TextHelp: This is amazing

Every so often I come across software and I cannot quite comprehend the different it will make to my teaching. I came across something recently and I could not wait to share it with the SenCo at school so we could start using it. The name: TextHelp. Quite simply, revolutionary software for dyslexic pupils in order to help them access reading and writing. This is a subject which it is hugely important to be discussing this week, as it is dyslexia awareness week. All week I have seen tweets about why dyslexia matters. It really matters to me. I care passionately that everyone in my classroom should be able to access what we are learning about because I want everyone to feel equally welcomed in classroom and to have confidence in what they can achieve.

You can either download this as a Chrome extension or there is an app called ireadwrite.

This is what the toolbar looks like.

It has many different uses:

• Picture dictionary

If there is a word you do not understand you can highlight it and look at a picture to help you understand the meaning.

• Predictive words

It suggests the word you might want to write next which will significantly help you speed up your writing ability.

• Change the colour and highlight

Highlight words you have struggled with or need help with. You can then collect these in a separate document.

• Translation

Highlight a word and you can have it translated into a number of different languages which are read out for you. How great would this be for EFL students. We get a lot of spanish children coming to my school and I know how useful this would be for them.

• Text input

You can even speak to your computer and it will record and write in what you have said to it. Fantastic for those children who struggle to write but have lots of ideas they want to share in the lessons.

There is even a possibility of reading webpages aloud and you can take a pdf picture of a textbook and upload it too! I really cannot get over how useful I think this would be.

I'm not sure how quickly we can use this extension as we are not currently using chrome. But I'm hoping we can make good use of the app on our iPads. Here is a video explaining how it can be used:

It is so important for educators to be using currently technology to help provide access for SEND pupils, I think this will be fantastic.

Is your school currently using this app, or the extension? How is it going?