Comments on: CLiCk,Speak for Firefox 3 (Firefox Add-on) http://paulhami.edublogs.org/2008/06/27/clickspeak-for-firefox-3-firefox-add-on/ Educational and Assistive Technology to support Universal Access and Universal Design for Learning Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:10:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Ira Socol http://paulhami.edublogs.org/2008/06/27/clickspeak-for-firefox-3-firefox-add-on/#comment-3495 Ira Socol Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:50:57 +0000 http://paulhami.edublogs.org/?p=884#comment-3495 First way that you know a school isn't interested in accessibility is a check of their browser situation. Firefox and/or Opera better be available with speech enabled - and headsets must be available. Click-Speak is life-changing technology. I was thrilled to get to at least converse with the creators as they built this from FireVox, providing a text-to-speech option which works perfectly for visual learners, for dyslexics, even for people with limited dexterity. And Charles says the new Mac version is much improved. Every school needs this installed on every computer. Every school with Windows PCs needs WordTalk and the free version of NaturalReader, and PowerTalk on every computer. And if its a Mac-based school, there better be equivalents. These are the absolute basics - the same as having a wheelchair accessible ramp to the school's front door. And unlike that ramp, everyone of these solutions is completely free. So there is no excuse. First way that you know a school isn’t interested in accessibility is a check of their browser situation. Firefox and/or Opera better be available with speech enabled - and headsets must be available.

Click-Speak is life-changing technology. I was thrilled to get to at least converse with the creators as they built this from FireVox, providing a text-to-speech option which works perfectly for visual learners, for dyslexics, even for people with limited dexterity. And Charles says the new Mac version is much improved.

Every school needs this installed on every computer. Every school with Windows PCs needs WordTalk and the free version of NaturalReader, and PowerTalk on every computer. And if its a Mac-based school, there better be equivalents.

These are the absolute basics - the same as having a wheelchair accessible ramp to the school’s front door. And unlike that ramp, everyone of these solutions is completely free. So there is no excuse.

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