Text-to-Speech

Introducing students to text to speech reading accommodations

Increasing reader confidence, independence, and success through technology.

Text to Speech (TTS) decodes text on a computer screen and reads it aloud using a synthetic computer voice. The computer program is actually decoding the text as it reads, and it will make occasional mistakes in pronunciation, punctuation, and prosody. TTS is becoming more and more mainstream with advances like Siri, Google Text to Speech, etc.

TTS technology allows students to independently access text that they cannot independently decode on their own. It turns the task from a reading decoding task to a listening comprehension task. (i.e. less brain power goes to decoding and more brain power goes to comprehending). This allows many students to engage grade level text with higher level thinking skills (again, brainpower goes to making meaning of the text, not just deciphering it).

Many TTS programs will highlight text as it reads aloud, which keeps students from getting lost in the text, and encourages multi-modal learning (hearing and seeing words at the same time). Research has shown that this can help many students with attention deficit disorders.

Many students need time to become familiar with the synthetic voice. The time you put into getting your students familiar with TTS will pay off in the long run with increased student independence (reduced dependence on adults!) and confidence for the rest of their lives.

Research Tells Us:

• Children who fall behind as readers read less; this, in turn, can increase the skills gap between struggling readers and their peers.
• Self-Efficacy (belief in oneself as a reader) is half the battle in helping students learn to read.
• Choice- in what to read, when to read, and how to read- acts as a powerful motivator for all students and especially for those who struggle with reading.
• Text-to-speech technology facilitates student choice, differentiation, and self-advocacy.

From The Voice of Text-to-Speech Technology: One Possible Solutions for Struggling Readers? By Dr. Michelann Parr

Text-to-Speech options - here is a blog post reviewing many different options.