A great challenge for many students with learning disabilities is putting the thoughts in their heads into coherent and compositions. Several types of assistive technology software can ease the writing process for individuals with learning disabilities, including voice recognition and text-to-speech programs.
Voice Recognition
In recent years, voice recognition software has increased in popularity and in quality. Many students with learning disabilities (LD) find it easier to speak their thoughts than to write them out, and many have experienced success in writing by being able to speak to the computer, rather than typing words out. The most popular voice recognition software programs are Dragon Dictate, Dragon Naturally Speaking (which has a version specifically for teenagers), IBM's ViaVoice , and Lernout and Hauspie's Voice Xpress .
The use of voice recognition is far from magical. Training the system to understand one's voice and the specific commands in each program require much time and patience. Furthermore, if the student using voice recognition is not familiar with computers or word processors, they will need more to learn than just how to talk to the computer, i.e., operating system basics, formatting, and spell-check features.
Tips for choosing a voice recognition program for students with LD are available from the Speaking to Write web site and from Douglas R. Bowes' Getting it Right and Making it Work ! Selecting the Right Speech Input Writing Software for Users with Special Needs . The SNOW Project at the University of Toronto also offers a manual titled Speech Recognition for Students with Severe Learning Disabilities . Constance McAvoy's article Making Writers from the December 1996 / January 1997 Closing the Gap also offers insights into using voice recognition with students with LD.
Text-to-Speech
Not only do students with LD benefit from speaking to the computer, they also benefit from the computer's talking to them. By having the computer read back their compositions, students with LD can locate errors in their writing and test the overall "flow" of their writing. Popular text-to-speech programs for students with LD are WriteOutLoud by Don Johnston and IntelliTalk from Intellitools. If the student uses a Mac, the SimpleText program which comes with the computer might suffice. Another option is a $10 shareware program, TextEdit, which is available from the Virtual Assistive Technology Center and other Mac shareware sites. The number of text-to-speech shareware and freeware programs for Windows seems to grow weekly. Doing a search for "speech" at sites such as www.hotfiles.com or www.shareware.com will find many free and inexpensive programs from which to choose. One benefit of choosing a freeware or shareware option is that one can try before
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