Supporting Reading

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Supporting Reading

• With Assistive Technology

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Can you read this?

• Jabberwockys Song
• Twas brillig and the slithy tovesDid gyre and
  gimble in the wabeAll mimsy were the
  borogovesAnd the mome raths outgrabe.

From Lewis Carrolls Through the Looking Glass
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What did we just do?

• What did our eyes do?
• What did our brains do?
• Did we read it?
• Did it make sense?

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Alices commentary

• "It seems very pretty," she said when she had
  finished it, "but it's rather hard to
  understand!" (You see she didn't like to confess
  even to herself, that she couldn't make it out at
  all.) "Somehow it seems to fill my head with
  ideas-only I don't exactly know what they are!
  However, somebody killed something that's clear,
  at any rate--"

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Lewis Carrolls translation

• 'It was evening, and the smooth active
  badgerswere scratching and boring holes in the
  hill sidethe parrots were all unhappyand the
  solemn turtles shrieked.

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Now can we read it?

• But do we understand it?
• Can you create mental pictures (visualize)
• Does the whole passage mean something?

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Critical Elements for Reading

• Visual Scanning
• What is it?
• Movement of the eyes from right to left starting
  at the top and moving down
• Decoding
• What is it?
• Translating letters into sounds recognizing
  that the sound pattern is a known word

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Critical Elements for Reading

• Comprehension
• What is it?
• Constructing meaning from the collection of words
  in the printed sample of text
• Then what?

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Lets invent!

• Need groups of 3 and 4
• Take 6 minutes (take notes and sign them)
• Invent
• Something to enhance scanning or perception or
  both (GO)
• Something to enhance decoding (GO)
• Something to enhance comprehension (GO)

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Discussion

• Which critical elements were easier to enhance?
  Which were harder?
• What skills did you enhance? Which skills did
  you replace with another skill?

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How can we enhance or transform text?

• To serve person who experience challenges in
  processing or understanding printed text?

• Visually enhance the print image
• Transform the print to another modality
• Auditory
• Tactile

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Enhancement strategies

• Change attributes of the visual image
• Enlargement (size)
• Change font shape
• Change word spacing, line spacing or page layout
• Change text and/or background color
• Add highlighting
• Add masking

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Tools for enhancement

• For enhancing printed text
• Photocopy enlargement
• Large print books
• Word processor tools
• Scanning OCR Digital transformation

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Tools for enhancement

• For enhancing screen text
• Screen text enhancement systems
• Change the attributes of what appears on the
  screen

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Text Transformation strategies

• Transform visual image to speech
• Transform visual image to tactile form
• Raised line / raised dot
• Braille

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Tools for transformation

• Print text transformation
• Scan-and-read systems
• Scanning OCR Digital transformation
• Text-to-speech output
• Screen text transformation
• Screen readers
• Text-to-Speech systems (spoken output)
• E-text sources

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AT Tools Critical Elements

• Complete Tool Time 4 Text Transformation
• Determine whether the tool provides enhancement
  or compensation for each critical element of
  reading