Forrest ConsultingText-to-speech is a valuable tool for students with reading disabilities and should be made available at an early age.
I have worked with students and tried many different text-to-speech options. When it came to accessing books from Bookshare for independent reading, the student’s favorite was Voice Dream Reader https://www.voicedream.com/reader/. Voice Dream Reader works very well with books from Bookshare, material in a student’s Google Drive, and importing articles from the internet. Material can also be scanned directly into Voice Dream Reader using a scanning app. I love it because it gives students an affordable AT tool they can use for life. I would recommend checking out some of the premium voices that can be purchased.
Students with documented disabilities affecting reading or vision are eligible for a Bookshare membership through their school. The following link provides more detailed information about qualifying for a Bookshare account https://www.bookshare.org/cms/bookshare-me/who-qualifies. I recommend asking the school to sign your child up for an individual membership. This will allow you to also download books for them as opposed to books being assigned solely by a representative from the school.
Here is a demonstration of Voice Dream Reader. The video has two parts and will go to the second part after a brief advertisement.
