Assistive Technology Centre

Transcription

1 1 TextHELP Read & Write 5 Mac Version May 2012

2 2 Getting Started with TextHELP 5 (MAC) TextHELP Read and Write is a tool to support your reading and writing skills, where text on the screen (in either a Word or PDF document or a page on the internet) can be read out loud together with a very descriptive spelling and dictionary tool. To start TextHELP 1) Click the TextHELP icon at the bottom of the screen on the dock. The Read and Write toolbar will now open and look like this: All of the features of Read and Write are controlled by the toolbar. You can move the toolbar by clicking on the top grey bar and dragging it to the location you want. Speech Read and Write can read out text on the screen aloud in a number of different computer voices. This is useful if you find it hard reading your work. Hearing your work read aloud allows you to concentrate more on the meaning of what you have written. It is also useful to check your work or proof read it using Read & Write. To use Speech: 1) Click your cursor on the document you want the reading to start from. 2) Click the Play button on the toolbar 3) Click the Stop button to stop the reading

3 3 To change the voice: 1) Click on the Preferences button on the toolbar. This options box should now appear: Pick a voice Adjust the pitch of the voice Adjust the speed of the voice Select your desired option for highlighting here 2) Click OK when you have adjusted the settings to your liking. Reading from the Safari web browser: Read and Write allows text to be read back aloud from web pages including web based mails, e.g. your college student mail, Hotmail, Yahoo etc. 1) Open the web page you would like read back to you. 2) From the toolbar at the top of the screen click on Speech and then click on Safari Web Highlighting. Also works with other browsers

4 4 3) Now highlight the text you want read back to you and then press the Play button. TextHELP will read out the highlighted text. Reading from a PDF 1) Click on the PDFAloud button on the toolbar. 2) This will open Adobe Reader. 3) Open up you PDF document in Adobe Reader. Use this toolbar to play and stop the reading in the PDF Select one word at a time Select one paragraph at a time Select one line at a time

5 5 Using the Spell Check The spell check feature scans your work for spelling misktakes and gives you the correct spelling or an alternative. 1) Open up a Word Document. 2) Click on the Spell Checker button on the toolbar. 3) The Spelling Helper window will now open. Place the cursor in the Definition pane and press the Play button to hear the definition read out to you Spelling mistake (in red) Possible spelling corrections A definition of the selected correct spelling 4) From the list of possible correct spellings, select the correct word from the list. To listen to the definition click in the definition box and click the play button. 5) Click Change when you are happy with your selection. The Dictionary The dictionary gives you a meaning of words and also gives an example sentence showing you how the word could be used. 1) Highlight the word for which you want the definition. 2) Click on the Dictionary button.

6 6 The dictionary window will now open. 3) To listen to the definition, click on the definition and then click on the play button. 4) To close the Dictionary Window click on the red dot in the top left corner of the window. Homophones Homophones are words that sound the same as another word but have a different spelling and different meaning. 1) Open a Word Document 2) Click on the Sounds Like button on the toolbar The Same Sounding Words window will now open. Example See to see someone Sea the expanse of water that lies between the UK and France Original Sentence Alternative homophones Definition of selected homophone

7 7 Creating and audio file Read and Write 5 allows you to create an audio file out of text on your screen. 1) Highlight the text you want converted to audio. 2) Click on the Speech Maker button on the toolbar. 3) Click on the Settings tab Select a voice Pick the speed of the voice Select the volume of the voice Pick a file format Browse to your desired location where you want to save the audio file 4) Click Convert once you are happy with the settings. MP3 files can be saved on a USB stick, MP3 Player, Dictaphone or Smartphone for you to listen to again at a later stage. You can also import MP3 files to your iphone, ipod, ipad or itouch. Please save the file to a USB pen first and import it into your main itunes account, to avoid losing any of your data.