Technology Review Jamie Moderhack SPE 545

READ and WRITE GOLD

"The Read&Write GOLD Program is user friendly and hands on for my Dyslexic students. The toolbar is easily accessible and has awesome features to enhance reading and writing skills for all students." "The Read&Write GOLD Program is user friendly and hands on for my Dyslexic students. The toolbar is easily accessible and has awesome features to enhance reading and writing skills for all students." Patricia Cavazos, Dyslexia Teacher, Brownsville ISD, TX "My favorite feature is Screen Masking. I use "follow mouse pointer" when I am teaching a whole group lesson to provide a strong visual reference for students to follow along. When students are typing I use the various screen masking options to reduce visual distraction by "tinting everything but the window I'm typing in" or "everything but the line I'm typing on". I also use "underline the line I'm typing on" to help student visually track. This feature has helped to improve student focus, increase on task behavior, and highly motivate my students through the use of technology." Amy Fowler, Special Education Coordinator "It has been AMAZING watching the transformation of students as they become more independent with Read&Write GOLD." Amy Ruck, Teacher, Stoughton Area Schools, WI

READ and WRITE GOLD Not only helps special education students of all ages with reading and writing, it also has study skills and research functions as well. Widely accessible through different applications for tablets such as the IPAD. Works with Google Chrome Has been shown to work for students of all ages. Allows teachers to provide differentiated instruction, which is necessary to meet the needs of all learners including students with learning disabilities, those with reading and writing disabilities, and ELL students.

Reading AT Features Read aloud with highlighting functions-improves reading comprehension Text to speech functions-students can control the reading of the document and choose either a male or female voice. Reads word documents as well as PDF documents and webpages Translator functions for ELL students A dictionary and picture dictionary functions Speechmaker to make audio files to learn on the go Screen underliner tool so that students can read documents line by line

Writing AT Features Spell-checker Word prediction software that works with the students writing style in order to build their vocabulary A “sounds like” feature for words that sound similar Verb checker function for students that struggle with accuracy when writing “Speak while typing” function that lets students listen to what they are writing while they are typing

Study Skills and Research AT Highlight documents in different colors for main ideas and/or vocabulary words Collect highlighted words to create study guides or outlines Highlight words and create vocabulary lists including both definitions and pictures for the words Fact-finder research application- students can highlight a word and a browser window will open in order to find research information Fact mapper tool to organize research visually

Potential Drawbacks Students need to have access to technology such as a computer and or tablet- schools with a limited budget might find this an impossible task “High technology” in terms of cost- one student= $300 Group rates available, however this is expensive for parents that cannot afford it Software also needs to be upgraded occasionally, which adds an additional cost to the technology

Special Educators Opinion Specifically likes that it reads books, but also information from the web Would be very beneficial to use the option of having the program read while the student is typing The only drawback she saw with the technology was the cost. Would certainly want to have students and their parents start exploring it as a tool to help students compensate for reading comprehension issues. Going to try the 30-day trial with a student

Questions… Do you think this technology is as effective for younger students, as it would be for older students? How would you use this software in your own classroom? This technology can be found online at: products/Readwrite