Speech Recognition: The Writing Magic Bullet?

This is part of a series of blogs our Director, Alan Knue, has composed to help people increase their reading and writing efficiency

Wanting to try speech recognition software is a popular request from students at our AT Demonstration and Lending Library. These software programs have come a long way from when they were first introduced in the 1980s. The recognition accuracy has significantly increased and at the same time, the amount of time and effort to train a speech recognition program for a specific user has decreased. But there are considerations to be made if you believe speech recognition is for you.

Once a voice file has been created- the student needs a good quality microphone and your computer needs to be sufficiently powerful to run both the speech recognition program and word processor simultaneously. But a student should be aware that every word that is recognized is correctly spelled. However, a correctly spelled word does not mean the correct word choice. The student needs to be able to detect and make corrections. This is where reading with text-to-speech (TTS) comes in. A student can listen for the words and make the correction by voice in some programs (preferred since this improves recognition over time) or by using the mouse and keyboard. Additionally, some programs can play back a recording of your dictation so the student can actually hear what they said.

If hands free computer control and navigation is your goal, some dictation programs can make this a reality but with a lot of training and technical assistance from qualified professionals. The cognitive load is very high since making corrections would involve learning and remembering a large number of verbal commands. However, using a speech recognition program to be totally hands free isn’t always important or necessary for everyone. 

Besides the popular, reliable, and powerful DragonNaturallySpeaking and the new Dragon Dictate for Mac, all Microsoft Windows operating systems since Vista have very good speech recognition built into the Ease of Access. This built-in option has less navigation controls and a smaller vocabulary than a stand alone program. However, is a good option for many users and has the benefit of being free. 

Finally, SpeakQ is a speech recognition add-on to WordQ that is specifically targeted at students who have difficulty with writing. It is especially useful for students who cannot fluently dictate at a natural speaking rate, remember verbal commands, and/or get through the initial training. It is not meant to be a full feature speech recognition tool as it lacks navigation and editing commands. However, it works seamlessly with WordQ’s word prediction, combining the benefits of both of these features, and is especially useful in picking the correct homophone.

If you are interested in speech recognition, contact our ATSpecialist for a demonstration of the available options.

An AT Holiday Story

Bells with Holly

"Abe" is a grade school student who hasn't been able to independently use his Dynavox alternative and augmentative communication device. His mom contacted WATAP to borrow the Head Mouse Extreme so her son could access his Dynavox. At the end of the borrow period she called one of our AT Specialists, Maria Kelley, OTR/L, ATP to tell her that the Head Mouse worked great and that Abe was able to use his communication device independently. She then asked Maria if there was any way they could keep the Head Mouse Extreme while they secured funding to purchase one. However, more than holding onto it until Abe got one of his own, they were hoping to have the loaner through Christmas so that Abe could have a voice for the Holidays. Maria had to conduct two demonstrations for other participants but was able to return the Head Mouse to Abe so that a little boy could communicate with his family at Christmas.

Last Minute AT Holiday Gift Ideas

Iris 9000 Voice Control Unit 

Looking for last minute ideas for the holiday season? Check out WATAP's past webinars including the AT Holiday Gift Buying Guide for lots of cool ideas for people with varying abilities and varying interests. Great AT accessory ideas as well as products for everything from gardening to gaming to modifying your home environment. Get simple, low cost, low tech ideas or explore ideas for the techies in your life.  

Happy Holidays from WATAP!

Web Accessibility Wednesday: Skip Link

This is part of a continuing series of web accessibility tips for IT personnel, web managers and web development groups. These tips can be used to review current website accessibility and to utilize in developing new websites with the hope of improving web accessibility for everyone.

"Skip to main content" or "skip navigation" links provide a mechanism for keyboard users to jump over repetitive navigation directly to the main content of a page. These links must be one of the first links on a page and must be visually apparent in order to provide quick access to the main content for keyboard users, including screen reader users. They can be intrusive to visual design. However, because "skip" links are really only useful to keyboard users, they can be
ATAP Web Accessibility Tips Page 11
hidden from view until they receive keyboard focus, at which point they are presented visually and prevalently within the page - thus maintaining high utility to both sighted and blind keyboard users, but having no impact on other users - they probably won't even know that the link exists.
Read more about hiding "skip" links visually.

Web Accessibility Wednesday: Keyboard Accessibility

This is part of a continuing series of web accessibility tips for IT personnel, web managers and web development groups. These tips can be used to review current website accessibility and to utilize in developing new websites with the hope of improving web accessibility for everyone.

Ensuring that your web page is fully accessible using only the keyboard is a vital component of web accessibility. All interactive elements, including links, buttons, form fields, media controls, etc. should be accessible using only the keyboard. Use the Tab key to navigate through page elements. Shift + Tab will navigate backward. The Enter key will typically activate links, buttons, etc. The navigation order of interactive elements should be logical and intuitive. It should generally follow the visual presentation order (left to right, top to bottom). Particular care should be taken to ensure that forms can be completed and submitted using only the keyboard. If you must press the Tab key a significant number of times to interact with a page, consider adding a "Skip to main content" or "skip navigation" link.

Web Accessibility Wednesday: Screen Readers

This is part of a continuing series of web accessibility tips for IT personnel, web managers and web development groups. These tips can be used to review current website accessibility and to utilize in developing new websites with the hope of improving web accessibility for everyone.

A screen reader is a type of assistive technology that reads the text content of a web page audibly to the user. It is primarily used by individuals who are blind or have low vision, but can also be useful to individuals with certain cognitive or learning disabilities.
Screen readers read the text content of a web page linearly based on the underlying source code order - left to right, top to bottom. Screen reader users typically do not use a mouse, but instead use a wide array of keyboard shortcuts to navigate and interact with a web page. A screen reader can also output content to a refreshable Braille device to form Braille characters,thus allowing users who are deaf-blind to access web content. Design webpages with these principles in mind - techniques required include providing skip navigation links so that the screen reader users can bypass navigational menus and jump directly to the content, associating form labels with their appropriate form elements so the purpose of each form control is identified, identifying data table headers to aid in table orientation and navigation, etc. Much of web accessibility is about ensuring compatibility with screen reader technologies.

Web Accessibility Wednesday: Assistive Technology

This is part of a continuing series of web accessibility tips for IT personnel, web managers and web development groups. These tips can be used to review current website accessibility and to utilize in developing new websites with the hope of improving web accessibility for everyone.
Assistive Technologies, or AT, are technologies that help one overcome some physical issue or limitation so they can function in ways they otherwise would be unable to. AT includes both software and hardware. It can range from screen readers which convey information audibly to those who have visual or cognitive disabilities, to captions for the Deaf or hard-of-hearing, to refreshable Braille devices which present content to those who are deaf-blind, to screen enlargers for those with low vision, to physical devices to assist those with varying levels and types of motor function. For a web site to be accessible, it must be compatible with varying assistive technologies.

Webinar: How to Select a Computer

Join WATAP and the Washington Access Fund, March 30th at 10:00am for a discussion about computer options, operating systems and shopping tips. Learn what assistive hardware and software may best suit your needs and find out about available financing options. Register for the webinar today.

Microsoft Partners in Learning Accessibility in Education

Microsoft produced a new video, Microsoft Partners in Learning Accessibility in Education, exploring their Ease of Access center and its application in education. Expert testimonial was given by Curt Johnson MS, CRC, ATP of the University of Washington’s Rehabilitation Medicine Department and Assistive Technology Specialist with WATAP. Built-in accessibility features give students in the classroom and people with disability better computer usability without having to purchase additional software.

Sticky Keys: Not Just a Mishap with Soda & Your Keyboard

One of my favorite Ease of Access functions for Windows is Sticky Keys. It is a simple but effective way of making a standard keyboard more useable for someone with limited mobility. Simply press the Shift key 5 times and a dialog box will appear on your screen to ask if you want to turn on Sticky Keys. Press Enter or click Yes and you are ready to go.
Sticky Keys allows you to enable a function key like the Shift, Ctrl or Alt and any other key without having to hold them down at the same time. So if you want to type @, instead of holding down Shift and pressing the 2 you can now, with Sticky Keys enabled, press and release the Shift key and then press the 2. To disable Sticky Keys simply press Shift 5 times again or once you hold down the Shift key and press any other key simultaneously the computer will make a you killed an alien spacecraft circa a 1980’s video game alert noise to let you know the function has been disabled.
As I said earlier Sticky Keys is one of my favorite Ease of Access functions and not just for the super-fun sound effect but because around 2:00 pm every day I tend to pin my left arm to my desk with my head as I wait for the afternoon caffeine to take effect and typing one handed becomes essential for the continuation of any amount of work. It’s also a really handy function if you have limited mobility or dexterity in your hands or arms.
Are you interested in learning more about accessibility features built into the Windows operating system? WATAP is a Microsoft Accessibility Resource Center (MARC) and we can help answer your questions about how to make it easier to use your computer if you have a disability and other computer access questions.