Books for All

Robert (CALL’s web site guru) has created a new slicker and more accessible mini site with information about the Adapted Digital Exams. The FAQ section has more questions and answers about the text reading programs that can be used to read the exams. The site is at:

www.adapteddigitalexams.org.uk

We’re chuffed to announce that the esteemed Scottish Government have given us some dosh to distribute ‘Heather’, a high quality Scottsh accent computer voice, to Scottish primary and secondary schools. Heather is a new synthetic voice from CereProc ltd in Edinburgh.

Basically, the plot is to test and refine the voice using a range of text-to-speech programs on both Mac and PC (e.g. WordTalk, Clicker 5, Browsealoud/PDFaloud/Read and Write Gold, GhostReader etc) and also VOCAs (voice output communication aids) and then distribute it FREE OF CHARGE to all Scottish primary and secondary schools.

The idea is that you’ll be able to have your Scottish exams (and anything else) read out in a really good Scottish voice, from about March 2008. Watch this space….

David Noble, ace podcaster of this parish, rashly suggested that we record a chat on the phone about Books for All, and he has published the edited result as Education Podcast Reflection 47 on his Booruch site here. An excellent cure for insomia.

If you want to find out more about podcasting, and much more, have a look on Booruch - it’s all there.

SQA have put all the 2007 past papers up on their web site for anyone to download and use. You can get them from here. Note that the past papers are ‘raw’, ordinary PDFs - they are not the Adapted Papers which have been used by pupils with additional support needs in our our pilot projects in 2006 and 2007. The difference between the raw PDF exams and the Adapted Papers is that the adapted papers are speech-enabled, so you can have them read out with the free Browsealoud or PDFaloud programs, and the question and answer papers have answer boxes so you can type your answers on screen.

This blog is about books and other learning resources in accessible alternative formats, for children with disabilities and additional support needs. You can find out more about Books for All on the CALL Centre web site at www.booksforall.org.uk.

The Books for All initiative developed from a project that I and Dr. Stuart Aitken undertook from September 2006 to March 2007. The main result of the project was a large and hefty tome, which was published on the Scottish Government web site here.

There’s been a lot happening following the publication of the Books for All report in May 2007 and so I thought I’d create a blog to keep track of it. Blogging is new to me; blogs are a social communication tool; and I’m famed for my feeble communication skills, so bear with me as I drag myself into this new world.