Making Windows Accessible

Making Microsoft Windows Accessible in Your School

Ten quick solutions to implement this summer...

1.       Shortcut to Accessibility Settings on your desktop
This is often “locked down” on school computers when it should be open to all.

a.       Create a desktop shortcut to the “Ease of Access Center” and allow your students to adjust their computers to their personal requirements, from cursor and keyboard response to alternative alerts.

b.      If students have individual log-ins their chosen settings will be retained for their use. If not the computer will re-set to the default settings with each new log-in.

2.     Shortcut to Speech Recognition on your desktop
Windows7 (and Windows Vista) have the finest Speech Recognition/Voice Dictation/Voice Control system available built in, all you have to do is make it available to students. There is significant evidence that students who struggle with writing can benefit from using Speech Recognition to get their ideas down quickly, and students with dexterity issues will benefit as well.

a.       This must work with individual student log-ins so that a student’s voice profile will be saved.

b.      Students will need to train the computer to their voice, you have to assist some students by whispering the training scripts to them, as their reading may not be accurate enough.

3.       Install the "MITS" accessible version of the Firefox Web Browser

a.       Firefox provides free accessibility options which are either not available or only available at great cost on other web browsers. In addition, most network administrators world-wide find that Firefox offers increased security from intrusive malware. It is completely free and has proven itself safe. Firefox 4 has already been installed over 200 million times this year alone.

b.      The Michigan Integrated Technology Supports has crafted a custom set of “add-ons” which make Firefox accessible. The primary set can be found at
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/collections/ira-socol/mits2009/
This set adds many features which provide access to web browsing across the disability spectrum, including the FoxVox Text-To-Speech application.
You may also want to add:
FireVox http://www.firevox.clcworld.net/ which offers full blind access when installed
as well as
AnyDaisy https://launchpad.net/daisyextension the Bookshare-designed DAISY reader add-on for Firefox.

4.       Install Balabolka, a free Text Reading System
Balabolka is a new, free, Text-To-Speech system which reads with word-by-word highlighting (an important tool for building sightword recognition. http://www.cross-plus-a.com/balabolka.htm
There are hundreds of options and it is very easy to use with media player type controls.

5.       Install WordTalk if you use Microsoft Word
WordTalk is free software developed in the United Kingdom which turns Microsoft Word into a Talking Word Processor, with word-by-word highlighting. http://www.wordtalk.org.uk/Home/
An “add-in” toolbar allows students to listen to books pasted into Word or their own writing.

6.       Use the Ghotit online spell-check system
Designed for “dyslexics” and English-Language Learners, Ghotit.com offers an entire new level of spellchecking support. http://www.ghotit.com/home.shtml
Words are defined, and Ghotit allows spelling to be “way off.” (There are school network versions with teacher tools available.)

7.       Install PowerTalk for use with Microsoft PowerPoint
PowerTalk is a free program developed in the United Kingdom which makes Microsoft PowerPoint accessible, as it speaks the text on the slides. http://fullmeasure.co.uk/powertalk/

a.       You may want to have your staff review the advice offered in Creating Accessible Presentations. http://fullmeasure.co.uk/powertalk/#creatingpresentations

8.       Install GraphCalc, the free Windows graphing calculator
For over 15 years students have been using GraphCalc to make math more accessible. GraphCalc puts a full-featured graphing calculator right on the desktop, and allows students to record every step of their work, every part of every equation, and every graph they make, and transfer that (via copy/paste) into homework, classwork, quizzes, and exams (you can paste in Word Docs, Open Office docs, or Google Docs). http://www.graphcalc.com/

a.       SpeedCrunch http://www.speedcrunch.org/en_US/index.html is a simpler on-screen calculator, also free, and offers your students options based in their individual needs.

b.      The online talking calculator from PBS Kids http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/games/calculator/index.html offers another level of accessibility, and can easily be “bookmarked” in your school’s Firefox installation.

9.       Install AMIS, DAISY Playback Software
For use with Bookshare’s (free to schools for qualified students) books. http://www.daisy.org/projects/amis

10.   Install Click-N-Type, the free, adaptable, on-screen keyboard
Click-N-Type is a fully customizable on-screen keyboard for those with limited dexterity and other needs. You can change the size, the key layout, it can speak back what is typed (in many languages), it can change letter-forms when the shift-key is pressed, and it works perfectly in scanning/switch mode. http://www.lakefolks.org/cnt/

11. - Ira Socol

Word Accessible: WordTalk and Ghotit

Sure, we can all hate Microsoft. There's so much they do that annoys us. But let's face it - they make the products that make most of our computers go. XP was a great operating system (is still for Netbooks), Vista - for all the complaints - is even better if you turn off "User Account Control" and stop it from indexing everything. I think Windows7 - as bloated as it will be - will be better still.

And Microsoft Office is the standard. Yes, OpenOffice copies it well, but Word, Excel, OneNote - these are fantastic applications - and applications which are incredibly easy to use with all kinds of accessibility applications. And, chances are, your school has already bought and paid for Microsoft Office. It is there, waiting for you to make it better.

And now, we have new ways to make Microsoft Word much more powerful, with two free add-ons - the newest version of WordTalk and the new Ghotit plug-in.

This doesn't mean to forget about the built in supports: You should be teaching your students about options from Equation Editor (math symbols), to altering Grammar Check settings as they need it, to using Auto Correct to simplify text entry (on my computer, typing "msucoe" produces "Michigan State University College of Education" - saving a great deal of time for this one-fingered keyboarder), to altering fonts, font sizes, colors, spacing and whatever else is needed to make the screen comfortable. We need to be offering those options 'every day.'

But these new systems, these can make huge differences for virtually every student.

WordTalk converts Microsoft Word into a text-to-speech system. This supports reading in many ways, and because it uses synchronized word-by-word highlighting, it dramatically builds sight-word recognition. Obviously, content becomes accessible and students become independent - they no longer have to wait for people to read to them. And because WordTalk now converts text to .wav and .mp3 files, text becomes supremely portable - put it on a CD, an iPod, your phone. (see the CALL Centre's guide to creating content accessibility)

But WordTalk also supports writing. When writers hear their words read back to them they recognize problems in ways they simply can not while reading print. They hear misspellings, they hear repeated and missing words. They hear repetitive words. They hear issues with rhythm, even issues with description.

And WordTalk, when combined with AutoCorrect shortcuts, even creates an elementary AAC device. Build key short-cuts for phrases, and WordTalk turns Word into a speech synthesizer.

Ghotit adds another powerful tool - context-based spell checking with definition-support and text-to-speech access. Adding Ghotit to Word changes the spellcheck experience completely. No longer do you have to be "very close" with your initial spelling. You can be way off and, chances are, Ghotit will find the right word. And then Ghotit will give you a list of word choices - with definitions. It will read those choices and definitions to you. And not misspelled words - but misused words as well, it notes words "out of context" (in a different color) and offers the same choices. So it is not just correcting spelling, it is building knowledge of the English language.

When Ghotit is in use, students begin to show more confidence in their writing, they begin to take more chances with an expanded vocabulary, because they know they are less likely to look foolish - to fail in spelling - to use the wrong words.

There is an online version of Ghotit, but with a simple, free sign-up, your school can add Ghotit for Word to every computer

There is a simple fact: Just as there should not be a school (or university) computer anywhere without Firefox with Click-Speak and Accessibar installed, there should not be a Windows/Office equipped school computer without WordTalk and Ghotit installed. These are free solutions which allow schools to meet some of their civil rights obligations under US and EU laws. They are a basic move toward making educational success possible for a wide group of students currently "left behind." And they are a first step toward bringing a school in line with Universal Design.

To not have these software systems available everywhere is nothing less than educational malpractice.

- Ira Socol