nelletap
House Bee
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2010
- Messages
- 409
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Great Kingshill, Bucks, UK
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 2 - and a promising bait hive
There has been some chat about spelling on this forum and some of it perhaps a little lacking in sympathy. I moderate an online group myself and on the whole leave the posters words as long as they don't mislead. In lots of practical tasks a skill with words is secondary to the main activity and perhaps those who do rather than write about have some great knowledge to pass on to me! Of course some can do both.
As a teacher I sort of fell into helping what my Mum called lame ducks - those who for some reason needed a little more help. In doing so I discovered some software called WordQ and SpeakQ which offer a suite of writing aids. They can predict text (and they refine their forecasts over time - ie they get to know the user). They work anywhere with editable text - so I am using it for this post but can use it for emails, word processing or almost anywhere. They can read out the words you have written or text from anywhere - such as on a web page, from a pdf document - if the text can be selected you can ask it to read out the lot or a selected portion and you can choose a voice. It also does speech to text better than any other software I know - and - important for people such as dyslexics - as it says the words for you to repeat in the 'training' phase you don't have to be able to read to use it. I have used it at exhibitions with lots of background noise and let people use it without having completed the training and it works well. The publishers have been in touch with me because they noticed I use it and I have been surprised at the diverse roles of adults who rely on it and say they really could not do their job without it. The predicted words are said out loud and if there could be confusion - as between words like peace, piece, then a phrase making the context is also read out. A spellchecker is really only useful to someone without a severe problem! One man has a PHd but a reading age of a year 6 primary pupil. Another is a contract electrician who talks about how people derided his invoices and thought less of him because of the spelling errors and how the software really did change his life. (As if it affected his ability to be an electrician) In fact I was quite humbled to see him show it to a fellow dyslexic and to appreciate the huge effort - akin to climbing Everest - that dyslexics make just to get to base camp as far as reading and writing is concerned.
It is possible to download a demo copy from the web. The text from speech doesn't work with the MAC version. I may be able to prevail upon the publishers to provide one or two free copies - or to extend the demo - if anyone on here tries the demo and wants to get a permanent copy do pm me and I will try my best.
My father was a builder and I remember being so amazed at the creativity and skill of joiners, of stone workers and a whole myriad of professions within the building trade and yet for many writing was a really difficult experience.
I know this reads like an advert but it is in response to a few references on threads within the forum and my intention is to try and help anyone who might be interested. For my own part, I can understand what is intended even if it is not perfectly grammatical or correctly spelt. As an OAP it is txt speak that challenges me.
So - I hope I have offended no-one and my thread may lead to those who wish to finding extra support.
Tricia
As a teacher I sort of fell into helping what my Mum called lame ducks - those who for some reason needed a little more help. In doing so I discovered some software called WordQ and SpeakQ which offer a suite of writing aids. They can predict text (and they refine their forecasts over time - ie they get to know the user). They work anywhere with editable text - so I am using it for this post but can use it for emails, word processing or almost anywhere. They can read out the words you have written or text from anywhere - such as on a web page, from a pdf document - if the text can be selected you can ask it to read out the lot or a selected portion and you can choose a voice. It also does speech to text better than any other software I know - and - important for people such as dyslexics - as it says the words for you to repeat in the 'training' phase you don't have to be able to read to use it. I have used it at exhibitions with lots of background noise and let people use it without having completed the training and it works well. The publishers have been in touch with me because they noticed I use it and I have been surprised at the diverse roles of adults who rely on it and say they really could not do their job without it. The predicted words are said out loud and if there could be confusion - as between words like peace, piece, then a phrase making the context is also read out. A spellchecker is really only useful to someone without a severe problem! One man has a PHd but a reading age of a year 6 primary pupil. Another is a contract electrician who talks about how people derided his invoices and thought less of him because of the spelling errors and how the software really did change his life. (As if it affected his ability to be an electrician) In fact I was quite humbled to see him show it to a fellow dyslexic and to appreciate the huge effort - akin to climbing Everest - that dyslexics make just to get to base camp as far as reading and writing is concerned.
It is possible to download a demo copy from the web. The text from speech doesn't work with the MAC version. I may be able to prevail upon the publishers to provide one or two free copies - or to extend the demo - if anyone on here tries the demo and wants to get a permanent copy do pm me and I will try my best.
My father was a builder and I remember being so amazed at the creativity and skill of joiners, of stone workers and a whole myriad of professions within the building trade and yet for many writing was a really difficult experience.
I know this reads like an advert but it is in response to a few references on threads within the forum and my intention is to try and help anyone who might be interested. For my own part, I can understand what is intended even if it is not perfectly grammatical or correctly spelt. As an OAP it is txt speak that challenges me.
So - I hope I have offended no-one and my thread may lead to those who wish to finding extra support.
Tricia
