One of my classes is an inclusion class. Regular students make up half of the population and the other half are English Language Learners (ELL) and Learning Support (LS) students. Therefore, I am interested in Read & Write (V9) GOLD literacy support software by TextHELP Systems Inc. It is designed to help students who are struggling with “reading, writing, and learning by making support tools right at their finger tips”. Its tool bar can be customized to operate on any Windows application and integrates directly with mainstream applications such as Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer, and Adobe Reader. It can be set to “float” on the screen or to a locked position so assistance can be access while the user works.

Speech: color highlights and reads the words, sentences, or paragraphs providing audio-visual reinforcement and help developing new words recognition with the most human-sounding voice available today.

Spelling: incorporates a fast advanced spellchecker designed to solve the most complex of phonetic errors and can be customized to suit individual needs and provides audible definitions of alternative suggestions.

Homophone Support: identify and provide audible definitions for like sounding words to improve the accuracy.

Scanning: Scans any text into Word or any other major word processor enabling on screen editing and text reading. Scanned material will be mainstream and available to other Users for inclusive education and integration.

Speech Input: only available with USA version, speak into computer and it will be converted to text on the screen help train the software voice recognition.

Simple and Scientific Calculator: provides all the main functions of a simple or scientific calculator with audible feedback.

Word Wizard: assists in developing creative sentences by offering solutions for vocabulary.

Pronunciation Tutor: break words into syllables allowing easy recognition and pronunciation. with moving mouth aiding the development of more accurate speech. 

Teachers Toolkit: enables teachers to specify which features student has access to and monitors students’ spelling and activity logs.

In Read & Write GOLD Is Solid, Diane Kendall said, “A piece of software that takes advantage of all that has come before it, adds it own brand of better to it, as well as understands what technology has to offer students with dyslexia and other learning differences, is for me an oasis in a desert of silicone. And like any oasis, Read & Write GOLD from TextHELP is most welcome...It is a word processor/research tool with every assistive technology for students and adults with dyslexia and other language based learning difficulties onboard. And it is just waiting for a challenge to its might.”

The following findings are the results of RMC Research Corporation’s 2005–2007 evaluation of the 2-year Technology and Learning Disabilities project. You may visit www.cwu.edu/~setc/tld for a complete report. In the writing comparison study, scores for the mean treatment group showed a statistically large increase from pretest to posttest, and they also scored considerably higher on the posttest compared to the comparison group.

In the math comparison study, the mean treatment group scores increased significantly from pretest to posttest while the comparison group scores did not. However, the treatment group’s posttest scores were not much higher than the comparison group’s. The increase in the treatment groups’ posttest scores may have been due to students using FASTT Math, working in Math Trail projects, or using both interventions.

Half of the teachers interviewed in spring 2006 reported that the project’s greatest impact had been improving students’ attitude toward writing. Just about, all of the teachers credited the assistive technology with helping the students complete their schoolwork, which in turn increased students’ confidence, motivation, and achievement. (Research, 2007)

In 2005, a seventh grader with Dyslexic and struggled with reading and spelling. She had the software installed on her laptop and used a scanner to scan in whatever she needed to read. During class, she was able to scan handouts, tests, or quizzes. The software read the material to her, she typed in her answers, printed out her work and handed it in, just like all the other students and never had to leave the room. The program looked like a toolbar on the desktop, upon requested, it would read whatever was on the computer including internet sites, existing things on the computer or any scanned item. It had other features that help her also, like a phonetic spell checker that will suggest, “physics” if “fisics” is typed. The software had changed her life because it helps her to be a “normal kid”.

Other assistive technology packages on the market do many of these tasks. However, Read & Write GOLD is the only one that seamlessly combines all these tools into one place. It is homework revolutionary. Students who are used to having all these tools at their fingertips can take this software home, to the library and even out into the working world. It gives them the tools they need to survive in a world that expects everyone to function the same. The cost for Read & Write (9) Gold is high, but it is worth the price for a school with large population of English Language Learners and Learning Support students to invest in.