Assistive Technology Freeware - Who Doesn't Like a Bargain(Presented at the NYS Occupational Therapy Association, November 7, 2009 Saratoga Springs, NY)
by Jim Luther Center for Disability Services Albany, NY 518 437 5817 http://sites.google.com/site/jamjolu/
Introduction
Today's presentation offers a brief survey of assistive technology software that falls into the following categories:
1. Cause and Effect 2. Keyboard Alternatives 3. Mouse Alternatives (and Joystick Programs) 4. Text-to-Speech and Speech-to-Text 5. Communications Alternatives 6. Other AT Freeware
I’ve also included some un-reviewed material including some screen magnifiers and screen readers.
All of the programs reviewed today are for Windows based computers (sorry Mac and Linux fans.)
Many of the programs highlighted today, including some of the ones I've written, can be found on the http://www.oatsoft.org website which is devoted to open source and freeware assistive technology. The rest of the freeware discussed was found scouring dozens of "freeware" sites- most of which also have so called shareware that are really just demo versions of commercial software. Usually, however, shareware titles are more reasonably priced than the brand name equivalents. Often freeware and shareware are inferior in terms of performance and features than commercial products, but not always. And, given a tight or non-existent budget there are enough viable freeware alternatives to provide options for a wide range of users and needs. At the very least the freeware version can serve as assessment tools.
I would also like to thank all those generous individuals, companies, and other organizations that have made their creativity and ingenuity available to all of us.
I would also caution all of you to scan any installers first for viruses and malware prior to opening them regardless of where they come from.
The Software: Cause and Effect I've included a few cause and effect titles for the single switch and other users. I have also included single switch games that are beyond cause and effect. 1. Priory Woods has great materials both video and story based. Some of the titles are more appropriate for older students. These are very popular activities: http://www.priorywoods.middlesbrough.sch.uk/resources/restop.htm
2. myMediaPlayer - This program allows a switch user (or direct click user) to play either a video or a music file, or both simultaneously. A delay to pause feature encourages repeated interaction. music and video resources can be assemble into lists. All changes are saves automatically, and the last setup is recalled automatically the next time the program is opened. The program can be set to close automatically when either media element finishes playing. It is an ideal compliment to the Launcher6 program http://sites.google.com/site/jamjolu/Home/mymediaplayer
3. The Baby program from www.senteacher.org - weird. There are other switch activities and lots of grat links on the senteacher site: http://www.senteacher.org/Files/
4. ClickMitigator – This Autohotkey derived program acts to make other programs like You Tube videos into a cause and effect activity. With clickMitigator you record the positions of each of the two (or single) buttons and define an interval between when the first target is clicked and the second target is clicked. ClickMitigator also allows you to define a interval that occurs right after the first click during which additional clicks are ignored. This is especially useful for those switch users who may inadvertently (or otherwise) issue multiple switch hits. This can be disruptive of e-stories made with Powerpoint where the additional clicks can cause pages to be skipped. The clickMitigator should be used with an adapted mouse or other switch interface that allows your switch user to issue a left mouse button click. http://sites.google.com/site/jamjolu/clickmitigator
5. Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs - Here is a terrific link to a boatload of activities, many single switch, from arguably the best special needs and technology blog on the web: http://teachinglearnerswithmultipleneeds.blogspot.com/2009/09/free-online-activities-for.html
6. Oneswitch.org – The best site devoted to switch accessible games. Many of these games are extremely challenging. It also has great how-to information. And, there are links to many resources including free downloads: http://www.oneswitch.org.uk/5links.htm
Onscreen Keyboards: There are really only a few worthwhile free onscreen keyboards. The best have features that may include resizable layout, switch accessibility, word completion, customizable layouts, program launching, macro capability, and other system interaction functions. The scanning features may have limitations if users do not have a way to determine which application should receive keystrokes. For other than evaluation, or occasional use, switch users who need more complete control should look to SAW or commercial alternatives.
You should test your OSK with ALL of the programs you intend to use it with. For example, you will find it likely that the free OSKs don't work with the WordQ word prediction program
1. Osk.exe keyboard, the one that comes free with XP and Vista (and works with Win2K), but it is not resizable. It actually supports switch access, but it is hard to imagine that that would be too useful without a more global switch accessibility strategy like what is potentially possible with SAW. It is also included with the PortableApps onscreen keyboard distribution. It is typically found in: C:\WINDOWS\system32\osk.exe and can be copied for portable use.
2. The On-ScreenKeyboard.exe that works with Win9x through Vista that is also included in the PortableApps distribution (in the App/OSK folder,) and is resizable. http://portableapps.com/apps/accessibility/on-screen_keyboard_portable
3. RemoteKeys, the powerful, but not too easy to understand, programmable keyboard-authoring environment. You can create your own keyboard layouts that include picture keys, and can do things like send macros and launch programs, as well as link to other RK keyboards. Be prepared to do some head scratching. http://www.freewarehits.de/RemoteKeys.htm
4. Click-N-Type is resizable, has a fair word prediction feature that gets better as you use it, and it supports single switch scanning. The scanning mode was not too functional under Windows Vista, and failed to include the word completion feature. Keyboards are resizeable, and you can design your own layouts with the companion CNTDesigner program. Follow the tutorial to see how to build a custom keyboard. There is a speech package that will announce the key names as they are clicked and a dwell select feature. http://www.lakefolks.org/cnt/ Note: The download link is near the bottom of the page and appears as: CNTzip.exe. This is the best all around free onscreen keyboard for typing text.
5 SAW 5 - Switch Access for Windows is an incredibly powerful OSK program that supports scanning methods and has many features that are only found on commercial products. SAW offers complete switch access to your computer including mouse control. You can author your own layouts, but expect to spend some time learning how to build your keyboards. Keys run "scripts" that can send text, special keys, key combos, open applications, initiate mouse actions, navigate menus, speak text, and more... Word prediction, including the free WordAid extension for SAW can be incorporated into your SAW environment. SAW Lite allows you to use, but not edit keyboards. http://ace-centre.hostinguk.com/index.cfm?pageid=2926A897-3048-7290-FED02B6A24887F44
6. RapidKeys - a nice little program that includes both a keyboard and word prediction. It doesn't seem to have a built in dictionary, but learns words as you type them. The keys aren't resizeable, but as you resize the window you reveal more keys and features like the word completion feature. RapidKeys learns words as you type them and adds them to the word prediction lexicon. http://rapidkeys.netfirms.com/en/index.htm
7.Virtual Keyboard (vkt) – Shareware, fairly nice, keyboard that is free to use without access to premium features. http://www.march-of-faces.org/resources/vkt.html
8. The built-in Speech Recognition capability of Windows XP and the even better capability for nearly hands free computing in Vista and I presume Windows 7. Mouse AlternativesDwell Click Utilities 1. DwellClick (from Sensory) provides dwell selection for those who may have trouble clicking mouse buttons. You just hover the cursor over a clickable target for a user configurable amount of time and DwellClick sends the desired mouse event to the target. It supports left, right, double clicks and dragging operations. It also has a 'sleep' mode that temporarily turns off clicking so you don't have to be vigilant. You resume dwell clicking by just hovering over a small green button. You can adjust the target size, dwell time and dwell tool bar all with dwell clicking. Requires VB runtime dll. Quirky under Vista http://www.sensorysoftware.com/dwellclicker.html
2. MouseClick by Uri Fridman - another dwell clicker with accommodations for left, right, double clicks and dragging. User needs to provide actual clicks to activate/deactivate MouseClick, and to adjust some of its options including dwell time. Also quirky under Vista. http://mouseclick.sourceforge.net/ (The downloads didn’t work, but it should run from the folder I included.)
3. Point-N-Click This is undoubtedly the most full featured dwell selection program. As a result it takes the longest to learn all its features including Shift-clicks, Control-clicks various repeating click modes and more. You can build your own mouse function toolbar that has as many, or as few tools as you want. The dwell user can have complete control over all features. A great freeware program that woks well under Vista. http://polital.com/pnc/
4. ClickAid – ClickAid, by the same authors of Point-N-Click, is a virtual mouse aid designed for anyone who has difficulty switching between mouse buttons or double clicking on a physical computer mouse. It can increase the functionality of a program like CameraMouse which has an dwell click feature, but no accommodation for right-click, double-click, shift-click etc... http://www.polital.com/ca/
4. Mouseketeer is yet another dwell clicker that is nice and small. It has all the basic functions: click, double-click, right-click, and it has suspend clicking mode. No setup complications. The website that has Mouseketeer has many other assistive technology utilities including many supports for low vision users including various cursor sets, cursor enhancers and a really huge mouse cursor. http://www.fxc.btinternet.co.uk/assistive.htm
Web Cam Mousing: 6. CameraMouse 2009 is a freeware that works in conjunction with a commonplace web cam to act as a hands free mouse alternative. I am using an inexpensive (under $20, iMicro IMV5) webcam that can produce a 640X480 picture at 30 frames per second. My webcam has built in LED illumination that is supposed to help light your face in low light conditions. The user identifies a spot like the tip of ones nose on the image that appears in the CameraMouse setup window.CameraMouse attempts to track the spot identified as the user moves and moves the mouse cursor accordingly. Good lighting is important to improve your chances of getting CamerMouse to work well. For the best performance I set the "gain" (cursor responsiveness) in the CamerMouse settings to medium and the smoothing (jitter filtering) to medium high. These settings allowed me to be able to traverse the entire screen, and be able to steady the mouse cursor over a small target. This setup worked adequately with the Point-N-Click dwell selection utility and the Click-N-Type keyboard. However, CameraMouse will not be a good choice for a user who expects to be independent. Someone has to click on the spot that CameraMouse will track. With the webcam and computer and software components I used I would have to say that CameraMouse does not perform as well as the commercially available similar products like SmartNav or HeadMouse. The commercial products generally have a smoother feel allowing for more precise control, and at the same time allow users to cover the screen easily. I can recommend CameraMouse for assessing optical pointing as a potential strategy, or in a supervised environment. If one is planning on relying on CameraMouse, one should have a helper available to assist with startup and to help re-identify the spot should CameraMouse lose it. http://www.cameramouse.org/
7. Enable Viacam - This program, like CameraMouse, uses a web cam to track the user’s head movements and convert them to mouse cursor movement. Unlike CameraMouse, Enable Viacam identifies and tracks facial orientation. There is no single point to click on for tracking. But, there is a button to click once the user has aimed the camera or positioned themselves into to the web cams view field. After this, Enable Viacam does a good job tracking. It behaved smoothly and accurately without fiddling with parameters. In fact, you can leave the web cams view field and then return, and enable Viacam will resume working. It also comes with an easy to use dwell click feature. Because of how well it works, the dwell click feature, and the support for more independent use, Enable Viacam is my favorite. I did have to rename a copy of onscreenKeyboardPortable.exe I had on my machine to osk.exe and drop that copy into Enable Viacams’s “bin” directory so that the keyboard button in EV’s control window would work. Otherwise use Click ‘n Type. http://eviacam.sourceforge.net/eviacam.php
8. Efmer Track! - Is similar to Enable Viacam and performs fairly well, but not quite as smoothly. Perhaps some tinkering with settings could improve its usability. I recommend using it with Point-n-Click. The best thing about Efmer Track! is that you just turn it on and it starts working. This means that if shortcuts to Efmer Track! and Point-n-Click are put in the startup folder, and the web cam is well aimed, your user will be ready to go when the computer starts up (if you can automatically get past any log in screen.) The only glitch with Efmer Track! is that it occasionally loses track and the mouse cursor stops moving. If you just relax, it should reacquire tracking in a few seconds. http://www.efmer.eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=30
Joystick Programs: Inexpensive gaming joysticks and gamepads can offer users a low cost alternative to using a mouse. They can take some getting used to though, and in general, using a joystick requires critical timing skills as opposed to a trackball or mouse. Joysticks can be tricky for small precise movements, and cursors can sometimes drift even if the joystick is not being touched. If your user is unable to push buttons on the joystick, they may need an alternate means for clicking like a dwell select program, or an adapted joystick or mouse and a switch. Adapted Joysticks that permit the use of external switches can be used as programmable switch interfaces offering flexibility that most commercial switch interfaces lack. A how to adapt your own game controller explanation can be found at: http://www.oneswitch.org.uk/4/DIY/pcmacUSB.htm Jim Luther can also provide you an adapted Logitech Dual Action Gamepad with 2 switch inputs for $45, and with 4 switch inputs for $60. The cordless version of the Logitech adapted gamepad can be purchased for $55 for a 2-switch adaptation and $70 for a 4-switch adaptation. Contact Jim at: jamjolu@hotmail.com to make arrangements. In Windows Vista when a “User Access Control” window pops up, which occurs frequently like when you open an installer, you will lose control of your cursor with all of these utilities.
1. Joymouse - A simple joystick to mouse utility lets you use the joystick to control the cursor and the to map buttons to left, right, or middle mouse buttons. http://sourceforge.net/projects/phjoymouse/
2. JoyToKey – Joystick to mouse and keyboard utility allows you to use mouse buttons to issue both keyboard and mouse actions. Joysticks can be used to move the mouse cursor. You can create multiple profiles. This is the one I use most often, and in conjunction with an adapted game controller it makes a very flexible switch interface. It is easy to set up and has a good feel for mouse control. http://www.electracode.com/4/joy2key/JoyToKey%20English%20Version.htm
3. Joystick 2 Mouse 3 - Like JoyToKey you can map the joystick to mouse movemnet and joystick buttons to keyboard keys. You can create multiple profiles. Not striclty freeware, the author asks $20 if you find it useful, but the program is always free to use. This one may potentially be the most flexible and powerful. I had some trouble figuring out how to do some things though, like mapping a button to a keyboard key (under Vista.) http://www.oatsoft.org/Software/Joystick2Mouse3
4. JoystickMouseTool - A simple joystick to mouse utility lets you use the joystick to control the cursor and the to map buttons to left, right, or middle mouse buttons. http://www.deinmeister.de/jmt_e.htm
5 SwitchHopper is a switch interface product from RJ Cooper that includes the free download software that allows you to redefine mouse buttons to do many possible things including send keystrokes or mouse/keyboard combinations, launch programs and more. If you have a switch-adapted mouse this could be a very helpful program. It does, however, impose its redefinitions of your mouse buttons across all mouse devices connected to the computer http://www.rjcooper.com/switchhopper/index.html Text-to-Speech Programs1. Balabolka - A talking word processor with spell checking that highlights words as it speaks. It can be set to speak letters, words, sentences and paragraphs as they are typed. You can resize and select font color. It supports both SAPI 4 (Mary, Mike) and better quality SAPI 5 (Anna) voices. You can save text files as wav or MP3 (sound) files for listening on a media player. Balabolka supports multiple languages. This is a really good alternative to commercial "talking" word processors. I have two versions of the installer on the handout CD, version 1.15 and version 1.27. Version 1.27 behaves very strangely on my Windows Vista laptop. It appears to type in a sort of scrambled right to left order as in Arabic. The version 1.15 works fine. Available at: http://www.cross-plus-a.com/balabolka.htm
2. Deskbot - A utility that uses the Microsoft Agent characters (SAPI 4) to deliver text-to-speech. You can set it to speak when the contents of the clipboard changes. I take advantage of this feature to provide text-to-speech to Launcher6 and myMediaPlayer. You can have Deskbot announce the time at regular intervals (right click on the agent character and select Options). Deskbot can be found at: http://www.bellcraft.com/deskbot/ It is fun to see all the Agents that are available at: http://www.msagentring.org/msagentring/setup.aspx
3. Free NaturalReader 2007 - A talking wordprocessor that supports SAPI 5. It has a "mini" mode that let's you speak any highlighted text in other applications. http://www.naturalreaders.com/
4. Language Reader is a simple text-to-speech program that uses the Agent characters and supports SAPI 4 and 5. It supports multiple languages. http://www.authorsoft.com/language-reader.html
5. ReadPlease - another text-to-speech utility. The ReadPlease window offers word by word highlighting and options for large fonts and high contrast settings for low vision users. http://www.readplease.com/
6. TTSReader - a text-to-speech text editor that allows saving text to wav or MP3 files. It also supports speaking the contents of the clipboard when changes occur. http://www.sphenet.com/TTSReader/index.htm
7. DSpeech - Similar to TTSReader, but also detects and opens the Microsoft Speech Recognition tool so you can dictate and hear your transcribed text spoken back! This might be a good product for assessing the value of speech recognition. You can save your text as wav or MP3 files as well. There is a plug in available for PDF files. Dspeech supports special tags that permit altering voice parameters like pitch, volume and speed while reading. Even changing voices is possible. No text highlighting during reading though. Keyboard commands cover the main functions. From: http://www.dimio.altervista.org/eng/
8. EdWord - This is a talking word processor that includes support for automatic symbol insertion. Free! The rub? It does not come with symbols. However, there is a companion program called Symbol Set Wizard that will import a directory structure full of symbols and make them useful to EdWord. I installed an older version of Writing With Symbols 2000 on my computer. WWS2000 requires the installation CD in the drive to run. But, if during the installation you direct the WWS2000 installer to put all the graphics on the hard drive - it copies a set of the Mayer Johnston PCS symbols as .WMF files to the hard drive. I used Symbol Set Wizard to make the pictures accessible to EdWord, and then moved the imported picture directory structure to the Symbols folder inside the EdWord folder. Download at: http://www.deafblindonline.org.uk/software.html#ee
Note about symbol sets: Currently there is very little in the way of open, copyright free symbol sets usefull for symbol communicators. This creates a class of communicators who, unlike the rest of us, are required to pay for access to their prefered means of communication. Separate and not equal. An organization in the UK called Paxtoncrafts.org hopes to build a high quality picture set that rivals MJ PCS. The Mulberry picture set will be available at the website http://straight-street.com/ . Eventually they will compliment this effort with a grid-building tool and a computer-based speech generating aid.
9. UltraHal – another TTS program that offers SAPI 5 support and can act as a clipboard TTS program. http://www.zabaware.com/reader/
Related Programs: 1.WordTalk 3.6 adds TTS to Microsoft Word for free. It offers word-by-word highlighting, but no keystroke feedback. It has keyboard commands for reading words, sentences, paragraphs, etc… http://www.wordtalk.org.uk/Home/
2. Click, Speak – A free TTS add-on for the FireFox browser. Highlight the text and click the “Read Selection” to hear selection. Or, set the cursor and click “Auto Reading Mode” to read from the cursor. Click, Speak uses the default voice that you can set in the Speech control panel of the Windows OS. http://clickspeak.clcworld.net/
3. AMIS – A free ebook reader designed to handle the DAISY ebook format. Download AMIS at: http://www.daisy.org/projects/amis/ DAISY formatted ebooks
can be found at http://www.rfbd.org/ and at http://www.bookshare.org/
4. NVDA – A free, open source screen reader offering auditory desktop access and navigation. Available at: http://www.nvda-project.org/
5. Thunder Reader – Another free screen reader from http://www.screenreader.net/ 6. Dragkeys - A utility that makes it easier to highlight and copy text to the clipboard which can be found here on this site.
Communications Alternatives- This is surprisingly one of the weaker areas of AT freeware. There are some excellent offerings here, but for something as important as communications we are largely at the mercy of commercial interests. This is especially troubling for those who use symbols to communicate and who generally have to pay for proprietary symbol sets. I know of no other group so encumbered. When was the last time you knowingly paid for a font? I am hoping things improve. Keep your eye on www.straight-street.com for a free symbol set and free communications software. In the meantime here is what I think is good:
1. Etriloquist- is a list based communication strategy. Might be useful for those who are literate and have a good point and click technique. http://www.etriloquist.com/ 2.Launcher6 - Not strictly a communication program, but it could serve as such for a beginner. It offers 6 large choice buttons with pictures. It supports auditory scanning and text-to-speech via a clipboard tts agent like Deskbot. It can link to more Launcher6 screens, or it can launch programs and registered file types. It saves as you edit so you don't have to remember, and it has keyboard shortcuts for facilitators working with learners. Because it only displays six choices it supports a linear scan only. It can accommodate single and two switch scanners, and has a random selection method, useful as a spinner for games. http://sites.google.com/site/jamjolu/Home/launcher6
3. pVoice - a nice picture and text based communicator. Supports single and two switch scanning, but no auditory scan. It allows for sentence construction and can support a complex set of pages to suit the needs of many symbol-supported communicators. Fairly easy to edit and expand upon. http://pvoice.org/
4. SAW - Special Access for Windows is a very comprehensive and powerful system that can be used for complete access for switch users to the Windows environment including mouse control. It can also be used as a communicator. Expect to spend a good deal of time learning this program though. http://www.oatsoft.org/Software/SpecialAccessToWindows
5.Web Page Communicator Package and formEdit -The Web Page Communicator package can turn any device that can run Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, or Safari (direct select only) browsers into a communications device. Using formEdit and a template from the Web Page Communicator package you can create your own communications pages. These pages support multiple access methods including direct selection (point and click), single switch scanning (auto scan) and two switch scanning (step scanning.) There is also a random selection method useful as a spinner for games. It supports auditory scanning as well. The Web Page Communicator package works well on many low price platforms like netbook computers available for under $350. http://sites.google.com/site/jamjolu/Home/web-page-communicator
Other Freeware:
1. TopOCR - a freeware optical character recognition program that works! You can even use a digital camera to get text images into TopOCR. TopOCR includes text-to-speech capability, and allows you to export to wav file. Or, you can copy and paste the results into one of the more capable text-to-speech programs for a really low budget version of Kurzweil Reader. http://www.topocr.com/
2. Autohotkey – This is a tool used mainly by computer professionals to automate various tasks. Many Autohotkey enthusiasts, including myself, have used Autohotkey to create assistive technology tools like a screen magnifier, a joystick to mouse program, clickMitigator, and dragKeys for example: http://www.autohotkey.com/
3. ZacBrowser- Not assistive tech per se but a browser designed for the autistic son of the creator. It is a child friendly interface that is easy to use for most early learners that works well with a touch screen.
5. Dkey – An
onscreen keyboard demonstration. Dkey offers a phone type numeric/alphabetic keyboard. Dkey attempts to predicts the word as you type . If there are
multiple possibilities then you can select the intended choice from a list. The Dkey, if it was a real onscreen keyboard, would be an efficient means for scanners to type. http://www.oatsoft.org/Software/dkey
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