Tech Tip of the Week: Word Talk Text Reader for Word

WordTalk is a resource I’ve just been reviewing that I feel is worth sharing for those that haven’t used it.  The free download is an add-on toolbar to Microsoft Word that allows the user to read aloud the words in any Word document.  Once the download is installed the Word toolbar looks something like this:

This toolbar appears in Word once the download is installed.

The various tools allow the user to have read aloud individual words, sentences or paragraphs while the word is highlighted with your choice of color.  While it has the same downfall of all speech readers that the voice is a bit mechanical and it doesn’t recognize unusual names, I see great value in using this with students who have the need to have text read aloud.  The other feature that is valuable in this tool is its ability to read back to students as they key text into Microsoft Word while they compose at the keyboard.

The WordTalk website is easy to use, and the download only took a few moments and a restart of my computer to complete.  There was a great illustrated QuickGuide available on their website, too!

If you’re in my school district and would like to see how this program works or would like to have help installing on your machine, let me know!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *