Technology to help students with learning disabilities is constantly being developed. Each year, and sometimes twice a year, the schools we've researched attend conferences during which new technology is presented. If you are not familiar with some of the technology offered by any of the schools, here are short descriptions of each one:
DRAGON NATURAL SPEAKING: Through voice recognition, students can talk essays out and let Dragon type it for them.
DRAGON LEGAL: Same as above but generally used by law students as it recognizes more legal terms.
SMARTPEN: A pen equipped with a camera, voice recorder, and computer that allows students to play back notes they just took.
KURZWEIL 3000: Students, specifically with dyslexia, can scan books into the device to have it read back to them.
JAWS: A device that reads back screens and books, generally used by blind/legally blind students.
RFB&D: Resources for the blind and dyslexic, including a reading of books. It is different from other programs in that the readings are recorded by a real person, with the stops at sentences and pauses at commas, instead of a monotone computer voice that goes word by word with no sentence structure.
ZOOMTEXT MAGNIFIER AND READER: Enlarges text for a clearer read and also reads back to you. It can be used for documents, web pages, and e-mail.
WINDOWS EYES: Considered the most effective screen reading device for windows vista. It allows blind/visually impaired people to access windows applications by providing screen reading, voice playback, and enhanced Braille support.
DUXBURY BRAILLE TRANSLATOR: Used by many leading Braille publishers to translate languages into Braille. It has the most translations of any Braille software. It has grade 1 and grade 2 translations in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Arabic, Malaysian, Swedish, and others.
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