SpeakIt! Loud and Clear!!

One of the special needs teachers in my building came to see me today looking for options of software that would read text to her students. She showed me a few things she had found, but each was, of course, a purchase that needed to be made. Now consider that she has a few Android tablet devices in her room for student use, and multiply that purchase price by the number of devices. Dang!!

Once again, Google to the rescue. Since she came to visit I've been playing around with the SpeakIt! extension. What do I like best about it? Students select the text they want read back to them and simply click the extension in the bar and the reader begins. I like this much better than options I've seen that just read the entire page. If a students needs to hear a paragraph, or set of instructions, multiple times, IT'S POSSIBLE!

And the voice you hear almost sounds like a real person! The pronunciation is a little different on a few words, but for the most part students are going to get the information read back to them in a clear, precise, pleasant voice.

Now the cherry on top of the sundae: have you ever checked out the Bookshare website? This same teacher shared it with me. It is an accessible online library for people with special needs and it allows you to look up your book by title, author or ISBN. How great is that?

And if keeps getting better... This assistive technology that Google is providing us in the school, is also something parents or students could download and use at home! Is it Christmas today, or what!