Dyslexia and the Role of Assistive Technology
Essential Assistive Technology For Individuals With Dyslexia
Did you know that nearly 10% of Americans are dyslexic (World Population Review, n.d.)? For many individuals, dyslexia can make daily tasks seem daunting, especially when they require reading or writing. However, with the right tools and resources, living with dyslexia doesn't have to be a life-altering challenge. In this blog post, we’ll explore a range of assistive technologies designed to support individuals with dyslexia, transforming how they engage with the world and giving them the confidence to thrive in their daily lives. Whether you're a parent, educator, or someone seeking assistance for yourself, you’ll discover valuable insights and actionable recommendations that can empower you or your loved ones.
Understanding Dyslexia and Its Challenges
Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that affects the way individuals process language. Those with dyslexia often struggle with reading, writing, and sometimes speaking. While these challenges can feel overwhelming, they are not indicative of intelligence. In fact, many individuals with dyslexia are exceptionally creative and excel in fields that value out-of-the-box thinking.
The Role of Assistive Technology
Assistive technology (AT) offers vital support to people with dyslexia, enabling them to harness their strengths while navigating daily challenges. Understanding the diversity of this technology is crucial for finding the right solutions to facilitate learning, communication, and organization. Here's a comprehensive look at various types of assistive technology that can make a notable difference:
Leveraging Assistive Technology
Create a System for Reading and Writing. Use speech to text features for dictation. Dictation can help you get your ideas out first, then edit after, opposed to spending time/energy in the draft phases. It is best to check with your accommodations team for what products are approved. Some speech to text options are:
Dragon, VoiceTyping, Read&Write, Otter AI, etc.
Once in the writing phase, use software as a part of your editing process:
Review with grammar checking software (Popular options include Grammarly, Microsoft Editor, and ProWritingAid)
Another strategy is peer review, ensuring time is being left for this and you have a designated person who can help with those peer reviews and to increase collaboration with peers. It is best to check with your accommodations team for what products are approved.
Ghotit is specifically designed for dyslexia. Features include context-sensitive and phonetic spellcheck, word prediction, grammar check, etc. It will also read selected text aloud.
ProWritingAid (Youtube Review of ProWritingAid) software checks grammar, spelling, and writing style in documents and files.
Hemingway Editor software checks for grammar and writing style. It highlights long or lengthy sentences.
Utilize TTS and STT
Text-to-speech (TTS) and speech-to-text (STT), also known as speech recognition, are two distinct but complementary technologies that deal with converting language between written and spoken forms, which can be incredibly helpful and also a time saver for all individuals, but especially individuals who are dyslexic.
Text to Speech
TTS technology converts written digital text into spoken words. It takes text as input and produces audio output. TTS systems analyze the input text for syntax, punctuation, and context, then generate phonetic representations and prosody (rhythm, pitch). Finally, a synthesizer produces audio waveforms, often using pre-recorded speech fragments or neural networks to create natural-sounding voices. This purpose of TTS is to enable devices to "speak" to users and make digital content accessible to those with visual impairments, barriers with reading and writing, those short on time, or those who simply prefer to listen. You can use text-to-speech to have emails and documents read to you aloud, to allow for more accuracy when making edits.
General Use:
Built-in OS Features:
Apple VoiceOver/Speech (macOS & iOS): Apple devices have integrated TTS, often used for accessibility (screen reading) but also for reading selected text aloud in apps like Pages or Safari.
Microsoft Narrator / Read Aloud (Windows & Office 365): Windows includes Narrator for screen reading. Microsoft Office applications (Word, Outlook, OneNote) have a "Read Aloud" feature to speak documents.
Google Text-to-Speech (Android): This engine powers many Android apps, allowing devices to read content aloud. It's often pre-installed on Android phones.
Browser Extensions & Standalone Apps:
Speechify: A very popular app and browser extension known for its high-quality AI voices and ability to read nearly anything (web pages, PDFs, documents, emails, etc.) at adjustable speeds. It also offers voice cloning.
NaturalReader: A widely used text-to-speech software with both free and paid versions. It can read various document formats (PDF, DOCX, EPUB) and web pages, with a focus on natural-sounding AI voices.
Read Aloud (Browser Extension): A popular free browser extension that reads web pages, PDFs, and Google Docs aloud.
Voice Aloud Reader (@Voice Aloud Reader for Android): A free and feature-rich Android app that can read text from various sources, including web pages, documents, and even physical books via OCR.
Balabolka: A free Windows program that can read text from many file types, save audio in different formats, and supports various TTS engines.
Professional / AI-Powered Voice Generation (often for content creation):
Murf AI: Known for its extensive library of realistic AI voices, suitable for podcasts, video voiceovers, e-learning, and presentations. Offers features like voice cloning and emotion control.
ElevenLabs: Gaining popularity for its incredibly realistic and expressive AI voices, ideal for audiobooks, interactive media, and advertisements. It excels at capturing human-like intonation and emotion.
Play.ht: An AI-powered text-to-speech generator that converts text into natural-sounding audio, often used by bloggers and content creators to turn articles into audio versions.
LOVO AI: Another strong AI voice generator offering a wide range of voices, languages, and accents, with advanced features like voice cloning and emotion control.
Amazon Polly: A cloud-based TTS service from Amazon Web Services (AWS) that allows developers to integrate speech synthesis into applications, offering various voices and languages.
Google Cloud Text-to-Speech: Google's cloud-based service for developers to integrate high-quality speech synthesis into their applications.
Descript (Overdub feature): While primarily an audio/video editor, Descript includes an "Overdub" feature that allows you to generate new speech in your own cloned voice, which is a powerful TTS application for editing or creating new content.
Speech to Text
STT technology (also called speech recognition or voice recognition) converts spoken language into written text. It takes audio as input and produces text output. STT systems process audio through steps like noise reduction, feature extraction (identifying key sound characteristics), and acoustic modeling to map sounds to phonemes. Language models then predict the most likely text sequence, often using AI and machine learning to improve accuracy over time by learning from the user's voice, pronunciation, and speech patterns. The purpose of STT is to enable devices to "listen" and interpret human speech, allowing users to interact with technology using their voice.
Dictation Supports:
Built-in OS Features:
Apple Dictation (macOS & iOS): Allows users to dictate text into any application where they can type. It's built into the operating system.
Windows Speech Recognition (Windows): Windows has a built-in speech recognition feature for dictation and controlling the computer with voice commands.
Google Voice Typing (Google Docs): A free and very convenient feature within Google Docs that allows real-time transcription of spoken words directly into your document.
Google Gboard (Android Keyboard): Google's mobile keyboard has excellent voice typing capabilities built-in, allowing you to dictate messages, emails, and more.
Standalone Apps & Services:
Otter.ai: One of the most popular AI-powered meeting transcription services. It records and transcribes conversations (meetings, lectures, interviews) in real-time, provides summaries, and allows for speaker identification.
Dragon NaturallySpeaking (Nuance Dragon Professional Individual / Dragon Anywhere): A long-standing leader in speech recognition software, offering high accuracy and customization, particularly popular for professionals like lawyers and doctors for dictation. Dragon Anywhere is its mobile counterpart.
Speechnotes: A free online speech-to-text notepad that uses Google's speech recognition engine for accurate real-time dictation.
Rev.com: Offers both automated (AI-powered) and human transcription services for audio and video files. Their Rev.ai is an API for developers.
Just Press Record (iOS/macOS): A simple and effective app for Apple users that provides quick voice recording and transcription.
Developer-Focused / Cloud-Based Services (often integrated into other applications):
Google Cloud Speech-to-Text: A robust cloud service from Google that allows developers to integrate advanced speech recognition capabilities into their applications, supporting many languages and real-time transcription.
Amazon Transcribe: AWS's fully managed speech-to-text service that converts audio into text. It's commonly used for transcribing customer service calls, media content, and more.
IBM Watson Speech to Text: A powerful cloud-based service from IBM that uses AI and machine learning for accurate speech recognition, often used for enterprise-level solutions and custom transcription.
Microsoft Azure Speech to Text: Part of Microsoft Azure's Cognitive Services, this offers advanced speech recognition features for real-time and batch transcription, with options for customization.
Use Dyslexia Friendly Fonts and Softwares
OpenDyslexic Font or Dyslexie Font can be downloaded to your computer and applied to all of your documents to improve readability.
Omoguru: Dyslexia-friendly reader – adjusts the appearance of text, reads aloud, built in dictionary
TextHelp Read and Write – lots of features: reads aloud, highlights words, pronunciation guide, and more
Kurzweil 300 – scans printed text, converts it to a text and audible file and reads aloud
Spell Aid – spelling assistance with pronunciation guide, synonyms and examples
Dragon Dictate – dictation/transcription app that eliminates the need to write manually and includes voice-over for reading
C-Pen- Scan text with this state-of-the-art device to have words read out with natural speaking voice.
ColorVeil- A screen filters over any application that can help reduce eye strain. Helps users with Dyslexia and Scoptiv Sensitivity Syndrome
ReadingLine- Chrome add on- acts as a reading ruler to keep an eye on a specific line or section of text.
Manage Your Time Wisely
Improve Time Predictions. Understand the amount of time it takes you to read/write your tasks to improve your overall predictions and time management
Account for Revisions. Account for the amount of time it takes for revisions of writing pieces in your time predictions
Automate Where You Can. Automate the reading/writing process where you can by templating emails and documents as well as with the use of screen readers, speech to text, and text to speech features to save you time and energy.
Save “Perfect” for the Final Product. Perfecting drafts can feel like a long and daunting process for those with dyslexia. Make your drafts a “B+” product, and save your A+ effort and revisions for the final product to save you time and energy.
Decide When to Leverage Perfectionism. Determine when it is appropriate to be “perfect” or “clean” and when having some errors are appropriate. Having spelling or grammatical errors will likely not deter the reader from the intent or the content, and will save you time when making revisions. Email communications to a colleague may not need the lengthy revision that a document or presentation would need being seen by a larger audience.
Optimize Your Strengths
Use Accessibility Tools for Neurodiversity.
Check out ERG’s specific to those with dyslexia or similar neurodiversities to stay up to date on relevant tools, apps, and technologies.
Understand how your dyslexia impacts you, and what tools and strategies work best for you. When you understand what works best for you, you can advocate for your learning style in seeking accommodations/ team culture adjustments such as:
Specific fonts (Common examples include OpenDyslexic, Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, Comic Sans, and Dyslexie)
Specific line spacing (adjusting the space between letters, words, and lines to enhance readability for individuals with dyslexia)
Specific text size, capitalization, style, or representation
Sharing some level of disclosure, based on your comfortability, may be helpful in preserving time in written communication. Saying something to your team such as “You may see spelling errors in my communications, if there is anything I share with you that is confusing or that you can’t decipher, please let me know so I can clarify.”
Interested in learning more about Dyslexia? Check out these resources:
Professional Development, Coaching, and Creating Inclusive Environments
Lastly, resources for professional development in dyslexia awareness, like workplace coaching, can enable organizations to create supportive environments for neurodiverse employees. Training can empower companies to implement inclusive hiring practices and accommodations, benefiting both employees and overall organizational productivity. A great resource to utilize for disability specific accommodations is AskJan.org. AskJan can help navigate accommodations specific to dyslexia or other disabilities or neurodivergences.
While assistive technology serves as a powerful tool for individuals with dyslexia, fostering an inclusive environment is equally significant. Here are a few practices that can help:
Educate Peers and Colleagues: Raising awareness about dyslexia can reduce stigma and foster understanding within the workplace and schools. For example, if a member of your team has disclosed that they are dyslexic, you may opt to only use dyslexia-specific fonts when sending emails to the team.
Provide Accommodations: Offering flexible work schedules, additional time for tasks, and access to technology can create supportive environments that benefit not just those with dyslexia but everyone.
Conclusion: Empowering Individuals with Dyslexia
The advances in assistive technology provide an array of support options that can empower individuals with dyslexia to thrive in both academic and professional settings. By incorporating these tools, understanding dyslexia, and fostering inclusive environments, we can help unlock potential and drive success. Explore various assistive technologies and start utilizing them effectively today! Schedule a FREE consultation for executive function coaching here!
Remember, each person’s journey with dyslexia is unique, and discovering the right tools may take time. As awareness and technology advances, supportive solutions grow, offering hope and increased accessibility to a brighter future.
References:
World Population Review. (n.d.). Dyslexia rates by country 2025. Retrieved from https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/dyslexia-rates-by-country
