that Text To Speech technology in eLearning is beneficial to students. The voices can be engaging which helps the students learn. Plus, a Text To Speech engine can instantly convert any length of text into speech, as opposed to a voice talent who has to be scheduled to perform a recording and is often much costlier than a Text To Speech solution.

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Research Shows Text To Speech For eLearning Beneficial To Students

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I recently came across an article titled Don't Use Text To Speech Software For eLearning. In it, the author argues that using Text To Speech for eLearning can present information, but doesn't actually help students learn. He claims that only a good teacher or trained voice talent can successfully teach.

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Digital Accessibility Toolkit: What Education Leaders Need to Know

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Digital Accessibility Toolkit: What Education Leaders Need to Know

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Free Technology for Teachers: Adapting by Using Voice Commands in Google Docs

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Free Technology for Teachers: Adapting by Using Voice Commands in Google Docs

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As I mentioned in my post about how medicine works, I injured my right hand on Friday evening. There are stitches in my hand which make it hard to type or use a mouse. To adapt, I'm slowly using a mouse with my left hand and using my voice to type in Google Docs. So far the only drawback to voice typing in Google Docs is that I can't play music on my computer at the same time without the input getting garbled. If you've never tried voice typing in Google Docs, watch my video embedded below to see how easy it is to use.

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Adapting by Using Voice Commands in Google Docs

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As I mentioned in my post about how medicine works, I injured my right hand on Friday evening. There are stitches in my hand which make it hard to type or use a mouse. To adapt, I'm slowly using a mouse with my left hand and using my voice to type in Google Docs.