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TECH RESEARCHER'S ADAPTIVE SOFTWARE RESOURCE MAY HOLD NEW TEACHING IDEAS

By Mary Hillebrand

August 29, 2005 -- Parents and educators looking for additional ways to help students with vision or language-related disabilities may find some new ideas at a web site operated by Montreal-based Dawson College. Dawson's Adaptech Research Network has outlined more than 100 software programs available online for little or no fee that provide assistance with text-to-speech translation, basic vocabulary learning, time management and several other functions. For students with access to a computer or, in some cases, a handheld electronic organizer, these programs could serve as interesting new learning tools.

Adaptech divides the programs it has identified as potentially useful into eleven categories such as Typing Tools, Virtual Keyboard, Cursor Enhancements and Speech Recognition. For each program in a category, the web site provides a file download link and basic information, including the name of the program's developer, the software's price, if any, and a brief description of its applicability for adaptive technology needs.

In the Text-to-Speech category, for example, Adaptech identifies the Hawaii Education Literacy Project's HELP Read program as "a software package that reads along out loud while the user is reading." This application, according to Adaptech, may be a creative new tool for teaching basic reading. Another program, Connect Outloud, "is designed for the beginning to experienced blind or low vision computer user to access the Internet through speech and Braille output," Adaptech says.

The organization highlights a potpourri of diverse choices in its "Other Software" category, including Academic FlashCards with downloadable sets of words for specific topics ranging from sports to business to foreign languages - and, yes, basic grammar too. Another porgram, called Due Yesterday, is designed to help users of Palm OS devices track classwork, class information, and grades. WordWeb Pro, meanwhile, is an English-language thesaurus and dictionary that can also help the user identify words that match certain patterns. It can also be used to create crossword puzzles, a feature that may appeal to teachers looking for new ways to present vocabulary words.

The Adaptech Research Network consists of a team of academics, students and consumers and is affiliated with several Canadian universities, hospitals and disability organizations, including the National Educational Association of Disabled Students. Adaptech studies various ways computer hardware and software can be used to make day-to-day business and learning functions easier or more efficient for college and university students and educators. Throughout its various studies, "the issue of the high cost of adaptive software and hardware" has been pervasive, the group says, prompting the compilation of a list of products at least worth sampling before users of adaptive technology commit large sums of money to one particular application.

"We in no way are suggesting that these replace the higher end hardware and software currently on the market," Adaptech adds, calling its resource list "a short-term solution" and "a good place to start."8