Assistive Technology

Apple's newly released iOS 6 includes a new improvements to Speak Selection that highlights words as they are read aloud. Click here to learn how to update to iOS 6. The new feature is available on any iPhone , iPad or iPod Touch running iOS 6. To access the feature go to settings > general > accessibility > speak selection. Once enabled simply highlight any text and press speak to have the text read with text-to-speech . Speak Selection is great for people with dyslexia or for reviewing documents.

Typo-O is a word prediction, spelling and text-to-speech app for the iPhone , iPad and iPod Touch. The app costs $14.99 and requires iOS 6. Click here to view the app in the App Store. Typ-O is simple and easy to use. To get started just start typing, Typ-O then predicts the which word you are trying to type. You can touch the word to accept the predicted word or you can press on a speaker button to have the word spoken  using a text-to-speech voice. The word prediction is very good and can help improve spelling. Hearing the sentence read back to you using text-to-speech can also help improve grammar. Once you have finished writing you can send your text via email or text message. Typ-O includes a number of customizable setting to help improve word prediction accuracy. One negative of the app is that it uses text-to-speech voices from the internet which means if you are not connected to the internet you must use low quality text-to-speech voices. Watc...

Apple's new iPhone 5 and iOS 6 are out and include many new accessibility features. One of the biggest accessibility features of iOS 6 is called Guided Access . iOS 6 is the operating system that runs on the iPhone , iPad and iPod Touch. To enable Guided Access go to Setting > General > Accessibility > Guided Access . Guided Access allows an parent or teacher to restrict access to a single app. This restricts kids from switch apps to watch videos or play games. Guided Access also allows parents and teachers to block off individual buttons within an app. For example if an app have setting a teacher could block it off so the students could not change app settings. Guided Access is great for teachers, users with autism or users with ADD. Guided Access allows teachers to administer tests on the iPad without worrying about students looking up the answers on the internet. Watch the above video to learn how to use Guided Access . Click read more below to view mo...

Keyboard  shortcuts are a tool for improving typing speed on your iOS device. To create a keyboard shortcut go to Setting > General > Keyboard > Shortcuts. To add a new short cut click the plus button in the top right. You can create a short cut to write "see you" when you type the letters "cu." You could also create a short cut for your email so you can enter your email quickly with just a few key strokes. Watch the above video to learn more.