Assisting Students (and Teachers) with Snap and Read Technology

     Students who are differently abled need inclusion and statistics prove that this type of academic setting is beneficial for both mainstream students and students who receive special services.  As I read information for this week’s module, I reflected greatly on my work experience.  I have been an educator for 14 years and I have worked with students from special services each year.  As a 5^th grade Science and Social studies teacher, I taught general education classes.  However, daily students from a special education classroom would join us for these subjects.  These students each had an IEP (individualized education plan) with accommodations.  Close proximity of seating in relation to the teacher inside the classroom, oral administration of quizzes and tests, abbreviated tests, use of overlays during reading, and verbal prompting were often included on each IEP.  These accommodations were vital to the overall success of each student.  However, when a teacher is tasked with differentiating instruction for 25 students and then additional accommodations are added, it is sometimes difficult to pull a small group or individual for testing while administering a test to a full class of students.  My district recognized the needs of the students and the teacher in this type of situation and purchased Kurzweil.  Teachers were able to monitor students and ensure that students who needed oral administration were able to receive this service during testing.  Many other resources have become available in recent years to aid students who are differently abled and this has been such a positive change for students and teachers.

     After searching for a web tool which could be used as adaptive technology, I came across a tool called Snap and Read (Click here to go to the site!) which encompasses many of the technologies needed to assist students with the aforementioned needs/accommodations. The tool, Snap and Read, includes the following:

·        Read Aloud (It will read aloud websites, PDFs, etc. and in different languages.)
·        Text Leveling (It can adjust the level of text within minutes without changing meaning.)
·        Translation (translates into 100+ languages)
·        Study Tools (can put text into outline to allow for note-taking)
·        Remove Distractions (will remove unnecessary content from a webpage)
·        Color Overlay (allows a user to change colors to highlight text)
·        Picture Supported Dictionary
·        Bibliographer (allows citing on the spot)
·        Screenshot Reader (users can select a box of text and it will be read aloud)
·        Readability Analyzer (gives text level of a web page)
·        Data Collector (allows the teacher to see how much students read and grade-level of text)
·        Annotation (allows note-taking and saving of text from PDF or web pages)

     It is employed in over 3,000 school districts, benefiting students greatly.  It can be used in many formats (Google Chrome extension, iPad app, online, PDFs, and the list goes on).  The pricing is also very reasonable ($4.99/month per subscription or $0.50-2.00 per student annually if purchased for multiple students within a school district).  I signed up for a free trial and tested the product out!  I really enjoyed the “Remove Distractions” feature and think this would be beneficial for students, especially the young students I teach.  I also changed the text on one website to simplify vocabulary.  It changed the word astronaut to “space travelers” in one part of the text.  I am not sure if this is totally helpful as most students would know what an astronaut is, but they may be more likely to know the word space before astronaut.  I used the overlay feature and screenshot reader features and both worked well.  I think this tool would be helpful overall but students (and teachers) would need a tutorial to know how to use it.  As well, it would be important to train students to actually use the tools in their toolkit.

     In conclusion, I am thankful that there are tools like this one available.  Students have such an opportunity today that wasn’t around even 10 years ago to aid their educational careers.  Also, teachers are the beneficiary in this situation as well and are now more equipped to help students with various needs.