ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES 1

In modern-day classrooms, students that have and individualized learning plan (IEP) are

a very large group that can be found in mainstream classrooms. Even when special education

classrooms that are self-contained are available, a great deal of effort is put into making students

be in a less isolated environment and participate in regular classroom instructions with their

peers who do not receive special education services. Assistive Technology is a big part of this

effort. Assistive technology is a process that include services and tools that help students with

disabilities be integrated in school activities according to their IEP (Winslow et al., 2017).

Reading is a crucial skill to function in society. This skill is not only utilized within the

walls of a classroom, but also in many other aspects of real life such as reading menus, maps,

advertisement, and others. Reading allows people to increase their levels of independence and

engagement (Bruno et al). Based on my experience, reading disabilities are some of the most

commonly found disabilities in schools. IEPs usually require teachers to utilize oral

administration to students as a way to help them circumvent their difficulty in deciphering and

understanding written text. Read aloud is a way in which teachers have traditionally help

students with reading difficulties. In this manner, teachers read the content to the students while

the students listen attentively trying to understand the message of the text. This technique is

commonly utilized when taking high-stakes tests such as common assessments; however, it has

several limitations.

Some important limitations of the traditional read aloud method of oral administration are

the lack of consistency when it comes to pronunciation and pace, the feeling of dependence that

students get when having to rely on someone else to complete an assignment that requires

reading, and the requirement of having to have a person available to provide the service to the

students who need it (Bruno et al., 2020). First, the lack of consistency in pronunciation and pace
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can make it difficult for students to understand the message that is being read to them. This is an

expected limitation since a person will often have changes in pronunciation and pace when

reading that can be due to many different factors like tiredness, stress, and even the simple action

of intaking air. Students also can develop the feeling of not being self-sufficient and that may

affect their self-image and take a toll in their performance. Lastly, often there is not an extra

person available to help students with read aloud, being the teacher the one who has to do the job

with a class time that is already packed.

A technological alternative to traditional read aloud in the mainstream classroom is text-

to-speech. Text to speech is a tool that allows students to access text that requires a higher level

of reading skills to increase comprehension and accompanies with audio the visual aspect of

reading (Bruno et al., 2021). With this technology, students can utilize tools like software and

browser extensions to have text be read to them in a digital environment. Several tools are

available to students for teachers to assist those students who could benefit from text-to-speech

functionality. Among the most well-known text-to-speech tools available is Natural Reader

which can turn PDF documents, web pages, e-books, and even printed material into spoken

word, and to which its developers refer to as “the most powerful text-to-speech reader” (The

Regents of the University of Michigan, 2021). Another tool that provides these types of services

is Readspeaker which is entirely web-based works similarly by allowing documents, web pages,

and e-books to be read aloud, and is available for Mac and PC ” (The Regents of the University

of Michigan, 2021).

The text-to-speech technologies available should be always present in the minds of

educators. These types of assistive technology tools have a very low technical installation and

maintenance costs, usually being free or with a very low-cost o purchase. The fact that the
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majority of these tools are software or application based reduces the cost to schools and school

districts because no high-level technical skills are necessary to install, update and maintain them

(The Regents of the University of Michigan, 2021). A very important way in which these tools

reduce costs for schools is also that they reduce or even eliminate the necessity to hire a new

person to perform the read aloud tasks (Bruno et al., 2020). Text-to-speech tools allow teachers

to serve the population of students with IEPs while increasing productivity and even saving some

time. For schools, costs are reduced, and better services are provided. As explained in this paper,

when compared to the traditional read-aloud these technologies offer many benefits.
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References

Bruno, L., Ball, M., Kaldenberg, E., Bahr, P., & Willits, J. (2021). Direct instructions to teach

students in a comprehensive transition program how to utilize text-to-speech software

effectively. Journal of Inclusive Postsecondary Education, 3(1), 1-20.

https://doi.org/10.13021/jipe.2021.2871

Bruno, L. P., Lewis, A. M., Kaldenberg, E. R., Bahr, P. A., & Immerfall, J. (2020). Direct

instruction of text-to-speech software for students with intellectual disability. Education

and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 55(4), 424–437.

http://search.ebscohost.com.login.library.coastal.edu:2048/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1275951&site=ehost-live

The Regents of the University of Michigan. (2021). 10 Helpful text-to-Speech readers for back

to school. Dyslexia Help at the University of Michigan.

http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/tools/software-assistive-technology/text-to-speech-readers.

Winslow, J., Dickerson, J., & Lee, C.Y. (2017). Applied technologies for teachers. VitalSource

Bookshelf. https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781524936600/