Welcome to the website of the British Dyslexia Association New Technologies Committee!
B.D.A. NTC is a committee of the British Dyslexia Association (B.D.A.), who over many years have been concerned with all aspects of technology and how they can assist dyslexic people.
Please note that all the products mentioned have been found useful by some dyslexic users. All dyslexic people are different, and no product suits everyone.
Hear our pages.
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Do leave a reply at the bottom of a page, or send your questions about I.C.T. and dyslexia directly to B.D.A. tech for a private, personal reply. Please note that any unsolicited marketing emails to this address will be ignored and deleted as junk mail.
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B.D.A. is a member of BATA, British Assistive Technology Association.
This page is only an introduction! Click on the Pages links to the right, to go straight to pages with lots more detailed information. If you have an iPad, use Menu to see the Site Map on the right. For iPods and iPhones, go to the bottom of the page and select ‘View Full Site’. Then you can see the menu and have the opportunity to search. Or look at the Contents list.
More about NTC.
NTC members have a professional or personal interest in how people with dyslexia can use technology to help them develop strategies for coping with using literacy at school, college, work or everyday living.
The expertise of the members of the committee includes dyslexics, teachers, I.T. professionals and parents.
We look at new developments in hardware and software and attempt to evaluate how useful they are in helping dyslexic people to work more independently.
See the profiles of B.D.A. NTC members Powerpoint.
This blog is complementary to, and additional to, the main B.D.A. website, where you can find out about all other aspects concerning dyslexia.
Many of the products mentioned in B.D.A. tech pages, are available from B.D.A. store.
BDA Technology 
Good to hear you are so positive ! Are you in work? If so you could look at getting an Access to Work assessment, which would mean you get the technology and training to use it, that you need. If you are at college, talk to your Disability Officer to help you get a Disabled Student Grant. If you do not qualify for either, have a look at other pages on our site. You probably need access to a wordprocessor that will read the text back to you; a screen reader to help you read documents and/or websites; text prediction (not like on a mobile) that will help you spell better.
Good luck!
BDA tech
0845 251 9002
Provide him with access to a wordprocessor that will read text to him eg Clicker6 (www.cricksoft.com) and also provides him with talking wordbanks and text prediction- look at details on http://www.bdatech.org
Ask your school to put you in touch with IT Support in the LA Learning Support Team for free or contact Dyslexia Action, where there will be some cost
You do seem to have a problem! We cannot change the screen colour on this free WordPress web (and people like different colours.) You can download free Colour Explorer or free Screen Tinter Lite.
There is also a free ATbar download; it gives choices for text size, colour, typeface, speech (without synchronisation), dictionary, readability and prediction. You can use it on all webs.
You can find it at http://www.atbar.org
If you use a screen reader, this will help your spelling as you can hear what you have written
Software that provides this include ClaroView for PC and Screenshader for computers – both offer a free trial period – and Screen Adjuster, an app that works on Android phones and free Colour Explorer, Screen Tinter Lite, ATbar and Babelbar as on: http://bdatech.org/accessibility/
An alternative low-tech solution is to get suitable sized plastic coloured overlays (try Amazon or Iansyst.co.uk). As the cost difference is not enormous, the software solution is probably better.
You could consider having a Workplace Needs Assessment (either through a specialist organisation &/or Access to Work(funding)) to identify what would be the most appropriate solutions for you.
I am an independent researcher developing an aural computer interface, and I’m looking to find out if this could be of use to people with dyslexia.
Unfortunately, people don’t want to buy “technology”, just “products”, so I have developed a simple app to demonstrate some of its capabilities, available at http://bit.ly/1fIrEdZ (Google Android/Amazon FireOS currently, iPhone available later this year!) this acts as a simple shopping list, but can (i.e. should be able to) be extended to perform any computable function. Feel free to download and assess!
While many software accessibility features makes mainstream software easier to use, would an aural interface be of help in the long run?
I notice a previous question about using Kindle for reading and the different versions and whether they can use text to speech, battery life, background colour etc. I have been told using Kobo e-book from WH Smiths is good because it uses Comic Sans. Do you have any comments on kindle versus Kobo for dyslexic pupils? I would like to use it as a private tutor, being a cheaper way of buying books and also from the perspective of anonymity for the reader who may be reading something deemed to be ‘babyish’
It is really a case of finding what is best for each individual. If you know someone with any of the devices, ask their opinion and have a try on them. Also go to a shop that sells them and ask if you can try them out in the shop
Have you ever considered writing an e-book oor guest authoring onn other websites?
I have a blog based upon on the same ideas you discuss
and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I know my visitors
would enjoy your work. If you’re even remotely interested, feel free too
send me an e-mail.
We have written a paper book for the BDA series, but find it is easier to keep more up-to-date information this way
Hello,
I’ve just started a SpLD course with Learning Works and have been given an assignment on the use of new technologies in classrooms. I’m particularly interested in seeing how mobile ‘phones can be used as Dictaphones. Is there any literature or research which you know of which I could use for this study? Many thanks.
Yours,
Chris Fothergill
I have developed a listening user interface for mobile phones (initially), with the intention of making apps which are useful for people with any visual impairment. Please see my video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngdHVV3hwpE as an idea of how it works. This software is free and open source (on Git Hub); the key, which I’m still addressing, is getting app developers interested in using this to provide aural apps – a lot of charities are interested but want end-products, not technology. Hope this is of use!
Hello, I loved to do some research about dyslexia or learning disability. I am in IT field. As far as i know a lot of adaptive technology already developed but i want to know is there any difficulties that not yet been solved by the adaptive technology or any other issues related to IT for dyslexia.
Thank you .
When I was a university student I was funded by the government and given a software called ClaroRead plus. ClaroRead plus met all my requirements with windows and I still use it today. I am now working with some Linux operating systems (Ubuntu, Lubuntu, etc). I can not seem to find any product like ClaroRead plus for Linux.
I would thought there would be an open source solution? I would help fund a open source project but I can not seem to find anything.
Can anyone recommend a paid product or open source or a free product for linux like ClaroRead plus.
Kind Regards,
Paul Serafini
Ella, Try the Benefits of the “Easy Spelling Aid” App for Students with spelling issues and Dyslexia. Visit http://www.easyspellingaid.com
We have developed, and included in our app, a group of Dyslexic font options, as posted on the Australian Dyslexic website. The “Open Dyslexic Font” on our app, is created to increase readability for readers with dyslexia and to help with some of the symptoms of dyslexia. Letters have heavy weighted bottoms to indicate direction and to reinforce the line of text, which aids in recognising the correct letter, and sometimes helps to keep the brain from rotating around them. The Open Dyslexic Font is displayed in a choice of background colour combinations selected from the study and research undertaken by Universitat Pompeu Fabra, as a means to accommodate users suffering from Dyslexia and improve readability.
Ian Dowsett. Director, Nuapp Productions. Australia.
Hi all
I have developed an ipad app (KidoPhonics) that is suitable for dyslexia children (age 5 to 7).
A video demo is available at
You may download a Lite Version from iTune and test it out.
Aaron
Personal experience of a man with dyslexia using iPad Pro and other tech tools
could be of interest for your readers:
http://www.hardsoftcomputers.co.uk/blog/apple/im-learning-faster-every-day-how-the-ipad-pro-helps-dyslexics/