Technology for Physical Disabilities
Dragon Naturally Speaking, Preferred
Voice to text software for dictating into your computer and having the speech recognized and converted to text; works in most Windows compatible programs. http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/.
ReadPlease 2003
This award winning text-to-speech software was developed in Canada and has an excellent free version with excellent pronunciation and natural sounding voices.
Pocket PC's and Other PDA's
Personal Digital Assistants, such as Pocket PCs and Palms, are very useful and versitile. Through features such as task lists, alarms, and calendars, they allow for outstanding mobile organization. Other features available on some models include wireless internet, built in digital cameras, the ability to play textbooks or papers in MP3 format, and when combined with a portable keyboard, they serve as the perfect notetaking device. In many cases students are able to replace their laptops with a Pocket PC or Palm. http://www.hp.ca/ipaq or http://www.palmone.com/ca
Inspiration
With the integrated Diagram and Outline Views, students create graphic organizers and expand topics into writing. This powerful combination encourages learning in multiple modes. As a result, students gain and retain a better understanding of concepts and demonstrate knowledge, improving their performance across the curriculum. A free trial version is available from their site. http://www.inspiration.com
Iris Pen
This product is a handheld scanner for entering text into your computer. The program also has a feature to read out loud the text which is scanned. Very useful when studying, to create study notes from a textbook. http://www.irisusa.com/
Zoomtext
Leading screen magnification and reading software. With the new ZoomText 9.0, seeing and hearing everything on your computer screen is now clearer than ever. The new xFont magnification displays high-definition text that you'll recognize effortlessly. With the new NeoSpeech synthesizers, your applications and documents are read aloud by friendly, human-sounding voices - right through your computer's speakers. And with ZoomText's productivity tools, finding what you're looking for is quick and easy.
http://www.aisquared.com/index.cfm
CCTV
Video magnifiers project printed material on a closed circuit television, or CCTV, monitor or regular television or computer screen; you can sit as close to the screen as necessary, and it can be adjusted for degree of magnification, brightness, contrast and even color. Primarily used to magnify the print in books and newspapers, it can also be used to write letters, and checks, and do different types of crafts like needlepoint
FM System
An assistive listening device which transmits speech picked up from a microphone on an FM radio frequency. The professor wears a tiny transmitter pack with microphone, and special receivers are worn by hard of hearing persons or deaf persons so that they can hear the transmitted message.
Portable Notetaker
These simple, low cost notetaking devices are lightweight and rugged. Although serving the same purpose, they are far less expensive than a laptop computer and run for 700 hours on simple AA batteries.Weighing less than 2 lbs. and virtually indestructible, it's an indispensable tool in and out of the classroom
