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Read&Write GOLD Is Solid - www.powertolearn.com

mary | 25 April, 2008 15:59

If it is your job to look at computer applications for your school or district, you know that so much of what is available these days for schools is to assist in record keeping or is a throwback to older software days of drill and practice, ostensibly getting ready for standardized tests, or something disguised as "new" just because it has moved to an online format. For the latter, gone are the platform issues, but software that didn't take advantage of the technology then still has the same problem now, and that isn't fixed just by moving online. When I write this column, I always find I am trying to avoid one of these abysses or another.

But there is a piece of software that takes advantage of all that has come before it, adds it own brand of better to it, as well as understands what technology has to offer students with dyslexia and other learning differences. It iss for me an oasis in a desert of silicone and like any oasis, Read&Write GOLD from Texthelp is most welcome. It's a piece of software that has so much to offer making it hard to do it justice in a short review.

If I had to sum up what Read&Write GOLD is all about in just a few words, I guess I would have to say that it is a word processor/research tool with every assistive technology for students and adults with dyslexia and other language based learning difficulties onboard. And it is just waiting for a challenge to its might.

Whether a student needs to go from text-to-speech or speech-to-text, the right tool is available in Read&Write GOLD. Text-to-speech is available for reading text files, web sites and PDFs. Scans of digital content, even partial screen scans, also make sources, not usually accessible, available to the onboard text-to-speech reader. Students can also make sound files of sources and export them to be read aloud later by their computer or downloaded in mp3 or AIFF format to be listened to on an iPod or other player. In reverse, students can dictate text and have it show up in the Word-like word processor.