Talking Word Processors Write Out:Loud ( http://www.donjohnston.com ). A great talking word processor that can also read text. Price is about $99.00, Mac and Windows. Speaks as the student types to provide auditory feedback while writing. It also reads text files easily. Additional features include importing pictures and a spell checker. Text size is adjustable and font/background colors can be changed. This is a very popular program. Intellitalk ( http://www.intellitools.com ) is another great talking word processor and is also very popular. It includes many of the same features as Write Out:Loud. Intellitalk II is priced at about $99.00 I believe, and is available for Mac or Windows. Intellitalk II also includes a lot of features that support the creation of activity pages for students to use. Intellitalk I is a simpler talking word processor and one that I find very useful. It's priced at about $49.00, Mac and Windows. CAST eReader ( http://www.cast.org ) is one of the best text readers available, works on both Mac and Windows, and allows several text documents to be open at once, so a student could have a science information page open and another page with questions, such as a test, and could easily switch back and forth between them. You can set the highlight to be word or sentence to help the student focus on what is being read. Cast eReader will also speak as the student types (Type and Talk Mode). Price is $199.00 for a single copy, the price decreases for lab packs. You can get a Windows demo version that will work for 2 weeks or 10 executions. This is the program recommended by the FDLRS network for use in the Universal Access Station. It also includes a web browser and will read web pages. ReadPlease ( http://www.readplease.com ) is a basic text reading program that comes in a couple of different flavors. The free flavor, ReadPlease 2000, will read text files and will allow you to increase the text size. You can change the voices and adjust each voice. The background color can be changed but the changes are preset, so you only have about 5 choices. ReadPlease 2000 can also be enlarged to fit the computer screen you are working on. The $49.95 version includes some nice features, like a simple calendar to check the date, a to do list, and other stuff. The only problem I have with it is that it doesn't seem to be adjustable in size and the text does not seem to be adjustable. It stays small. I like the free version. It is a neat program to use with children's books from the Gutenberg Project. Text Help ( http://www.texthelp.com ) includes a variety of programs. Type & Talk is a talking word processor for Windows and Macintosh. It includes word prediction. It can be set to read words or sentences as the student types and can also be used to read text files. The ability to read as someone is typing, as well as having the word prediction, spelling and thesaurus available, makes this a very useful program. Price is $169.00. Read & Write works with other word processing programs and basically provides the same features as Type & Talk while you are in any word processor you wish to use. Price is $249.00, Windows only. I have had some problems with the demo version of Read & Write. Remember, Type & Talk is a single program while Read & Write tries to work with all programs, which means more chances for problems. Kurzweil 3000 ( http://www.lhsl.com/kurzweil3000 ). The Kurzweil software includes scanning and advanced optical character recognition. You could scan in a work sheet from a work book and it would look the same on the computer screen as it does in the book. The software would be able to read it outloud to the students. There is also a text only version of what is scanned in. Text size can be changed, background and text colors can be changed, etc. The software has a lot of features and is also expensive. A 5-seat learning lab pack cost around $2,695. This includes 1 Kurzweil 3000 Scan/Read and 4 Readers. The Scan/Read program includes the scanning while the Readers can be on other computers to read what has been scanned in but will not scan. A demo CD is available from the web site and is worth trying out. YSpeak ( http://www.stazsoftware.com/YSpeak.htm ) is a free Macintosh talking word processor. Features include word prediction (this is really cool), word abbreviation and up to 42 phrases of text assigned to an onscreen button. I have not tried this yet, but it sounds great. Talk to Me ( http://www.talk-to-me.net ) is a cute program that you can download and use for about 20 days (or 20 trials) before you have to register it. Cost is $29.95, Windows only. Talk to Me places a Microsoft Agent on the computer screen. Merlin is the default character but you can download other characters. Basically, Merlin will speak any text that is highlighted and copied to the clip board. It will also read email and basic web pages. Things to Think About There are several things to look at regarding recommendations. First, text readers and screen readers are two different things and I only addressed text readers. The programs above are not for students who have visual deficits and are looking for an auditory screen reader. Actual screen readers include programs such as outSPOKEN ( http://www.aagi.com , Mac and Windows - demos available ), Windows Bridge 2000 ( http://www.synthavoice.on.ca , Windows only - demos available ) and one of the most popular screen readers, JAWS ( http://www.hj.com/JAWS/JAWS.html ), Windows - demos available ). Second, text readers in general do not address the problem of getting test into electronic format to begin with. Of the above programs, only Kurzweil 3000 includes scanning and OCR (optical character recognition) features. Programs such as OmniPage Pro ( http://www.scansoft.com , about $99.00 Windows/Mac, Windows demo available ) and TextBridge Pro ( http://www.scansoft.com , about $79.00 Windows ) can be used with almost any scanner to get printed material into electronic format. Once the material is in electronic format it can be read by all of the programs listed above. CAST eReader is one of the best programs for text reading, and it includes Type and Talk Mode so it can be used as a talking word processor as well. I use Intellitalk I a lot for young students and for many older students and adults simply because the interface is simple. This also provides text reading as well as a talking word processor, but it is limited to only having one document open at a time. CAST eReader can open multiple documents at one time, which is a great feature and would be useful for students in middle and high school. I have several electronic books from the Gutenberg Project ( http://www.promo.net/pg ), such as the Beatrix Potter stories, that work well with programs such as the free ReadPlease 2000. I would definitely share this with teachers and parents. You can find some text files ready to use at ( http://www.paec.org/david/reading.htm ). YSpeak is free and should be available to anyone with a Macintosh (that has a screen resolution of 800x600 pixels). It was designed specifically for the iBook laptops, but is not limited to iBooks. You may find some strange layout problems on older Macs. Finally, the Kurzweil 3000 really is a great program but it is expensive and requires more than just money. In fact, implementing all of these programs requires more than just money. Someone has to take on the responsibility of scanning books and materials into the computer before the student can start to use it. A student could do one or two pages at a time, but an aide or someone else will probably be needed to do more extensive scanning. Legally, there is no problem scanning in text books as long as it is to provide auditory access to the material, not to replace buying a book for a student. This was covered in a bill passed a couple of years ago by the US Congress.	Making Accessible Web Sites Eye Yummies Tuesday Teacher Training Writing Activities Reading Activities ESE Resources Strategies for Teachers Downloads (fun software) Request CD's Papers Laying Around eMail David

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