Claro Read Pro

I installed Claro Read Pro yesterday. I have a selfish interest in this programme as one of my family has dyslexia, and I have witnessed him struggle desperately to make sense particularly of written maths questions.

He's a bright boy and yet words become jumbled and meanings lost.

Image result for dyslexia cartoon images

In contrast though, if he sees and hears something on YouTube he grasps the meaning immediately. His use of vocabulary is some years ahead of his school bracket. Still he struggles with the written down word.

We have tried various apps on his ipad, but these seem to be either (a) short lived, or (b) cease to work following one of the many updates. We are also aware that schools tend to run on Microsoft based programmes and these are not always compatible with an ipad.

Turning to Claro Pro Read, this is a simple enough programme and it looks a little basic to be honest. I think though that the simplicity is likely a help to any individual with dyslexia.

The programme allows the user to highlight text either on screen or scanned in, and for that text to be read in a choice of voices. Occassionally a letter is dropped, but it works well. My boy liked it and took to it immediately which I think is the ultimate test.

As an aside, at the end of a long day studying (and there are many of those of course) when eyes are becoming sore and heads starting to thump it is useful to have a tool that does the work for you.

The question of accessibility to online or at least digital information is of course hugely significant and important. It is not just about accessibility, it also about inclusivity, and in my boy's case it is about providing him with the tools to reach his full potential should he ever decide to leave Minecraft behind. On that basis I can recommend Claro Read Pro as being very handy indeed.

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