Great Apps for Struggling Readers/Writers

I ran across an interesting piece by Jamie Martin at the Forbes online site titled “Apple vs. Google: The Real Winners are Students with Dyslexia.”  Martin makes the point that the competition between Apple and Google has resulted in great benefits for people who struggle with reading and writing skills. Both companies, in order to keep the competitive edge as they rolled out new devices (e.g., Apple’s Apple Watch and updated versions of iPhone and iPad; Google’s updates to Android and Chromeboook) have made a significant number of features, tools, and software applications available on their products related to assistive technology (AT).

Over the past ten years, the increase in AT that supports reading and writing has been a great boon to students who struggle with literacy skills, and Apple and Google are leading the way. Apple started integrating text-to-speech and dictation into its operating system, and Google developed Google Apps for Education which many schools have adopted as their go-to learning platform. Originally, the best AT was available only for desktop computers. But now numerous AT products are available on smartphones and tablets. Here are a few examples that Martin identifies:

• Read&Write for Google
• Co-Writer Universal
• Snap&Read Universal
• Voice Dream Reader (Winston Chen) 
• VOICEtext audiobooks (Learning Ally)
• TalkBack text-to-speech and Google Keyboard dictation and word prediction on Android phones
• Texthelp
• Ginger Software (for writing process)
• Crick Software
• Mind Meister (for writing)
• Read&Write keyboard (Read&Write for iPad, Read&Write for Android) by TextHelp

Here are some additional resources for learning about AT that supports reading and writing:

• PowerUpWhat Works
• Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST)