[Athen] screen reader

[Nusen, Michael]

Teresa - Great points & I had the same issue re the confusion btwn all
the different sets of keyboard commands.
Thx,
Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Teresa LW Haven
Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 6:52 PM
To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network'
Subject: Re: [Athen] screen reader

I've worked with it some, although not yet enough for my own
satisfaction and knowledge of the program.  The number of keyboard
commands to learn
isn't as high as JAWS, for example, but one way or another you have to
have a fairly large set of commands in order to have decent
functionality in a
true screen-reader.  I found that the keyboard learning function was
helpful.  My existing knowledge of JAWS and Windows keyboard commands
kept
getting in my way in that commands for Mac and for Windows are quite
different, so perhaps a regular Mac user or someone otherwise
"uncontaminated" by JAWS and Windows would have a better learning
curve...
;)

Teresa

+++++++++++++++++++++++
Teresa Haven
Access Technology Specialist
KOKUA Program
University of Hawai'i Manoa
+++++++++++++++++++++++


-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Nusen, Michael
Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 3:43 PM
To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network
Subject: Re: [Athen] screen reader

Does anyone have any feedback regarding the free built-in VoiceOver
application in OSX?

I only spent an hour with it and was surprised that it seemed like there
would be a very high learning curve with all of the keyboard commands to
learn.

Thank you,  

Michael Nusen
Coordinator, OASIS/CAC
(Office of Accommodative Services and Instructional Support/Computer
Access Center)
Pikes Peak Community College
michael.nusen at ppcc.edu
719-502-3022

-----Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of rmhaven at stanford.edu
Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 4:56 PM
To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network; eileen berger
Subject: Re: [Athen] screen reader

I'll second (third, fourth, fifth) the previous accolades about  
GhostReader.  It only does a few things (read aloud with  
human-sounding voices, highlight while reading, and convert to MP3)  
but does them very well.  Several Stanford students use it.  I even  
relied on its earlier incarnation (TextParrot) for quick-and-dirty  
augmentative communication when my mouth was wired shut because of a  
jaw fracture back in 2006.  (People came to know me as "Hi, I'm  
Heather, the female American English speech synthesis voice from  
Acapela...".)

- Shelley Haven


Quoting eileen berger <bergerei at gse.harvard.edu>:


> Hi all,

> What screen reader is best for a mac when the student with a learning

> disability uses it only for text reading?

> Thanks,

> Eileen


-----Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of dann
Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 2:34 PM
To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network; Access
Technologists in Higher Education Network
Subject: Re: [Athen] screen reader

GhostReader works great with OSX! The trial version is limited in how
long it will work and upgrading to the single voice version is only
$40.00 and dowloaded from the web. 
 
---------------
Daniel Berkowitz, CEO
DigiLife Media, LLC
1 Bryant Avenue
Bradford, MA 01835-7424
 
phone: 617-512-4315
mobile: 978-914-4601
e-mail: dann at digilifemedia.biz
web: www.digilifemedia.biz


-----Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Shawn Foster
Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 2:53 PM
To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network
Subject: Re: [Athen] screen reader


> I've used Ghost Reader.... for text reading only, and for students

who'd like to be able to quickly create iTunes tracks, it's a good deal.
Voices are quite nice, actually. Obviously, not as full-featured as
Kurzweil, but for less than $30, it's a nice little app.
 
 
Shawn Foster
Assistive Technology Specialist
Disability Services for Students
Southern Oregon University
V/TTY: (541)552-6213



>>> On 3/6/2008 at 1:09 PM, in message

<6e0d34c90803061309udf91fcco4103b8375cccc1bb at mail.gmail.com>, "Heidi
Scher" <hascherdss at gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Eileen,

At the beginning of February Ryan Collier brought up Ghost Reader on the
listserv.  I haven't tried it out yet, but from what he said and the
website, it sounds similar to TextAloud or Read Please.  And cost is
cheaper than Kurzweil for students who are on tight budgets.  

http://www.convenienceware.com/index.php

Heidi

-- 
Heidi Scher, M.S., CRC
Interim Assistant Director
Center for Educational Access
University of Arkansas
1 University of Arkansas, ARKU 104 
Fayetteville, AR 72701 
(479) 575-3104 (voice) 
(479) 575-7445 (fax) 
(479) 575-3646 (tty)

-----Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of James Bailey
Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 1:53 PM
To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network
Subject: Re: [Athen] screen reader



Kurzweil 3000 for the mac.

-----Original Message-----

On Thu, Mar 6, 2008 at 2:26 PM, eileen berger <bergerei at gse.harvard.edu>
wrote:
Hi all,
What screen reader is best for a mac when the student with a learning
disability uses it only for text reading?
Thanks,
Eileen

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