There are many different options available to students who struggle with reading. Below are some videos and short descriptions that explain how they work. Many of them are free, some will cost money. The first video talks about Accessible Instructional Materials and the law surrounding the concept. Take a few moments to watch it and then look through the web page at the National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials to find even more resources!
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National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM) - materials that are designed or converted in a way that makes them usable across the widest range of student variability regardless of format (print, digital, graphical, audio, video). NaturalReader - a FREE Text to Speech software with natural sounding voices. This easy to use software can convert any written text such as MS Word, Webpage, PDF files, and Emails into spoken words.
Adjust your google search results by reading level. Watch the video for instructions on how to adjust the reading levels of web pages you are looking up. Very easy and quick way to help struggling readers find web pages that are easier to understand and/or decode. FREE My Study Bar - A FREE online download that helps students who struggle with studying, reading, writing, and/or vision. It is a toolbar that is compatible with Word, PowerPoint, the internet, etc. The user can create sticky notes and calendars to plan and create to do lists.
Read&Write Google- Hear words, passages or whole documents read aloud with easy to follow dual color highlighting. See the meaning of words explained with text and picture dictionaries. Hear text translated into other languages. Get suggestions for the current or next word as you type. Turn words into text as you speak. Highlight text in documents or the web and collect for use in other documents. Simplify and summarize text on web pages. (Teachers can get it free)
Read:OutLoud 6 - A simple-to-use and affordable text reader, that makes it easy for you to provide access to any book file — and to the Internet — so that students understand the content they are reading. |
Text Compactor helps to reduce the amount of text that has to be read by cutting and pasting the information into the window and then adjusting the slide bar to reduce it by a percentage. Then you can cut and paste the shortened version into a text to speech program and have it read outloud.
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It is like Wikipedia, just a bit easier to read! Simple Wikipedia uses simple English words and grammar. This allows people to understand normally complex terms or phrases.
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A couple great reading helpers can be installed as extensions on Google Chrome. Go to the Chrome Store, search for Speak It and then add it as an extension. You will then need to do the same for tldr. Then, where ever you log into Chrome, the extensions will always there for you to access - quick and easy! These two are my favorite and I consider must haves for any student! Plus, they are FREE!!!
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TLDR - This extension is a great tool to help students take a large amount of text and summarize it or adjust the readability of it. Just highlight over the words, right click and then select "Less Words Please" from the opened options. You will then be able to adjust the reading level. Use it together with SpeakIt! and have it read to you.
Speak It! Allows you to highlight text on a web page, right click and then select SpeakIt! from the opened options. Or you can use the Icon that shows up in the top right hand corner once you have installed the extension.
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