Much of today's class was devoted to the compensatory tool, Kurzweil 3000. This program should be in every classroom for every student without question. Not only does Kurzweil 3000 offer text to speech capabilities, it also offers text magnification, reading speed selections, text highlighting features, dictionary options including a picture dictionary, sticky notes, bubble notes, voice notes, scanning and emailing to create working documents, word prediction, language translation and can be linked to the internet to continue to provide students with reading/writing support. With all of these features of Kurzweil 3000 a variety of students needs may be met including: students with executive function disabilities, learning disabilities, ADHD, ADD, autism, Asperger's Syndrome, and students with vision and auditory impairments. The only problem with this comprehensive program is its price.
One of the many interesting features of Kurzweil 3000 is:
5 uses might include:
- pre-reading questions
- student notes for connections
- student generated passage questions
- teacher generated pop-up questions
- study questions.
Although Kurzweil 3000 is extremely pricey at ~$1000/license, you get what you pay for - engaged, independent and successful students! What more would any teacher want?
This video demonstrates just how all encompassing Kurzweil 3000 is in the classroom.
Two great text-to-speech assistive technology tools also discussed today are ReadPlease and NaturalReader. Both offer free downloadable trials.
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