Braille Terminal

There are many different types of disabilities that students face, and giving students as many of the tools to succeed as possible is a good goal of the educator and parent. Blind students face many challenges in the classroom and as the digital world is used more often in the classroom, they need additional tools to use technology.

A Braille Terminal is a device that is placed below a computer keyboard that is used to display Braille characters through holes in the flat surface so that vision-impaired students can still read what is being displayed on a computer screen.

A blind student can use this technology and/or a speech synthesizer to use a computer.

The Braille Terminal uses software that reads the screen of the computer, including analyzing images and pictures and describing them, and puts out characters of Braille for the user to read.

Text to Speech

Many students struggle with reading disabilities, not only those who suffer from visual impairments. Some students have trouble with the written word because of impairments such as dyslexia. This is why text-to-speech programs can be so helpful to a wide range of struggling students in the classroom setting.

This technology enables teachers and students alike to get a better understanding of true comprehension, or allow them to read quicker and understand easier than if they were to struggle along without accommodations. This website contains a list of text to speech options that are available. It also has additional helpful resources for visual impairments including screen magnifiers and text scanning software for use with materials that are not electronic. This technology can help visually impaired students understand concepts from other classes that do not utilize text-to-speech, or with leisure reading if they choose.