Central Access Reader
It is common for students with dyslexia, other SpLDs or with conditions which impact concentration (including mental health, pain and fatigue conditions) to be recommended literacy support software which includes text-to-speech capabilities. The most commonly supplied softwares received through the Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) for this purpose are:
- TextHelp Read&Write
- ClaroRead
At the last time of testing, these pieces of software could not read equations in Word aloud. TextHelp Read&Write could read aloud accessible mathematical text on websites. ClaroRead had no capabilities for reading any mathematical text. It is a good idea to make students aware of this, to suggest this is tested during their Assistive Technology Training, and to suggest that they either use Word 365 or Central Access Reader (CAR) instead if the situation persists. CAR is free.
CAR can also be used to create alternative formats
CAR is not screenreader accessible but it can be used to create alternative formats for screenreader users whose screenreader does not, as yet, work with Word equations.
Testing the document using CAR
To read the document in CAR:
- Download the document and run CAR
- Click on the plus symbol and select the document
- Increase the font size
- Click play to read aloud
To convert the document to other formats:
- Click on the Save to MP3 button.
- Select the HTML Flex export option.
- Provide the output files to the student (learning how to use these is outside the scope of this workshop).
These files will also be accessible to virtually all screenreaders (either natively or via the MathJax fallback) and to TextHelp Read&Write.