Assistive technolgies

Inclusive software to support learning for all students is available on North Coast TAFE computers.

As part of their commitment to providing personalised vocational education and training opportunities to their students, North Coast TAFE has installed the inclusive literacy and learning support software TextHelp Read&Write Gold software on all Windows computers across our 17 campuses, from Kingscliff to Great Lakes. See the Read&Write Gold  flyer (PDF 2.5mb) and how it can assist you.

Read&Write Gold software operates as a simple to use toolbar that “floats” on top of any open Windows application. Assistance can then be called upon easily as students work. It includes features such as

• Text-to-Speech (with Australian voices) speaking dictionary
• inbuilt OCR (optical character recognition)
• word prediction
• language translation support
• research support
• creation of audio files from text (just to name just a few features).

These features mean that the software provides support for all users, regardless of ability level, including students who have a learning difficulty, students who have range of disabilities, students from a language background other than English, students who experience visual fatigue and students who have low literacy levels.

About the software

Read&Write9 can be accessed through a ‘short-cut’ icon on computer desktops, and it provides learning and literacy support in any Windows application.

Other features of the software include;

• using speech feedback (TTS: Text-To-Speech) to read websites, PDF files and documents
• using “screenshot reader”
• accessing spelling and dictionary support
• utilising the inbuilt OCR scanning features.