Dyslexia Text to Speech Software
Text to Speech Software
Text to speech software is a computer program that reads your documents, Web pages, emails, or eBooks out loud. By listening to these documents while following along reading the text, your comprehension level will increase dramatically. When reading online, text to speech software can help you read and comprehend information at a much faster rate. Many of these programs now allow you to convert text files to audio files, MP3 files, or wave files, which make it easier to listen to your papers, documents, eBooks, or other materials on your iPod or MP3 player. You can actually go for a walk or run while listening to your paper, textbook, or eBook on your iPod.
Software can also assist you while writing papers. One excellent feature found on many of these software programs is “typing echo”, which allows you to hear every word as you type a document. In addition, the program also reads every sentence out loud as you type. Another great feature is “word prediction” that occurs while you write. Word prediction utilizes a visual box that appears while you type and actually predicts the word that you may want to use in structuring your sentence. The program actually predicts the word as you type it, with sometimes as many as 9 different options. Some Reading & Writing programs also feature a talking dictionary. Below, we recommend many text to speech software options to assist you with some offering the latest technology, while others fit within a limited budget.
NaturalReader,Education Gold, or silver
For PC & Mac
Gold version:$99.99 (comes with 1,000 free ebooks)
Silver version:$69.99 ( comes with 100 free ebooks)
http://www.naturalreaders.com/edu_gold.htm Introduce Education Gold to your child and help them understand and become proficient with the software. Spend time together on the Internet looking for eBooks, web sites, stories, and documents that are of interest to your child and then let Education Gold help open up their world. Using Education Gold routinely will help your child improve in reading, comprehension, spelling and overall self-confidence while reducing their reading frustrations.
TextHelp’ Read & Write
For mac & PC
Read&Write 9 Single User: US$365
Read&Write 9 GOLD: US$645
http://www.texthelp.com/page.asp?pg_id=10060/ Read&Write is a literacy support software solution for people who struggle with reading and writing. Read&Write has been designed to help improve reading & writing skills, with features such as text to speech with highlighting, talking dictionary, phonetic spell checking, word prediction & homophone support to address key aspects of reading and writing processes.
ConfidentReader
Personal: $69.00
Professional edition: $99.00
http://www.confidentreader.com is the assistive reading software designed to help people with dyslexia improve their reading and spelling skills. Hear It, See It, Read It: ConfidentReader turns written text into natural sounding human speech. You’ll find your comprehension and reading improves as you hear the material, simultaneously see the words highlight on your screen, and read along. This plays to your strengths to help you boost your performance. ConfidentReader can read electronic textbooks, PDF files, Microsoft WORD documents, and web pages.Type It, Hear It, Check It: Spelling is often a challenge for people with dyslexia. ConfidentReader can read text as you type, by word or by sentence. This delivers critical real-time feedback to help you improve your coordination of sounds and letter combinations.
SOLO Literacy Suite
$785.00
Code: S11WB
http://www.donjohnston.com/products/solo/index.html/ The only software solution students need to improve skills in content-area reading, research and essay writing. Literacy Suite places all of the right tools, and a wide-range of embedded learning supports, at their fingertips. SOLO includes word prediction, a text reader, graphic organizer and talking word processor—putting students in charge of their own learning and accommodations.
Aurora Suite 2005
Value edition: $149
Standard edition: $349
Professional edition: $549
http://www.aurora-systems.com/ Write Suitable for beginning, intermediate or advanced writers, Aurora’s word prediction is surprisingly effective as it helps with spelling, word choice and sentence construction. As you type, it applies advanced word prediction, grammatical, and phonetic algorithms to complete words and predict future words for you so you will be able to type correctly spelled words and phrases faster, or for a longer time with less effort. If you confuse homonyms, Aurora provides visual and aural cues as well as usage examples and definitions for over 2,100 homonyms. Aurora’s talking spellchecker helps even the most creative spellers and can correct common mistakes automatically. As you write, your words and sentences can be read back aloud so you can be sure that what you wrote is what you meant to.
Read:OutLoud University ed.
MAC/WIN
$319.00 ea.
http://www.donjohnston.com/products/readoutlouduniversity/ Read:OutLoud helps you comprehend your eBooks and websites because it reads them to you aloud. Simply choose where you want to start reading and press speak. Read:OutLoud will read the text in some of the highest quality voices available. Study tools, like highlighters and notes will help you comprehend your reading and prepare for the test.
With our new affordable University pricing you can install Read:OutLoud on every computer at your site. The license also includes rights for teachers and students to install on personal laptops.
WordQ2
Price: $199.00
http://www.wordq.com// is a software tool used along with standard writing software. WordQ suggests words for you to use and provides spoken feedback to help you find mistakes. Users of all ages who have problems writing and editing, particularly those with learning disabilities (LD), can benefit from using WordQ. It features a carefully thought-out design with only essential functions that have demonstrated benefits to help students write. Word prediction and speech feedback are important functions that bolster students’ strengths to assist writing.
DAISYtoEPUB
MAC/WIN
$99.00
http://www.donjohnston.com/products/daisytoepub/index.html It’s really simple…your NIMAS, DAISY, and Bookshare files won’t work on any of the popular portable book readers like the iPad, Nook, Sony Reader or the new Android devices coming out. Like the name implies, DAISYtoEPUB converts your files into ePub format—the most popular format for mainstream eBook readers. It even converts the images.
DAISYtoEPUB is the first and only tool available that converts NIMAS, DAISY and Bookshare files into ePub format.
Read, Write & Type!
Grades: K-3rd
Home edition
Price: $79.
K-4thgrade bundle price: $99.
http://www.talkingfingers.com/readwritetype/ The Talking Fingers approach is based on a simple idea: text is speech made visible! We use our mouths to talk, to make the sounds of words. We use our fingers (with a pencil or keyboard) to represent those sounds on paper. When children learn to link speech sounds with letters, they can use the alphabet code to write any word they can say. Their fingers are “talking”.
The best-selling Read, Write & Type!™ software program, for children ages 6-9, offered a radically new approach to learning to read and write, based on a multi-sensory method that combines phonics with whole language and the skills of reading and writing with keyboarding, spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Wordy Qwerty
Grades 2-4
Price: $35.
K-4thgrade bundle price: $99.
http://www.talkingfingers.com/spelling-software-wordyqwerty/reading-spelling-fluency.html/ Our new software, for grades 2-4, demystifies spelling and teaches children to recognize frequently repeated patterns in words.Wordy Qwerty – Foundations for Reading and Writing Fluency, takes 7-9 year olds through the next steps of reading and writing fluency, and picks up where our award-winning software, the Read, Write & Type Learning System leaves off.
1st Read It Aloud!
Windows
$19.95 USD
http://www.qwertystudios.com/products/1st-read-it-aloud/ Our kids frequently ask us to read something aloud. However, the adults often need somebody to read for them too. That is why 1st Read It Aloud! was created. Since now, you can listen to the text you want being read by the voice you prefer with the pitch and speed you’d like to. Just select some text from any application, press hot key and enjoy listening to the live voice reading your documents, readmes, notes, e-mails, web sites and a lot of other useful stuff. You even don’t need to copy desired text into clipboard! What can be easier? Just select and listen!
Speaking Notepad
By Qwerty studios
$29.95 USD
http://www.qwertystudios.com/products/speaking-notepad/ Speaking Notepad is handy text editor with powerful text-to-speech capabilities. Speaking Notepad will read your TXT, RTF, DOC, HTML and PDF documents with SAPI4 and SAPI5-compliant high quality voices, different speed and pitches, read clipboard content, record texts into WAV, MP3 and WMA files and even read every word or sentence you are typing. With powerful bookmark management system Speaking Notepad becomes an ideal solution for e-books reading.
EasyTutor
by Dolphin
Price: $450.00
http://www.accessingenuity.com/dolphin-easytutor-single-user
The perfect solution for people who have Dyslexia or difficulty reading, writing and spelling. Computer users can write, read, view and check text with Dolphin EasyTutor’s supporting speech output. Easy Tudor reads aloud and highlights text from Word Documents, Web pages and spreadsheets to help with reading skills. Highlights text and reads words aloud as you type, forming a link between the spoken word and the written word. Predictive text suggests words as you type explaining their meanings as you go helping to develop writing skills and vocabulary.
Read:OutLoud
MAC/WIN
$319.00 ea.
http://www.donjohnston.com/products/read_outloud/ Read:OutLoud 6 makes it easy to provide access to the new electronic books required in IDEA, and the included web browser makes the internet fully accessible. Read:OutLoud provides accessibility supports like text-to-speech and study tools that help you read with comprehension. Providing access to the curriculum is easier than ever with Read:OutLoud.
TextAloud
Windows
Price: $29.95
Mega pack Price: $49.95
www.nextup.com/textaloud; TextAloud reads text from email, web pages, reports and more, aloud on your PC. TextAloud can also save your daily reading to MP3 or Windows Media files ready for playback on your iPod, PocketPC, or even on your TV with Tivo’s Home Media Option. Be more productive or just be entertained wherever you go with our text reader.
OpenBook
$995.00
For Windows
http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_downloads/openbook.asp : OpenBook™ converts printed documents or graphic-based text into an electronic text format on your PC, using quality speech and the latest optical character recognition (OCR) technology. Easy switching between the Nuance OmniPage® and ABBYY FineReader® OCR engines allows you to choose the OCR engine that works best for your particular use. You also can choose between two leading text-to-speech software synthesizers: RealSpeak™ Solo (natural, human-sounding voices) or Eloquence (efficient synthesized speech that often is preferred for editing and document skimming
FlameReader
Windows
Standerd Version: $29.95
Premium: $49.95
http://www.flamereader.com/products.html/ FlameReader Software can convert any text into audible speech. Just highlight some text, click the Read button. and you can sit back and relax while your computer reads to you. FlameReader can; open Multiple Text Files,
read Aloud Any Text in Your Computer, repeat Listening to a block of Text,Convert Text to MP3/WAVE Files, Batch Convert Text Files to Audio Files, Custimize Speaker, Speed and PitchTranslate 6 languages, Mouse Echo echos back Words or Lines, PowerReader Reads Text Directly in Applications, and more.
Kurzweil 3000 PC or Mac
For Mac & PC
Single USB LearnStation for Windows: $395.00
Code: W166406
http://www.kurzweiledu.com/kurz3000.aspx Kurzweil 3000TM is the comprehensive reading, writing and learning software solution for any struggling reader, including individuals with learning difficulties, such as dyslexia, attention deficit disorder or those who are English Language Learners.
Power Text to Speech Reader
$29.95 , or Free version
Windows
http://www.1speechsoft.com/ Power Text to Speech Reader is an award-winning text-to-speech player that lets you listen to documents, e-mails or web pages instead of reading on screen,it uses voice synthesis to create spoken audio from text with natural voices. You can listen on your PC or save text to MP3 or wave files for listening later.
NaturalReader
$49.50
Free version
Windows
http://www.naturalreaders.com/products.htm NaturalReader is a Text to Speech software with natural sounding voices. This easy to use software can convert any written text such as MS Word, Webpage, PDF files, and Emails into spoken words. NaturalReader can also convert any written text into audio files such as MP3 or WAV for your CD player or iPod.
EasyReader
Your dolphin
Price: $55.00
http://www.yourdolphin.com/productdetail.asp?id=9/ EasyReader is a software digital talking book player, allowing the user to read and listen to content through a combination of text, audio and images. One of the main advantages of using EasyReader is that the content becomes easy to navigate through, where a reader can skip through sections of their content and place bookmarks to highlight areas of interest. EasyReader is extremely easy-to-use, making reading an absolute pleasure.
Dolphin EasyTutor Pen
Price: $450.00
http://www.accessingenuity.com/products/cognitive-and-learning/reading-software The perfect solution for people who have Dyslexia or difficulty reading, writing and spelling. Computer users can write, read, view and check text with Dolphin EasyTutor’s supporting speech output.
The first Pen in the World that offers true freedom and independence.
Cicero
Cicero – Text scanner & reader.
Price: $495.00
http://www.accessingenuity.com/cicero Cicero scans and converts printed documents to synthesised speech and reads them aloud to you. Cicero is useful to people, young and old, who are either visually impaired or print impaired, whether technically comfortable or a complete beginner.
Penfriend XL single licence : Uk
Uk: £120.00
Manufacturer/Publisher: Penfriend Ltd
http://www.dyslexic.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=7722&eq=&Tp= XL is a comprehensive literacy aid which can boost confidence and increase reading and writing skills across a range of abilities and ages. It contains a wealth of.
Wynn
Single user license: $375
www.freedomscientific.com/LSG/products/WYNN.asp/ Wynn: WYNN is the innovative literacy software tool designed to enhance success for individuals with reading challenges and writing difficulties. WYNN was developed with the help of special educators and individuals with learning difficulties such as dyslexia, dysgraphia and aphasia.
By using a bi-modal approach – simultaneous highlighting of the text as it is spoken – WYNN transforms printed text into understandable information that benefits readers of all ages including English Language Learners (ELL), struggling readers and children with ADD (attention deficit disorder) or ADHD (attention deficit hyperactive disorder).
ClaroRead
PC & Macs
•ClaroRead Plus V5 ($295.00)
•ClaroRead Standard V5 ($195.00)
•ClaroRead Standard V5 USB ($210.00)
•ClaroRead Premium V5 ($395.00)
http://www.claroread.com ClaroRead is a comprehensive reading and writing support software solution. Its easy to use toolbar floats above any Microsoft Windows application, such as Word, and provides features such as text to speech and spell check that allow users to accurately read and write documents.
Merit Text Talker
$19.00
http://www.meritsoftware.com/text_talker/ : The Merit Text Talker, a new innovation, speaks text as it appears on the screen. Students experience the benefits of text-to-speech technology as a fully integrated part of Merit’s reading, grammar, and vocabulary programs.
Users have the option to hear the passages, questions, answers, tips and explanations that they view on the screen spoken aloud. Students may select as much text as they would like to hear voiced, and they can hear it repeated as many times as they wish. While the text is read, each word is highlighted for extra emphasis as it is pronounced.