Why Text-to-speech?

In the time I worked at Mark College, the school in the UK Kabir attended, I learnt the importance of using assistive technology from the pupils themselves. Over the years I saw the help it provided them and I developed the best ways of using it.

Since then I have devoted time to educating the educators about its use. Top of the priority list is text-to-speech software. During my recent visit to India I saw clear evidence of its value in the school that had been working with it under Kabir's guidance. The teachers had changed from sceptics to enthusiastic advocates of its use with their pupils.

Wherever learners are regularly required to read and write, text-to-speech can play a vital role in enabling them to deal with these demands. Independently, they can hear words correctly pronounced that they struggle to read, hear text at their chosen speed and increase their understanding of it. In these ways their learning improves. When typing, they can hear their own words read back to them and so improve the quality of their writing.

So my hope is that I can help persuade every teacher that text-to-speech software is an important tool which should be provided to support any learner who needs help with their reading and writing.