Technology to Try Out

There are many types of assistive technology available on campus that may be beneficial to students with disabilities.  You can discuss these options with your case manager at DRES and then schedule an appointment to meet with the Testing Accommodations Coordinator to try out and/or train on some of this software.  It is always best to test out different types of assistive technology to see if it is a good fit.  DRES has the following types of assistive technology for you to try out and get training on to help you be more successful with your academics.  Please see below for assistive technology that is available at DRES.

Kurzweil 3000

Kurzweil Educational Systems is a the leader in assistive technology with text-to-speech and software literacy solutions.  Kurzweil 3000 is designed to provide access to print materials for students with learning disabilities by providing speech feedback and highlighting of text in books and PDF documents to imporve comprehension and reading efficiency.

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Dragon Naturally Speaking

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is a voice input program. Users can dictate into windows-based applications and Dragon turns the speach into text.

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JAWS

JAWS is a screenreader. JAWS for Windows works with your PC to provide access to software applications and the Internet. With its internal software speech synthesizer and the computer’s sound card, information from the screen is read aloud. JAWS also outputs to refreshable Braille displays.

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Zoomtext

ZoomText is a magnifier/screenreader that echoes typing, reads information pointed to by the mouse, and speaks program events as they occur.

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WordQ

WordQ software is a special education writing tool used along with standard Windows word processing software to provide spelling, English grammar (and French grammar), and reading assistance. It uses advanced word prediction to suggest words for you to use and provides spoken (text-to-speech) feedback. WordQ also acts a text reader to help you proof-read your work or to read existing or scanned text.

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ClearView (CCTV)

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) is an auto-focus desktop video magnification system, designed to assist individuals with low vision.  Simple operations provide magnification of texts and objects in different colors with adjustable brightness and contrast.

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Trackball Mouse

A computer Pointing Device that resembles an upside-down Mouse. Instead of rolling the mouse around the desktop, the user rotates the ball on the trackball with a thumb or finger.

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Texthelp Read and Write Gold (Trial Program)

Texthelp Read and Write Gold provides similar features of speech feedback of Kurzweil 3000 but you can use it in many desktop applications like Microsoft Office®, Internet Explorer® and Adobe Acrobat®. In addition to speech feedback it has specilaized dictionaries and word prediction features that can assist in wirting papers and organizing research.  More information and tutorials about Read and Write Gold can be found on the TextHelp website.  Contact your resource facilitator or Jon Gunderson if you are interested in trying Texthelp Read and Write Gold.

Audio Note

Record notes and audio sync them with your recording device using this app

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