NaturalReader: New Version 10 with Webpage Word-word Highlighting

The new version 10 of NaturalReader can both read text and web pages aloud and highlight text as it is read in the expanded floating minibar.
You can download the free version at NaturalReader website.
Additional videos and quick guides on NaturalReader are available on the HIAT website.
It should be in all MCPS schools this summer!

Question:

With Natural Reader, is one able to highlight the text as it is being read aloud, similar to Kurzweil?

Answer:

When you use the Natural Reader mini bar then it does NOT highlight the words as they are spoken.

If you use the Natural Reader main window, then it DOES highlight the words as they are spoken.

How to switch from the miniboard to the main window:

Toggle from the main window to the minibar using this button

• Use the minibar to select any text on the screen and click the play button to have it read.
•  This works from any place that allows you to select text, such as a Word Document, while browsing the web, or in a PDF file

Toggle from the minibar to the main window using this button

•  The main window is capable of opening txt files and rtf files.
•  You can also simply copy and paste any text into it.

Online Textbooks: Options for Reading Aloud

Many editions of textbooks you use in class have a free online edition that students can view on the internet with an access code (typically provided by the teacher or media specialist). Some of the newer online editions have text to speech embedded so the text can be read aloud to support struggling readers. However, most editions teachers are using do not. These are frequently Adobe PDF versions that cannot be formatted easily in most text readers (e.g. Kurzweil).

A simple solution is to use a text reader tool that allows you to select text with the mouse on the online edition and have it read aloud. NaturalReader (HIAT guides and videos available) is an example of such a text-reading tool that is available in all MCPS schools and free for students and families to download at home. WordQ (HIAT guides and videos available) is another example of such a tool that is available in many schools with higher quality voices but not free for home use. Adobe Reader (what everyone has for free to open PDFs at home and school) can actually read the page aloud as well – see the Adobe Reading HIAT Quick Guide and Video.

Some other potential benefits of this approach:
· online editions typically retain the rich visual presentations - a significant benefit to students who need a variety of content presentation (unlike many editions currently available through resources like Bookshare.org)
· hyperlinks in the text are often active so students can more easily link to this content on-demand (e.g. maps, multimedia).
· righting clicking with the mouse on a word in a PDF document often allows you to look up the word in an online dictionary (and use the text reader to read the definition aloud).

You can also save units from many of these online PDF textbooks onto you school network or home computer:

1) When you open the online copy of the text book (after entering the access code - your media specialist may have it or it is with your teacher copy), it will open as a PDF in Adobe Reader. Students and parents can also follow this process at home with the access code.
2) Go the unit you want to download using the navigation pane to the left
3) Once you are on the unit you want, choose the Save icon from the top menu
4) Save the PDF to the location on your computer or network where other staff can locate the text – note that you are saving just the unit you are viewing from the Step #2
5) When you open the book , you have a few options for reading:
a. Screen reader tools that float over other applications like WordQ at school and Natural Reader at home/school
b. Adobe Reader (what everyone has for free to open PDFs at home and school) can actually read the page aloud as well – see the Quick Guide and Video at the following link: http://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/hiat/tech_quick_guides/adobe_QG.shtm

What creative ways have you found to make online textbook editions more accessible to struggling readers at school and home? Let us know!

Can I use Natural Reader at home?

Question:
Does Natural Reader have teacher take home rights so that teachers can use it at home?

Answer:
Natural Reader is free.  Download it from http://www.naturalreaders.com/

• Natural Reader is text reader software.  It enables the computer to read any text on the screen by simply selecting the text and clicking the read button on the floating toolbar
• More help with Natural Reader is here

Learn Skills-Feed Hungry..with flexible support

Looking for a way to help feed the hungry, develop academic skills and introduce students to free accessible technology all at once? Probably not unless you have run across FreeRice.com and thought to pair it with a free text reader as was done by teacher Keir Lewis at Col. E. Brooke Lee Middle School.

FreeRice is a non-profit website run by the United Nations World Food Program and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. FreeRice has two goals: 1) provide education to everyone for free and 2) help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.
Students answer multiple choice questions for a variety of topic areas (see below) that may have applications for elementary to high school students. For every correct answer, FreeRice.com donates 10 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program (“Though 10 grains of rice may seem like a small amount, it is important to remember that while you are playing, so are thousands of other people at the same time.” – www.FreeRice.com).

A text reader like NaturalReader allows words to be read aloud for those who struggle with reading, a particular benefit with some of the grammar and vocabulary sections. NaturalReader is a free text reader program that is available in MCPS schools and for download at home - allowing teachers to model this at school and have students extend the benefit to home. A number of quick guides and instructional videos on NaturalReader are available on the HIAT website.

Freerice.com topic areas (as of 1/26/10):

ART: Famous Paintings CHEMISTRY: Chemical Symbols (Basic), Chemical Symbols (Full List) ENGLISH: English Grammar, English Vocabulary GEOGRAPHY: Identify Countries on the Map, World Capitals LANGUAGE LEARNING: French, German, Italian, Spanish MATH: Basic Math (Pre-Algebra), Multiplication Table

How have you used these resources to support learning and service? Do you know of other good websites providing similar benefits?

Making MS Word a Talking Word Processor - for Free!

Does your child or student benefit from using a talking word processor (speak and highlight text), talking spell check, and talking dictionary to help support their composition and self-editing? Wordtalk is a free tool that provide these support at home:
http://www.wordtalk.org.uk/Home/

For people with reading and writing difficulties, having text reinforced by hearing it read aloud can be very useful.
WordTalk is a free text-to-speech plugin developed for use with all versions of Microsoft Word (from Word 97 upwards). It will speak the text of the document and will highlight it as it goes. It contains a talking dictionary to help decide which word spelling is most appropriate.
Sitting neatly in your toolbar it is highly configurable, allowing you to:
- Adjust the highlight colors
- Change the voice and the speed of the speech
- Convert text to speech and save as a .wav or .mp3 file so that it can be played back on an iPod or mp3 player.

Another free resource to make a word processor into a talking word processor is Natural Reader - see the HIAT Quick Guides and Videos on this topic.

What other free or low cost resources have you found to provide talking word processing at home?

Coverting PDF files to Word

Have a worksheet in locked PDF format that you want students to type into?
Found a great reading passage in PDF format you want to read aloud with text reader software(e.g. Kurzweil, Natural Reader)?

In most cases, you will need to covert it to a MS Word file that can be used for these purposes.

www.zamzar.com is a free tool that allows you to upload a PDF file, have it converted to a Word document, and e-mailed back to you (usually the same day)

You can find printable quick guides and videos on text reader software and flexible features of MS Word on the HIAT web-site Quick Guides page.

What other tools do you use to convert PDF files to make them more usable?