Free and Low Cost Assistive
Technology Solutions for
Higher Education
Dr. Estella Landeros Dugourd (NVCC)
Kara Zirkle (GMU)
Korey Singleton (GMU)
Marvin Clemmons (Norfolk State)
AHEAD in Virginia – March 22, 2013
Tools for
Organization/Task
Management
iProcrastinate (iOS/Mac)
O iProcrastinate for iPhone is a simple, yet
powerful task management application that
syncs wirelessly with iProcrastinate on your Mac,
or over the internet via iCloud, or Dropbox.
O Great for anyone who is looking for a mobile,
easy-to-use task manager.
O Cost: Free (iTunes or Mac App Store)
O http://www.iprocrastinateapp.com/
Wunderlist
(iOS/Mac/Android/PC and Web)
O Wunderlist is a very simple, well designed
and easy-to-use task management tool. You
can create to-dos and assign them to certain
lists such as "Shopping", "Work", "Private“,
etc.
O You can share your lists with others. This
will increase your productivity in every
aspect of your life.
O Cost: FREE (https://www.wunderlist.com)
Tools for Notetaking
Note Taking Express
O Web-based notetaking service
O Costs:
O
Standard Notetaking
O 3-day turnaround ($5 per recorded hour)
O
Express Notetaking
O 24-hour turnaround ($10 per recorded hour)
Live Notetaking via Skype (notes emailed after class
($15 per hour)
O Audio Transcription – Literal translation ($0.75 per
recorded minute)
O
O http://notetakingexpress.webs.com/
MyScript for Livescribe
O
O
O
Application that converts handwritten notes into electronic text
Windows XP or later, Mac OS X 10.5 or later
Cost: $29.99
O
Website: http://www.visionobjects.com/en/webstore/myscript-forlivescribe/description/
MyScript for Livescribe cont...
Sonocent Audio Notetaker
O Application offers a visual and
interactive way of note-taking
O Supported by both PC and Mac
O Cost: $149.99 (single-user); other
types of licensing options available as
well.
O Website:
http://www.sonocent.com/the_softwar
e/audio_notetaker
DEMO
Noteability (iOS)
O
Apple lists Notability as the best selling note taker of 2012!
*** ON SALE 60% OFF **
O
Cost: $1.99 (iTunes)
O
Notability powerfully integrates handwriting, PDF annotation,
typing, recording, and organizing so you can take notes your
way! Discover the freedom to capture ideas, share insights,
and present information in one perfect place on iPad.
Notability encourages productivity to be beautiful. Use our
gorgeous retina ink to capture information, while liberating
yourself from piles of paper and books by keeping this data in
Notability.
O
http://www.gingerlabs.com/cont/notability.php
Evernote (iOS/Mac/Android/PC
and Web)
O Capture anything.- Save your ideas, things
you like, things you hear, and things you see.
O Access anywhere - Evernote works with
nearly every computer, phone and mobile
device out there.
O Find things fast - Search by keyword, tag or
even printed and handwritten text inside
images.
O Cost: FREE (https://evernote.com/)
SoundNote
O SoundNote tracks what you type and draw while
recording audio.
O While playing back your recording, just tap a word;
SoundNote will jump right to that point in the audio.
O When you're done, share your text, drawings, and audio
notes via email, or transfer them directly to your Mac or
PC. Audio notes are recorded in standard M4A format:
One hour of high quality audio is only 20MB.
O Cost: $4.99
(https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/soundnote/id36478
9577 )
SoundNote cont.
Tools for Reading/Writing
e-Speaking
O
Easy software
solution to enable you
to control your
computer, dictate
emails and letters,
and have the
computer read
documents back to
you.
O
Cost: Free
O
http://www.espeaking.com
Natural Reader
O A text-to-speech software with natural
sounding voices.
O Reads Microsoft Word files, webpages, PDF
files, and E-mails.
O Can also convert any written text into audio
files such as MP3 or WAV.
O Cost: Varies; Free version available
O http://www.naturalreaders.com
Natural Reader (Feature Comparison)
Natural Reader (Costs)
Natural Reader (Costs for Education)
iReadWrite (iOS)
O
Texthelp’s new reading and writing iOS app
O
Features include text-to-speech with highlighting, word
prediction, spell checker, confusable word checker,
dictionary tools, customizable background/text colors,
different voices/fonts, and ability to import/export
documents (.txt, .rtf)
O
O
Works with iPad. Requires iOS 6.0 or later
Cost: $19.99 (iTunes) - $29.99 after introductory period
ends
O
http://www.texthelp.com/north-america/ireadwrite/
Ginger Software
Ginger Software
• Cost: Varies; Free version available
• http://www.gingersoftware.com
CloudOn (iOS, Android)
O Productivity tool that lets you use your iPad
to create, view, and edit files directly in
Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
O These applications will work the way you
expect them to, and your files will look the
way you want them to.
O Works with Dropbox, GoogleDrive, Box and
iCloud.
O Cost: Free (www.cloudon.com)
Brevity
O Word Completion - Write entire words with just a
few letters.
O Built-in word lists (dictionaries) containing
thousands of words for multiple languages:
O Auto-expansion - Any words not contained in the
word lists (e.g. slang) are automatically added as
you type and any capitalization is remembered
O Cost: $.99
O
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id424431516
?mt=8
Brevity
Tools for Digital Text
(Books, DAISY, documents, etc.)
RoboBraille.org
O
Web-based tool that enables you to upload your
document, have it converted into an alternative,
accessible format, and then emailed back to you.
O
Support for several different formats
O
Cost: Free; university-specific solutions available though
O
O
http://robobraille.org/frontpage
http://sensusaccess.com/ (accessible version)
DEMO
AbbyFineReader Online
Pros:
O Familiar software used in accessible text converstion.
O Converts Scans and PDFs to editable text.
O Extract text from document photos.
O Create searchable PDFs for archiving
O Free - http://finereader.abbyyonline.com/en
Cons:
O Must create an account.
O Limited to 20 scans per month.
Voice Dream Reader (iOS)
O Dyslexia friendly font, Focused Reading Mode to help
O
O
O
O
with focusing attention, and full VoiceOver support
and customizable font size and color for visually
impaired.
Listen to PDF and Word documents, ebooks, articles
and Web pages anywhere with offline text-to-speech.
Built in integration with Dropbox, Bookshare, Pocket,
Instapaper and Gutenberg makes it easy to import
read material.
Cost: FREE - $9.99
http://www.voicedream.com/
DEMO
Tools for Blind/Low Vision
Tactile Graphics
O Examples from Norfolk State Univ.
O Statistics
O Biology
ZoomReader (iOS)
O
In combination with your iOS device's built-in camera, ZoomReader lets
you magnify and read printed text by first taking a picture of an object
like a book or menu, then converts the image into text using state-ofthe-art Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. ZoomReader
will then read the text back to you using a natural-sounding voice.
O
ZoomReader to help you read a newspaper in the comfort of your living
room, this quick and powerful program does everything a dedicated
video magnifier can do – from the convenience of your iOS device and
at a much lower price.
O
O
Works on iPhone 4/4S/5, iPad 3/4, iPad Mini, and iPod (5th gen)
Cost: $19.99 (iTunes)
O
http://mobile.aisquared.com/zoomreader/
AccessNote (iOS)
AccessNote is the first notetaker for the iOS platform
designed particularly for VoiceOver users looking for a
highly efficient, feature-rich note taking experience. In
addition to being a low cost alternative to traditional
note takers.
O AccessNote will allow users to combine efficient note
taking with the countless other features and functions
of the iOS devices. This will allow blind and visually
impaired people in classroom or business settings to
use the same popular iOS devices that their sighted
peers are using.
O Cost: $19.99
O
O
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/accessnote/id59128
7188?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
AccessNote
Tools for Sound
Amplification
SoundAmp R (iOS)
O iOS app that turns your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
into an assistive listening device by using the internal
microphone for your device.
O Works with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. BT not
supported, iPod touch (2nd and 3rd gen require
headsets with microphone). Lite version does not
support multitasking.
O Cost: $5.49 (iTunes), Free (Lite version)
O http://www.gingerlabs.com/cont/soundamp.php
SoundAmp R cont...
SoundAmp R cont(2)...
Other Common Apps
Ebooks
Note Taking
Mind Mapping Blind/Low
Vision
Deaf/HOH
eTextbooks
AudioNote
iThoughts
MagLight+
iSign Light
Audible
Audiotorium
SimpleMind +
EyeRead
IP-Relay
Blio
Simplenote
MindMeister
SayText
ClearCaptions
iBooks
GoodNotes
Read2Go
Captionfish
Audiobooks
inClass
Subtitles
Additional Resources
O
http://ods.keene.edu/at/reading.html
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
http://otswithapps.com/2012/04/07/looking-for-apps-for-college-studentswith-disabilities/
http://www.nationalautismresources.com/autism-social-skills.html
http://www.iteachautism.com/blog/
http://www.brainline.org/content/multimedia.php?id=3514
http://main.uab.edu/tbi/show.asp?durki=10072
http://www.netsupportschool.com/?gclid=CN2F-rixi7YCFYdlOgodPVIAYg
http://www.spokendata.com/?gclid=CJqi5umxi7YCFalQOgod5ykAOg
http://www.neospeech.com/?gclid=CMa7zfiyi7YCFVGf4Aodk3sAEg
O
O
http://www.oneplaceforspecialneeds.com/main/library_special_needs_apps.html
http://ati.gmu.edu/training/mobile-apps.cfm