Let's Blog Ability

New Version 5 of Claro Software Released

Announced at the ATIA Assistive Technology conference in January 2009, ClaroRead Version 5 from Claro Software, Ltd. is the latest upgrade to the popular reading and writing support software. ClaroRead Software is available in the United States exclusively through Assistive Technology provider EnableMart.cClaroRead provides text to speech of highlighted text to support dyslexic students and others who want to hear text for comprehension and proofreading. Other features of ClaroRead Version 5 include:

-  highlights homophones to ensure correct use of words

- built in toolbar to easily adjust text and background colors for optimal viewing

- one button click increases spacing between letters, words, lines and paragraphs for easy reading

- scanned documents are converted to a word document that Claro can read aloud

- Save to Video feature creates a video with text highlighted as a voice reads it back

ClaroRead can be seen and demoed at CSUN 2009 in Los Angeles next month at EnableMart’s booth (numbers 275 and 276 at the Marriott Hotel).

Stimulus Package Saves Schools?

How many special needs teachers were already facing dire circumstances such as layoffs, budget cuts, etc even before the economy went kaput? Here are some quick facts about the stimulus that may be heartening for teachers and educators:

• $91.3 billion going to health, labor, and education departments . $600 million 
• $29 billion of that designated for "Education Programs" 
• $600 million which may be available specifically for Assistive Technology upgrades 

In spite of the No Child Left Behind Act passed in 2001, the Bush administration has increasingly moved away from federal support for schools and school programs - opting to leave the responsibility with State and Local governments. The stimulus package changes the course of the federal government by increasing the involvement of federal monies in primary and secondary education.

What does this mean for the teachers? For starters, it means relief for those who are worried about massive layoffs. Some of the money can be used to prevent downsizing school staff. Teachers and other staff will also receive further training including proper use of the latest technologies. And money can go to maintaining and expanding the current Assistive Technology tools and programs available to students with disabilities. 

If you would like to read more, there is an article with details about the education aspect of the stimulus package at eschoolnews.com

Kindle 2 Has Text-to-Speech!

As if we weren't already crazy about Kindle, Amazon came out with Kindle 2 on Monday and it is full of all sorts of extras that the first didn't have. For starters, it's lighter, sleaker, and more modern looking than the original. It holds more books and it has a longer battery life to give you more reading time between charges. 

But the really exciting part is that the device comes with Text-to-Speech built in! You can have any part of your Kindle books read back to you by a male or a female in one of three speech rates. We haven't been able to take it for a spin yet, since the new Kindle isn't coming out for another week and a half. I can't wait to try it out and see whether the text to speech will be helpful enough to use constantly or if it is the old, robotic voices that are not useful for reading more than one or two words back. 

Could we have competition for other Assistive Technology for reading such as Daisy Players? It's too early to say (Amazon does carry a lot of books, but it is still up to them to make a book available for Kindle), but it is exciting to have such a hugely popular, mainstream product come out that incorporates Assistive Technology. 

As a side note, there is some controversy coming out of the text-to-speech announcement for the new Kindle. The Author's Guild is claiming that text-to-speech on Kindle 2 infringes the copyrights on audiobooks. There is a big difference between the voice coming from the Kindle; nobody would argue that it replaces the voice of an author or performer reading a text. Text-to-speech is already available for free with many operating systems, and that hasn't caused any uproar either (yet). 

What's your take on it? Are you as excited as I am about the Kindle 2?