WordQ/SpeakQ

In my last blog post, I talked about three different types of students that you could have in your classroom; students with learning disabilities, students with sensory disabilities and students with communication issues. Further, I explained how to identify the students and some high-tech and low-tech assistive technology that is available and helpful for each specific learner. In this blog, I am going to go further into detail about a specific type of assistive technology device that would be helpful for students with communication issues and students with a writing learning disability. I am going to be talking about the WordQ assistive technology device! The great thing about WordQ is that it is the, "first and only writing tool that integrates word prediction, spoken feedback and speech recognition" (GoQ). 

How Does WordQ Help Students With A Writing Learning Disability?:

• The text reading software reads aloud text the student highlights.
• "Using text to speech when writing, poor grammar sounds off and bad punctuation disrupts the rhythm" (GoQ).
• Enables auditory proofreading so a user can hear how she or he has written a sentence or passage.
• Word prediction software allows students to see and hear other options for words the student has spelled wrong.

How Does WordQ Help Students With A Communication Issue?:

• The text reading software reads aloud text the student highlights

The WordQ program also offers a second program called SpeakQ, that would be especially helpful for students with communication issues.

• "SpeakQ’s forgiving speech-to-text capability enables individuals with graphomotor challenges to express themselves in text format. Train it to understand your voice with no reading required – recognizes soft pronunciation like slippery b’s: “beneficial” vs. “an official”" (GoQ).
• "For students whose speech isn’t clear, or who have difficulty thinking in phrases or sentences, they can switch from typing or using word prediction with SpeakQ" (GoQ). 

Price:

• The WordQ program alone is $199 for both Windows and Mac computers.
• The SpeakQ program is $99 for both Windows and Mac computers.
• To get the WordQ and SpeakQ programs together is $279 for both Windows and Mac computers.

I really like the WordQ/SpeakQ programs because it's very user-friendly and it serves a dual purpose. I think it is great that these programs offer word prediction, spoken feedback and speech recognition options that could really benefit multiple types of students other than students with a writing disability and students with communication issues. I also love that these programs work with "all commonly used programs like Microsoft Word, Notepad, email clients like Microsoft Outlook, GMail, Yahoo! Mail, and Hotmail. It also works on the web with virtually any website like Facebook, ePals, Blackboard and Wikipedia" (GOQ). I like this feature because not only can this program help the students who need word prediction, spoken feedback and speech recognition to help them in the classroom, but it can also help them with their personal life (e-mail, social networking) as well!!

Click the following link to see how these two amazing assistive technology programs work in action:  WordQ+ SpeakQ

GoQ. (2013, 7 14). WordQ+SpeakQ. Retrieved From: http://www.goqsoftware.com/#.