Chrome Tools: Extensions & Apps for All Students

This PowerPoint is a compilation of some excellent Chrome apps & extensions available to everyone! A few are paid, but most are completely free and available at the Chrome Web Store. Click on the post title for the PowerPoint.

ChromeAT presented by Mike Marotta, ATP

Here's another resource put together by Mike Marotta who demystifies apps and extensions for Reading, Writing, Math, Learning and Visual Impairments.  

Eyebridge, an app with human interaction for visually impaired!

An Eyebridge subscription provides live, on-demand, remote visual assistance to help blind or visually impaired individuals with navigating a crowded street, taking public transportation, object identification or written word interpretation. With a wifi connection and Bluetooth headset, a user connects to the service that automatically enables the rear facing camera on a smart phone for live video assistance anywhere in the world, 24/7!



INTRODUCTION TO EYEBRIDGE from EyeBridge on Vimeo.

Chrome AT Toolbox

Google has many accessibility features built into the Chrome browser and many add-on Apps and Extensions.
What's the difference between an App and an Extension?  A web app is basically a website that runs within the browser and may not require any downloads.  Google Docs is an example of an app because it runs within the browser and doesn't require a download.  On the other hand, an extension affects something global on your browser.  Extensions are downloaded to modify your browser.
The Chrome Toolbox is a searchable collection of free or low cost apps and extensions that follow the user wherever there's an Internet connection.  The tools are attached to the user's profile and available when they're logged in to Chrome.  The collection focuses on alternative access and is searchable by specific task or disability profile.  Check it out!

Organize apps with Insignio

Thanks to a colleague in Region 1 for sharing this great new app tool!  Have you ever wished there was a way to collect apps you're interested in, make lists and notes about them, then share that information? Looks like Insignio fits the bill. It also connects you to app reviews by therapists and special education teachers.

The site was developed by a group of parents, therapists, teachers and doctors with the mission to "Bridge the gap between technology and people with disabilities". Simply create an online account and watch their short, informative videos to get started. This looks to be a very useful service!

Resource for Apps - both iOS and Android

On the never-ending quest for apps, I found this site that's proven very helpful. Of major importance is the inclusion of Android and Google apps, not just iOS. Seeing as I'm responsible for AT equipment purchasing on a budget, I'm looking at Android tablets since they are so economical. Yesterday's quote for an 8" Android tablet was just over half the cost of an iPad! So I started looking at Android apps and found this site. A recent post focuses on special education apps and lists 11 that are also available on iOS. Although the Bookshare app isn't one of them, I know there is a free Android Bookshare app, GoRead.

I'm working on a Purchase Order for an Android tablet and will post about it soon!

New Google Glass Feature Identifies Objects for the Visually Impaired

OpenGlass, a Dapper Vision project, is using Google Glass technology to help the visually impaired. The user asks Mechanical Turk or Twitter to identify an object by asking a question like, "what is this box?" Mechanical Turk is a web service that is working to make Human Intelligence Tasks, like identifying objects, simple and cost-effective. Memento (a database app) speaks information about a recognizable object, and can even include danger warnings.

OpenGlass apps are still in the testing phase, but watch for more in the coming weeks! Post title links to a video of visually impaired users trying out OpenGlass.

New High Quality Accessible Graphing Calculator

The Orion TI-84 Plus Talking Graphing Calculator is functionally identical to the Texas Instrument TI-84 and fully accessible! A high quality synthesized voice reads text and symbol information that's displayed on the screen, as well as each key press.  Information can be reviewed without affecting calculation. A USB connection allows for both printing and embossing of graphs.
Features include:

• Easy for teachers to help with - LCD display and keypad functionality are identical to the standard TI-84 Plus
• Learning Mode for instantaneous key identification without interrupting operation
• Calculator functions have the benefit of decades of experience from TI, the world leader in calculators
• Full access to all menus, expressions, text, and symbols displayed on the screen
• Use the screen reader to review the screen without losing your place
• Superb synthesized speech quality with choice of voices, speech rates, and pitch
• Full access to graphs through speech output of coordinates and the innovative SonoGraph^TM, including differential sounds for negative regions and axis crossing points
• Unique haptic feedback for multi-modal visualization of graphs
• Listen using stereo earphones or built-in stereo speakers
• Ergonomically designed; Large, tactile, functionally zoned keys
• Each key is spoken when pressed
• Repeat facility to speak the display (or parts of it) at any time
• Scroll the history of calculations and quickly recall input/output
• High capacity rechargeable battery
• Battery or AC adapter operation; charge from a USB port
• Connect to your computer via USB cable to print or emboss graphs and other work (requires a printer or embosser)
• Expandable hardware accessories using USB port
• Fully upgradable via supplied USB cable
• Dimensions: 9.3 inches x 3.5 inches x 1 inch
• Included accessories: High quality stereo earphones for private use, AC adapter/charger, user manual
• One-year limited warranty
• "The Orion TI-84 Plus will be available through APH's Federal Quota Program and units will ship in time for the 2013-2014 school year."

Free AAC Photo Printables, and Much More!

Like British Columbia has SETBC (Special Education Technology BC), the United Kingdom has SENICT (Special Education Needs Information Communication Technology). And like SETBC, SENICT has put together a wealth of resources, many that are free. I just came across their general website of resources that anyone can submit entries to. In addition, they have a site for the SEN Teacher with tons of free printables, downloads and weblinks where you'll find free AAC Photo Cards, Math Activity Printables, Literacy Activities Printables and much more. What's better than FREE? We tried out the AAC Photo Cards and our Speech therapists had good reviews. Worth spending time at, but be warned, you could be there awhile!

Free Voice Recognition (speech to text) in Chrome

Have you ever wanted to try voice recognition with a student but didn't want to purchase the software, or don't have a device to run the free app? With TalkTyper, dictation is free to anyone with a computer and Google Chrome, a free web browser. Speech input has been around for a long time and has certainly improved recently, especially the Nuance app, Dragon Dictation for iOS devices. Talktyper is different, it's a free service and a wonderful solution to those that don't have an Android phone, iPhone or iPad to work with.

Click on the post title to link to TalkTyper, then click the Microphone icon and begin speaking. It works best to dictate one sentence at a time. If the speech was recognized correctly, it will appear in red. To hear it, click on the Speaker icon. If your speech wasn't recognized correctly, click the Alternatives button to view other 'recognitions', (what it thinks you said) or just repeat the sentence again. If the text is okay, click the Okay button, and your text will be added to the box at the bottom.

When you're all done, click the Copy button and paste the text into a document, email, blog, or tweet! (If the copy button doesn't work for you, remember that the shortcut for copying is "Ctrl-C").  

Remember, TalkTyper is only available if using Google Chrome! To remove unwanted ads, install the Chrome extension Adblock Plus. Dictation is available in several languages too!

New Advances in Synthesized Speech

From Perfect Paul to more personalized voices, this is the goal of speech scientist Rupal Patel. She's capturing the melody of someone's voice, and with the help of a computer, can determine their pitch, the loudness, breathiness and changes in clarity. She fuses this information with the voice of a "healthy donor" to create a unique voice for someone needing their own synthesized voice. They're not available to everyone yet, but Patel is figuring out how to work with the various devices that use synthesized speech.

Read Bookshare Books Online with the New Web Reader!

For individual members, Bookshare's new Web Reader let's students read books quickly and easily within an Internet browser. Optimized for Google Chrome, the web reader has text to speech with word highlighting, font sizes up to 70 pt, and is available anywhere there's Internet. With Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari, there's a screen reader but no word highlighting feature. Simply open Google Chrome, log on to Bookshare, find the book and select "read now". Follow prompts to install the Chrome extension and the book will open! Other text to speech Chrome extensions should be disabled. For more information on Bookshare, see the Bookshare Information section on this Blog to download a step-by-step February 2013 PowerPoint Presentation.

Texthelp Read&Write Google Chrome App

Texthelp, the company that brings us Read&Write Gold, has developed a Google Chrome app, Read&Write, with some useful accessibility features for Google Docs. I've added it, and it is available whenever I use Google Docs. Words are highlighted during text to speech and there are settings for different voices, speed and continuous reading options.

As you can see in the first image, it has a picture/symbol dictionary too. Other neat AT features include a built in word dictionary with speech feedback, ability to collect highlighted sections, a vocabulary tool and the fact finder feature that automatically does a Google search of the selected word.

This app is free and currently only works with Google Docs, although they have another web app for Read&Write Gold license holders with full web accessibility.

New font may be helpful for struggling readers

Open-Dyslexic

Here's an excerpt from the developer:
"Your brain can sometimes do funny things to letters. OpenDyslexic tries to help prevent some of these things from happening. Letters have heavy weighted bottoms to add a kind of "gravity" to each letter, helping to keep your brain from rotating them around in ways that can make them look like other letters. Consistently weighted bottoms can also help reinforce the line of text. The unique shapes of each letter can help prevent flipping and swapping."

Gloves Translate Sign Language into Speech!

The winner of this year's Microsoft Imagine Cup in Sydney is a project called Enable Talk by the Ukrainian team, QuadSquad.  They've created gloves fitted with flex sensors, touch sensors, gyroscopes and accelerometers (as well as some solar cells to increase battery life).  The gloves can translate sign language into text that is spoken with a text-to-speech engine and connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth.  Wow!  Something we could only dream about just a decade ago is now a reality. 

The team got the idea after interacting with some hearing-impaired athletes at their school, and Enable Talk was born.  They hope their project will help a lot more people and I'm certain it will.  Congratulations to the QuadSquad from Ukraine!

New Scanning Keyboard App

A student start-up company, ASK Interfaces LLC @ U of M, has created an app and is looking for testers. They are hoping to release the android app before Christmas, and an iPad app in the future. It's a scanning keyboard that activates with any touch of the screen - no switches necessary.

Tobii's Sono Flex app gets high marks

It's been about a month since Tobii introduced their app for iDevices, Sono Flex, and it's been getting great reviews.  Released on October 7th, Sono Flex is one of the first apps developed by a communication device manufacturer.  I finally had a chance to try it today and found it to be extremely easy to customize.  It has over 50 pre-made context vocabularies, and customization is very user friendly.  It's available for PCs as well as dedicated speech devices running Tobii Communicator.

Apps for Children with Special Needs

Do you have an iPod or iPad?  Are you wondering what kind of Apps are available to help your struggling child or student?  This site has a collection of videos showing the App in action, so you can see how it functions before you buy it.  The App videos are categorized nicely and you can even request a video of an App you're interested in.  They're having Facebook App party tomorrow, June 11th!  Click on the post title for more information.

RFBD Audio App

Did you know that RFBD membership is free to eligible individuals with visual impairments or reading disabilities?  They have a library of more than 65,000 audiobooks that can be accessed for FREE on an iOS device after purchasing the RFBD app for $19.99.  An RFBD membership is required.  RFBD has K-12 selections by many publishers, high interest - low vocabulary selections, fiction and language titles. 

BubCap! iPad/iPod home button cover

Here's a very inexpensive solution for covering the home button on an iPod or iPad.  Because it's designed for toddlers, it will still allow you to access the home button with a firm press.