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Using Technology to Read Aloud to Students


For students who struggle with reading, having assignments and tests read aloud may remove a barrier to learning. These universal supports are available to all students. To make any modification successful, take time to teach the student how to use the technology so they can access it independently in the future and make it work for them.
Here are some strategies to use:

Strategy: Take a video of someone reading the assignment out loud and post it to Canvas or YouTube (each Lindbergh gmail account has a YouTube account connected) - email or post the link for students to access
Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzZ8Sw6Jwc4
Tip: This is helpful for worksheets or paper copies that can't be accessed in a web browser. Teach students how to watch instructional videos - pausing the video in between questions for "think time", pausing to ask clarifying questions, following along on paper as they watch and rewinding to listen to something again or clicking on the gear in a YouTube video to change the playback speed.


Strategy: Provide students with an electronic copy and have them use the iPad "Speak Screen" from the Accessibility menu under "Speech"
Video Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Eyo1ObNRws (in settings, it may be under Speech or Spoken Content depending on software version)
Tip: This works on any Apple device and is a great tool to teach students to use! It reads anything in a web browser (Safari or Chrome), but does not work for PDFs.


Strategy: Show students how to add the Google "Read and Write" extension to their Google account. When they're logged into Google, they can click on the purple puzzle piece on their Chrome toolbar to read highlighted material out loud
Link to extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/readwrite-for-google-chro/inoeonmfapjbbkmdafoankkfajkcphgd?hl=en
Tip: Teaching students how to use Read and Write will help them in all areas and also offers speech-to-text. Give students time to play with settings and controls.

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