Within the education system, there is little training for Primary and Secondary school teachers on supporting pupils with learning differences such as dyslexia and yet there is a wealth of technology that is available to help dyslexic learners ‘level the playing field’ and unlock academic potential. In fact, assistive technology can be used as a part of the strategy for developing confident and independent dyslexic learners alongside effective differentiated teaching practices.

One of the most common types of assistive technology that is available is ‘Text-To-Speech’, technology that reads out text on laptops, tablets, and smartphones as well as from printed teaching materials such as exam papers and textbooks.

In the video below, our very own Mary Wilcox explains the top five things that teachers need to know about how text-to-speech technology can support a dyslexic learner.

Mary explores the following topics:

• You don’t have to pay to use text-to-speech technology.

• School textbooks can be accessed using text-to-speech technology.

• Printed text can be accessed using text-to-speech technology.

• Text-to-speech technology helps with learning languages in MFL.

• Text-to-speech technology can be used to provide access to exams.