"Text-driving" the NEO 2 with Text to Speech

We have been using the Alphasmart NEO and the Dana now for quite some time in our assistive technology equipment center. We have used it for alternative access in writing for some students who can't handwrite, and we have had a text to speech sound card in a Dana we have used with Write Outloud To Go from Don Johnston.

Recently I got an email on the NEO 2. When I found out they had built in the text to speech I wanted to try one out. They sent one for evaluation and I have been taking it out for a "text drive". I thought you might be interested in what I found out:

NEO 2 Text to Speech

The NEO2 has text to speech built in as standard. You access it with the purchase of a small wireless, battery operated receiver with headphones (see image above). This way the student can hear the voice without disturbing those around them. I hooked it up to a set of powered desktop speakers and turned it up. It worked great. My thought has been to use this as an alternate form of communication for students that can type well, but are non-verbal. The NEO with the text to speech kit comes in at $299. Well lower in cost than some of the mainstream word processing communicators. I also found the voice to be fine. It wasn't one of those primo natural voices, but it wasn't robotic and awful to the ear either.

Quizzes, Spell Check and Other Features

My main focus was on the alternative communication piece, but while I was at it, I thought I might as well share about other features it has as well. There are several "smart applets" that run programs off of the Renaissance Learning/Renaissance Place subscription services. The NEO can connect online through a wireless receiver ($99) to the Internet to access Accelerated Reader quizzes and Math Facts in a Flash. There is a built-in classroom response system, standard, that works with their 2Know! Toolbar software.

The NEO2 can come loaded with Co:Writer by Don Johnston, a word prediction tool, as a package for $338. I was told that a fully loaded NEO2 with Co:Writer and the text to speech receiver kit is $399.

Standard, at no extra charge (no subscription services) is the spell checker, thesaurus, Beamer infrared sending of files between NEO's, a calculator, Keywords typing tutor and AlphaQuiz that is set up to send quizzes to the NEO from a teacher computer, allowing students to answer on the keyboard. The program then scores and reports with the manager program when the finished quizzes are sent back.

Final thoughts:

There is a lot to the NEO2 keyboard and extension tools. I like that the NEO's text to speech receiver can be swapped between keyboards without worrying about which one has the text to speech software on it. Since it is on all of them as a standard tool, when a student needs the text 2 speech support, they can get a receiver and headphones and get going. The receiver needs to face directly in front of the NEO and no more than 3 feet away.

My only negative on the receiver is that if I am wanting to use this for a student as a communication device with others, I have to plug a speaker into the headphone jack on the receiver to be heard. Now I have 2 external items to carry along - the receiver and the speakers. An internal speaker and headphone jack option would be a nice addition.

I hope this gives you some ideas on the speech capabilities. This looks like a great piece of equipment to support learning.

All the best to you!

Lon

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Build Your Own Free AAC with Foretype, Natural Reader and Win XP

"What free programs for text readers come with word prediction?" a special education teacher asked on an email yesterday.
I had to answer that I didn't know of any off-hand, but that got me thinking, and so I thought I would spend some time researching what was available. One free shareware program stood out - Foretype. It utilizes Microsoft Word's Autotext capabilities to let you design abbreviations easily for your own quick words and phrases. Add a text to speech tool like the free version of Natural Reader, and you have a free AAC communicator right on a Word document - running on codes and abbreviations, which saves energy on typing.

Here's what I did:
I built some custom shorthand abbreviations for comments I wanted to make within the easy Autotext engine that comes with Foretype. You enter your abbreviation shortcut and in another window you enter the text you want it to type. You can also just write and use their word prediction. It doesn't come up as much as I would like, but definitely is nice with phrases, signatures, etc. you build in.
I tried: brb=be right back, nhp=I need help please, ml=maybe later.
I opened the miniboard in Natural Reader on my screen, and as I wrote the shortcuts, I pressed "enter" for the real text when it appeared in the box. Then the real text would be on the page. I highlighted text and pressed play on the toolbar and it said my phrase.
That's all there was to it!

Some limitations:
If you have someone who is orthopedically impaired, all the key shortcuts for highlighting text could be helpful as listed on Learnthat.com . There is the free Click n type on-screen keyboard that can do scanning that could be a possibility to get to the keyboarding piece with a switch or just the use of a mouse/trackball/trackpad. Because there is a lot of navigation for the speech part with the highlighting and pressing of play with the text to speech toolbar, it might be inappropriate for certain individuals. I also did not see a version for Vista or for Mac OS.

This combination is especially ideal for someone who has lost their voice and has partial to full use of their hands to do regular navigation on the screen to write and talk - and is experiencing a tight budget.

All the best to you,
Lon




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