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A typical classroom contains students with different needs, interests and abilities. To help them all to learn, more and more teachers are integrating technology in their classrooms. In special education, software such as TextAloud can be particularly beneficial.
This text-to-speech software helps all students to reap the full benefits from their computers, listening to everything from Internet pages and email to text documents and eBooks. By integrating technology into the daily curriculum, teachers can help special needs students feel more independent and empowered.
All students want to fit in - and in today's world, the Internet is where young people turn for information. For homework and any kind of classroom project, the world wide web can be an excellent source of material, and this is something that today's students are making the most of . Students with dyslexia, other reading difficulties or visual impairments are no different , but for them it can be very difficult to benefit from the Internet. The wealth of information that is available online means nothing when you can’t read it. Things that their peers may take for granted – email, forums, newsgroups, blogs and favorite websites – lose their charm when every word is a blur or a hurdle to be jumped.
TextAloud is an affordable and easy way to help your
students use the Internet, and enable them to keep learning in an independent
way. Here are some comments we've received from our users:
"I have a reading disability and dyslexia. TextAloud has enhanced my life and given me a way around things I once found difficult, like gathering information from the Internet, studying, or preparing for upcoming events."
- Eileen G.
"TextAloud is definitely the 'on-the-go' program for students
with disabilities. Most programs sold to districts with 'screen readers'
are stationary, found only on specific computers in the Special Ed room,
where children many times do not get to spend enough time for quality reading
or study. [With TextAloud on a laptop or portable music player] they can
listen to chapters, review daily notes, and review for tests on their own
time and in their own preferred study environment"
- JoEllen Waddell, Program Support Teacher for Wisconsin's Cooperative Educational
Service Agency 5.
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