ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY BLOG | INVENTIONS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

I know I may be a little late to the party- but in any case, I do want to share with you an awesome reading app, Voice Dream Reader for the iPad and iPhone which has a number of unique features which makes it a real stand out. I also want to thank Winston Chen the developer for contacting me and giving me the opportunity to review Voice Dream Reader. I had a great conversation with Winston the other day and we had a chance to talk about Voice Dream  Reader and where he saw it going. Voice Dream Reader has been very well received in the assistive technology arena and offers users a number of wonderful features at a very low dollar entry point.  Voice Dream Reader can be purchased in the app store for $9.99

First and foremost, Voice Dream Reader is an excellent app for reading a whole host of different formatted files which include: PDF, ePub, Text, Word, PowerPoint, Pages, Keynote, RTF, and HTML. Voice Dream Reader comes standard with the Acapella Speech Engine installed with Heather. If you would like you can add additional voices for a nominal fee right from within Voice Dream Reader for $1.99, for each additional voice. Voice Dream Reader has a clean and fluid interface which should take minimal training to learn how to use. To have Voice Dream Reader read text simply click on the play button on the bottom of the screen. Voice Dream Reader supports a number of fonts as well as the Open Dyslexic font as well as giving the student the option to change the size of the font and the color theme.When Voice Dream Reader starts to read the controls fade into the background allowing you to simply concentrate on the text on the screen. Voice Dream Reader will select the a line of text and highlight each individual word in yellow. You can quickly move about the screen by double tapping at a new location to start Voice Dream Reader reading from that point in the text. You also have the option for start reading text from a chapter, bookmark or highlight. Students can look up definitions, bookmark and highlight text on the screen which makes it invaluable for when students need to utilize the tool for studying and reviewing material. Voice Dream Reader integrates with Dropbox, Pocket, Instapaper, and Bookshare.

What is most impressive is that Voice Dream Reader now supports both Personal and Organizational Accounts, giving students who need access to their books an economical way to access them. I had a chance to download a book from Bookshare and it worked flawlessly. I really like the way Bookshare is integrated into the app giving students access to their books when they need them right within the program. Likewise, having integration with Dropbox is ideal and one that I applaud. With so many students saving their work in the cloud it makes it really easy to access notes and files which can be read from within Voice Dream Reader. If you haven't already done so I urge you to take a look at Voice Dream Reader-it is a great app and a great entry point.

I have included a screencast to give you an overview of Voice Dream Reader