Learn about different assistive technologies

Before you begin

• Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There's also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples. 
• Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
• Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help.

Planning and setting up this activity

• Make sure the devices you’re using have a text-to-speech and a screen magnification programme or app installed, and you have familiarised yourself with its use.
• Choose some child-friendly, suitable websites, articles, book or documents you can use to demonstrate.

 

Running this activity

1. Gather everyone together and explain that you’re going to be tech detectives and investigate assistive technology. Ask if anyone knows what assistive technology is. Assistive technology means to devices, equipment and software that can help disabled people live more independently, whether it’s in their education, work or daily lives. Some examples include screen readers, dictation software, text to speech software, adaptive keyboards, alternative input devices, screen magnifiers and braille displays. You can find out more about assistive technology on Scope’s website.
2. Explain that today you’re going to investigate some of these assistive technologies, which are text-to-speech, screen magnification, dictation software and alternative keyboards.
3. Explain what each of the assistive technologies you’re focusing on are:

• • Text-to-Speech: Software that reads text out loud. Text to speech software is sometimes referred to as TTS, or ‘read aloud’ technology. It’s available on most modern computer and mobile devices. It turns text found in documents, webpages and emails into synthesised speech.
  • Screen Magnification: Magnification software increases the size of text, images or graphics on a screen. Screen magnification software also enlarges the cursor size too, so it’s easier to find on the screen. The user can then zoom in and out of the parts of the screen they need. It can also emphasise a particular area, as well as invert colours. Many devices come with a built-in magnifier.
  • Dictation Software: Dictation software converts speech to text. It also carries out commands, such as ‘press enter’ or ‘delete that’. Dictation software is also called Speech-To-Text or voice recognition software.
  • Adaptive Keyboards: A modified keyboard designed for someone with an access need. There are many types of adaptive keyboards to help with different access needs. Some keyboards have raised areas between the keys instead of lower areas. This allows a person to place their hands on the keyboard before finding the correct key. High contrast keyboards help visually impaired and low vision users differentiate the keys. Adaptive keyboards sometimes come with word-completion software. This helps speed up the typing process and reduces the number of keystrokes.

4. First, explore each of the assistive technologies on a device, so everyone knows what they are and how they work. For example:

• • For Text-to-Speech, choose a tool, such as Read&Write or Google’s built-in text-to-speech, that can read the text out loud. You could listen to a story or a poem.
  • For Screen Magnification, choose a tool, such as ZoomText, that makes the text larger. Get into teams and use the same text on all the devices. Read out a word and ask people to zoom in to find it. The first team to find it, wins.
  • For Dictation Software, let teams use dictation software to create a funny story. Everyone says a sentence aloud, and the software types it out. You can then use Text-to-Speech to read out the stories.
  • For Adaptive Keyboards, see if you can find an adaptive keyboard, then ask people to spot the differences between regular keyboards and the adaptive one.

5. When everyone’s explored each of the technologies, assign an area of the space a specific technology:

• • Corner 1: Text-to-Speech
  • Corner 2: Screen Magnification
  • Corner 3: Dictation Software
  • Corner 4: Adaptive Keyboards

6. Explain that you’ll read out a statement and people must decide which assistive technology it’s referring to. When they’ve decided, they should go to that corner. 
7. When everyone’s chosen a corner, reveal the answer. Anyone who’s got the answer wrong is out.
8. Keep going until one player is left. They are the winner.
9. You can use our statements to play the Corners game: 

• • Text-to-Speech:
    • This software reads text out loud.
    • This can be known as TTS, or ‘read aloud’ technology.
    • This tool turns text found in documents, webpages and emails into synthesised speech.

• • Screen Magnification:
    • This software increases the size of text, images or graphics on a screen.
    • This can emphasise a particular area, as well as invert colours.
    • The user can zoom in and out of the parts of the screen they need.

• • Dictation Software:
    • This is also known as voice recognition software.
    • This tool lets you speak into a microphone, and it turns your words into text.
    • This carries out commands, like ‘press enter’ or ‘delete that’.

• • Adaptive Keyboards:
    • This tool can have bigger keys or special layouts.
    • This can help the user avoid accidental keystrokes and typos.
    • This sometimes comes with word-completion software that can help speed up the typing process.