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Kurzweil 3000 - A Text-To-Speech Solution

Cathy Paul
Amethyst School
London, Ontario, Canada

Amethyst School

The Amethyst School is a residential school, which serves the needs of severely learning disabled students from across the province of Ontario, Canada, and specializes in the area of literacy. Our students come with a variety of needs in the areas of reading and writing and our mandate is to integrate methodology and technology to effect the most progress in these areas.

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The Successful Amethyst Student

• has benefited from an individualized program designed to maximize literacy growth
• has learned the skills and confidence to advocate for him/herself in both classroom and social settings
• has developed fluency with adaptive software

Exemplary Reading Software

• Research indicates that emphasis should be on interactive, multisensory reading experiences.
• Much of this software is specific to the text of one book. Our desire has been to provide the benefits of interactive, highlighted text to all written material, including and with emphasis on the text produced by the student him/herself
• Text4o-Speech software was our solution

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The Benefits of Text-to-Speech

• text-to-speech provides for interactive and multisensory reading experiences in all subjects
• significant growth can be expected in comprehension and, in some students, decoding reading and self-esteem are intricately linked and we have seen significant gains in self-esteem, not only when print material is readily accessible, but also when reading becomes an independent function.

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Why choose the Kurzweil 13000?

• converts the text to synthesized speech and reads the text aloud with a high degree of accuracy
• scans a variety of printed material
• a user-friendly scan/read PC-based reading system
• highlights sentences or words on the screen so that students can track the text while reading
• allows students to control the speed at which information is read
• allows students to control the size of print for ease of tracking
• students can access the dictionary when encountering new vocabulary and the software will read the definition out loud
• students now have independent access to magazines, novels, encyclopedias and even the Web students can create their own text within the software: and the text is spoken out loud (type and talk) - an invaluable tool fir self-editing

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Moreover .....

• The Kurzweil 3000 retains the page layout, including pictures, graphs and diagrams, with the same integrity as the document

How Amethyst uses Kurzweil 3000?

• each classroom is equipped with the Kurzweil 3000
• students view this technology as an integral tool in the classroom
• students have unlimited access to content material immediately and independently
• students are encouraged to assess and adjust the software to their tracking needs
• students make use of voice notes to respond to questions and to create study notes

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The Benefits to our Students

• independent enjoyment of age appropriate literature is now possible
• test taking and assignment completion becomes independent
• knowledge base is expanded
• listening comprehension is enhanced
• students are taught to become aware of their own processing speed and to adjust the software accordingly
• self-editing is simplified using the word predict, spellcheck, dictionary, and type-and-talk features
• test taking becomes more independent
• fluency in this software ensures increased chance of success during mainstreaming

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Measurement of Benefits

Our involvement in the Technology Incentive Partnership Program two years ago yielded encouraging statistics that showed significant growth in reading comprehension when students used Kurzweil 3000 for t 5 minutes per day above and beyond their normal reading instructional time. Students participating in the

study were in Grades 2 and 3 or were diagnosed with a severe learning disability and were reading at these grade levels or below. Students who were exposed to the Kurzweil 3000 averaged I to 3 years higher in reading comprehension over a one year period than students who were not given 15 minutes per day access.

• Moreover, students, parents, and teachers responded very positively on our perceived benefits study.

Effective Aspects of Kurzweil 3000 Noticed by Amethyst Teachers

• words per minute adjustment is excellent for students with processing difficulties
• voice notes have unlimited uses for students with dysgraphia and dyslexia
• highlighting enhances tracking and decoding maintaining the integrity of the printed page is a key feature for students with a learning disability and for students reading text books in content subjects
• the software is easy to use, even for the 7 year olds who participated in our TIPP project the independence our students with learning disabilities experience enhances self-esteem, confidence, end success in a mainstreamed environment

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The Kurzweil 3000

The Kurzweil 3000 meets the variety, of needs of a student or adult with a learning disability. It is a classroom tool that enhances independence and participation across all grades and subjects. It is a useful tool in the workplace to enhance productivity. From Grade one to post-secondary and on to the workplace, it is truly a text-to-speech solution.

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