we must not forget connect out loud and while not a screen reader and
one I am not particularly fond of for many reasons, home page reader.
There is also word alloud and the new one by cooper and associates.
Heck, How long has simply talker and simply internet been around?
Homework?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Catherine Alfieri" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 21, 2002 12:45 AM
Subject: Eschoolnews: New text to speech software could be sound
investment



New text-to-speech software could be sound investment
By Corey Murray, Assistant Editor, eSchool News
May 16, 2002

Incorporating blind, dyslexic, and learning-disabled students into
mainstream classroom activities is getting easier, thanks to a new
generation of affordable, high-tech tools that convert electronic text
to
audio. The software allows students to hear the contents of electronic
documents spoken aloud instead of having to read them from a computer
screen.

Screen-reading software is nothing new. Products such as Freedom
Scientific¹s JAWS and GW Micro¹s Window-Eyes have been around for some
time.
The problem for educators has been that neither of these options was
designed with the needs of students‹or the budgets of schools‹in mind.

For instance, JAWS was designed predominantly for use in the
professional
workplace and, while effective, operates on a very high scale.
Window-Eyes,
too, is effective but not inexpensive.

Annette Parslow, outreach vision consultant at the Utah Schools of the
Deaf
and the Blind and a teacher for 16 years, said that while the technology
has
continued to develop, many of its advancements have led to programs that
are
too complex and leave younger learners behind.

³Some of these products have too many bells and whistles,² she said.

Now, two companies in particular‹Nextup.com and Premier Programming
Solutions Inc.‹have introduced solutions they say favor simplicity and
affordability over technical complexity and higher prices, making their
products ideal for schools teaching younger students on tight budgets.

Nextup.com¹s TextAloud product allows students to hear text spoken
through a
variety of voices by copying any amount of text from a document and
pasting
it into the open TextAloud program window. Students can hear eMail
messages
read to them, listen to eBooks, and even download audio files to
portable
MP3 players or burn files onto compact discs for use at home.

Premier Programming¹s Text-to-Audio program is one in a suite of options
it
markets specifically for use in assistive learning. The company¹s
Accessibility Suite offers schools 10 different applications to aid in
the
teaching of blind and learning-disabled children and reportedly is used
in
more than 1,000 schools nationwide.

Rick Ellis, president and chief marketing officer of Nextup.com, said
the
company originally developed its software for the consumer market but
received an instant response from educators interested in implementing
TextAloud in the classroom.

³Our product is very well-suited for learning,² he said.

Gayle Underwood, assistive technology coordinator for the Allegan County
Intermediate School District in Michigan, said her district has used the
TextAloud product to great effect with blind and learning-challenged
students.

Underwood said Allegan County is considering a teamwork system that
would
pair blind students with learning-disabled (LD) students and encourage
them
to use the software together, effectively teaching each other as they
go.

³The LD child could click and drag the mouse for the blind child, and a
blind child with good comprehension skills could then help the LD child
with
certain skills,² she said.

According to Parslow, who has yet to use the TextAloud or Text-to-Audio
products, many of the screen reader programs she has encountered, while
effective, have proven very difficult to learn.

³Teachers can¹t believe how long certain things take to learn. You end
up
asking yourself: How do I find enough time in the day?² Parslow said.

In many cases, she has found it difficult even to make necessary changes
in
the pronunciations and pauses of words read aloud. If those changes are
not
made, she said, some sentences will run together, making the text
confusing.

³You would have to be a rocket scientist to muddle through some of that
stuff and find out how to fix it. You¹re supposed to be able to take the
plastic off ... and know how it runs,² she said.

Conversely, Underwood said she has experienced little, if any,
difficulty
with learning or adjusting the TextAloud product.

³Students can highlight the text, hit a key, and it will read [the
highlighted text] for them,² she said. ³It¹s very simple; anyone would
be
able to use it.²

According to Underwood, the program¹s operational simplicity is part of
what
has made it so effective. TextAloud lets students keep the program
window
open while they switch back to their clipboard or browser programs and
copy
the text to be read. The software also allows for dialogue creation, so
different voices can be used while students are listening to plays or
performances.

Penny Reeder, editor of Braille Forum, said another key to a successful
screen reader is that it must be able to use the most realistic voices
possible.

Parslow agreed: ³The kids want a better quality of speech.²

Nextup.com¹s TextAloud and Premier¹s Text-to-Audio are both available
with
AT&T Natural Voices. The lifelike voices are able to change tone and
accent
words to a better extent than preinstalled computer voices, but
typically
cost more and are not required with either product.

Premier¹s Text-to-Audio product offers functionality similar to
TextAloud
but is even more flexible, according to the company.

Steve Timmer, Premier¹s president and founder, said his company¹s
product is
more versatile than others because it can read files in several types of
file formats, unlike TextAloud which is limited only to reading text
documents.

Premier¹s product also has the ability to compress an hour¹s worth of
text
in four minutes, saving time on downloading. This ability is most
pronounced
when functioning with Natural Voices, he said, because they are slower
to
download and take up more space than standard ones.

According to Timmer, Text-to-Audio is the most advanced assistive
reading
tool the company offers. Younger learners normally start by using other
products in the Accessibility Suite, such as Scan and Read, before
moving on
to the more advanced programming.

Parslow said this type of gradual progression is something often lost on
companies, as they are concerned more with advancement of technology
than
comprehension or learning.

³We need to be able to teach these skills as a sequence from basic to
advanced,² she said.

Timmer said Premier develops all of its programs and tools with similar
functions, so students using one product in the suite can move on to
another
easily.

³Our products are designed with kids¹ principles in mind‹keep it
simple,² he
said.

The company offers its product in light and pro versions, so customers
can
choose the more advanced technology only if they need it.

Educators looking to purchase Nextup.com¹s TextAloud for their schools
can
do so by contacting the company directly. The product is offered at
$24.95
for standard voices and $51.90 for the AT&T Natural Voices. Educational
discounts on site licenses also are available.

Timmer said almost all of Premier¹s products are under $200. The company
currently offers a grant program for schools, valued at $1 million. The
program gives schools free use of all 10 products in Premier¹s
Accessibility
Suite in hopes that children will use them freely at school and purchase
them later for use in the home. The grant deadline is June 30.

³If it¹s not affordable, it¹s not accessible,² said Timmer.

Makers of more expensive solutions contend that important functions are
lost
with solutions that operate solely as screen readers.

Kurzweil Educational Solutions¹ Kurzweil 3000, which can be purchased
for
$379 or $539 per seat depending on whether a school chooses color or
back-and-white, is one product that offers screen reading and several
other
features in a single program, including an audio spell check, scanning
capabilities with automatic format correction, and note-taking or
highlighting options for reference.

Kurzweil also offers the product with a floating license, so a set
number of
users can operate the software from anywhere within the school.

³It offers the kinds of tools that are helping students to learn, as
opposed
to those that you just read with,² said Cindy Johnson, vice president of
marketing at Kurzweil. ³We¹re looking at a start-to-finish solution.²

Johnson said the Kurzweil product could help a student write a book
report
or complete a research project, as opposed to just allowing them to read
and
transport text.

³There¹s a value and purpose for the cheaper models, if reading is all
you
want them for,² said Ken Elkind, product manager for the Kurzweil 3000.
³It¹s a different product for different folks. We have integrated all
kinds
of tools into our product, whereas some of the cheaper models have only
solved one problem.²

Links:

School Technology Buyer¹s Guide
http://www.eschoolnews.org/buyersguide
*    Company Search on ³Kurzweil,² ³AT&T,² ³Freedom Scientific,²

Allegan County Intermediate School District
http://www.alleganisd.org

Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind
http://www.usdb.k12.ut.us/home/home.html

AT&T Labs Natural Voices
http://www.naturalvoices.att.com/

Freedom Scientific
http://www.freedomscientific.com/

GW Micro
http://www.gwmicro.com/

Kurzweil Educational Systems Inc.
http://www.kurzweiledu.com/index.html
http://www.nextup.com

Premier Programming Inc.
http://www.premier-programming.com




http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=3720