Literacy supports for READING include:
Text-to-Speech – having text read aloud by synthesized or human voice supports comprehension of higher level text. May also include text highlighting while reading to provide multi-modal input to support attention and comprehension.
Highlighting - highlighting as text is read can be beneficial in focusing attention; collecting highlights can create study guides and gather notes for essay writing
Dictionaries - some tools have “talking” or text-to-speech and/or pictures to support comprehension of definitions.
Language Translation – translate selected text into another language.
Allows students to read, write and express themselves more confidently and independently. It includes and easy-to-use toolbar that makes documents, files and web pages more accessible. Read&Write tools also help English Language Learners, as well as people with learning difficulties or requiring dyslexia tools.
Bookshare makes reading easier. People with dyslexia, blindness, cerebral palsy, and other reading barriers can customize their experience to suit their learning style and find virtually any book they need for school, work, or the joy of reading.
The Learning Ally Audiobook Solution is a multi-sensory reading accommodation that levels the playing field for students who struggle to read due to a quailfying reading deficit. It includes an extensive library of human read audio books including many textbooks.
Project Gutenberg is a collection of public domain books that are available for free using digital devices.
Epic is a subscription book service that is free to teachers and includes access to over 40,000 high-quality illustrated books and chapter books. Epic's e library also includes thousands of Read-to-Me books, Audiobooks, educational videos, and fun educational quizzes. Check out the educational videos for teaching specific skills and concepts. They are excellent!
If you’re looking for engaging digital books for beginning readers of all ages, check out the website Unite for Literacy. This site has a wide variety of picture books celebrating many languages and cultures. Most books can be translated and narrated in at least two languages! There are many genres of interest to beginning readers such as, animals, plants, creating things, zoos and aquariums to name a few!
Students are able to have the content of a page read aloud to them using the Text-to-Speech tool.
ClaroPDF Pro iPad app is an accessible, PDF reading tool. Students can annotate, mark up, listen to and save PDF files. Accessible text PDF files are read with human quality voice & synchronized highlighting.