10 categories of recommended apps and software for students with learning disabilities

flickr photo by Lupuca shared under a Creative Commons (BY-SA) license

We’ve compiled an updated multi-platform list (some oldies, but goodies in there!) of our “go-to” apps that we frequently recommend for students with learning disabilities. This time we’ve included some apps for accessing digital book collections (these collections have “read to me’ options with simultaneous highlighting, which is great for students that need to listen to the text as they read.)

Some of these literacy support tools are stand-alone products that provide just one function (ex. just text-to-speech), while others are literacy “suites” that provide many options in one tool. (ex. text-to-speech, word prediction, annotation, speech recognition).

Some new exciting options (well, we find them all exciting) are in the area of digital books, OCR scanning, annotation and supported writing.

Feel free to leave us feedback on your favourites!

Digital book collections:

Epic! (iOS, Android, web app)

• https://www.getepic.com

Meegenius (iOS, Android)

• http://www.meegenius.com

iBooks (iOS)

• http://www.apple.com/ca/ibooks/

Google Play Books (iOS, Android, web app)

• https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.books&hl=en

Text to speech

Read and Write for Google (Chrome)

• https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/readwrite-for-google-chro/inoeonmfapjbbkmdafoankkfajkcphgd

WordQ (software)

• http://www.goqsoftware.com

ClaroRead (software)

• http://www.claroread.com 

VoiceDream (iOS)

• http://www.voicedream.com

Free Natural Reader (freeware)

• http://www.naturalreaders.com/index.html

 iReadWrite (iOS)

• https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ireadwrite/id600843386?mt=8

iWordQ (iOS)

• https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/iwordq-ca/id557923777?mt=8 (Canada)
• https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iwordq-us/id557929840?mt=8 (US)

WordQ for Chrome

• http://www.goqsoftware.com/wordQ4c.php

Word prediction

iWordQ (iOS) 

• https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/iwordq-ca/id557923777?mt=8 (Canada)
• https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iwordq-us/id557929840?mt=8 (US)

WordQ for Chrome 

• http://www.goqsoftware.com/wordQ4c.php

Ghotit (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android) (*note that this app is also a contextual grammar checker)

• Ghotit for iPad
• Ghotit for iPhone
• Ghotit for Windows, Mac, Android

Highlighting and highlight extraction

Read and Write for Google (Chrome)

• https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/readwrite-for-google-chro/inoeonmfapjbbkmdafoankkfajkcphgd

Vocabulary support (visual dictionary)

Read and Write for Google (Chrome)

• https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/readwrite-for-google-chro/inoeonmfapjbbkmdafoankkfajkcphgd

Annotation

Snaptype (iOS)

• https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/snaptype-for-occupational/id866842989?mt=8

Skitch (iOS)

• https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/skitch-snap.-mark-up.-share./id425955336?mt=12

ClaroPDF (iOS)

• https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/claropdf-pro-accessible-pdf/id633997623?mt=8

Read and Write for Google (Chrome)

• https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/readwrite-for-google-chro/inoeonmfapjbbkmdafoankkfajkcphgd

Scanning with OCR

Prizmo (iOS)

• https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/prizmo-scanning-ocr-speech/id366791896?mt=8

IrisScan Book (hardware)

• http://www.irislink.com/c2-968-33/IRIScan-Book-3-Executive—Wi-Fi-Book-scanner.aspx

 ReadIris (software)

• http://www.irislink.com/c2-1342-189/Readiris-15-for-Windows—OCR-Software.aspx

Office Lens (iOS, Android, software)

• https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/office-lens/id975925059?mt=8
• https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.office.officelens&hl=en
• https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/store/apps/office-lens/9wzdncrfj3t8

ABBYY FineReader (software)

• http://www.abbyy.com/finereader/

Snapverter (Chrome)

• https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/snapverter/plebojnaihkfjkkpgaemcjpnkmcpleih

ClaroReads Plus (software)

• https://www.clarosoftware.com/claroread/claroread-plus

Claro ScanPen (iOS)

• https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/claro-scanpen/id994933713?mt=8

Speech recognition

Dragon Dictate/Naturally Speaking (software, iOS)

• http://www.nuance.com/dragon/index.htm
• https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/dragon-dictation/id341446764?mt=8

VoiceNote II (Chrome)

• https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/voicenote-ii-speech-to-te/hfknjgplnkgjihghcidajejfmldhibfm?hl=en

Read and Write for Google

• https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/readwrite-for-google-chro/inoeonmfapjbbkmdafoankkfajkcphgd

 Speak It! (Chrome, iOS)

• https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/speakit/pgeolalilifpodheeocdmbhehgnkkbak?hl=en
• https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/speak-it!-text-to-speech/id308629295?mt=8

Concept mapping

Inspiration Maps (iOS)

• https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/inspiration-maps/id510031612?mt=8

Kidspiration Maps (iOS)

• https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/kidspiration-maps/id675321195?mt=8

Popplet (iOS)

• https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/popplet/id374151636?mt=8

Inspiration/Kidspiration (software)

• http://www.inspiration.com/Kidspiration

SimpleMind (Android)

• https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.modelmakertools.simplemindfree&hl=en

Supported writing

Clicker 7 (Software)

• http://www.cricksoft.com/uk/products/clicker/home.aspx

Clicker apps (iOS)

• http://www.cricksoft.com/uk/products/clicker-apps/clicker-apps_home.aspx

Notetaking

Notability (iOS, software)

• https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/notability/id360593530?mt=8
• https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/notability/id736189492?mt=12

AudioNote (iOS, Android, software)

• https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/audionote-notepad-voice-recorder/id369820957?mt=8
• https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.luminant.audionote&hl=en
• https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/audionote-notepad-voice-recorder/id406393290?mt=12

Livescribe Smartpen (hardware, software)

• http://www.livescribe.com/en-us/

Do you have more recommendations? Let us know in the comments and we can update our post.