A list of useful links for Freeware, Opensource and online software that can be used as assistive technology

Mind Mapping

Mind Mapping software allows users toto create diagrams of relationships between ideas or other pieces of information. Many people believe that mind mapping techniques can improve learning/study efficiency.

Xmind (PC & Mac)

FreeMind (PC & Mac)

MindMiester (Online mindmapping)

Text to Speech

Text to speech software allows for digital text to be read out loud, this could be on in Microsoft word documents, PDFs or websites. Screen Readers read everything that is displayed on a computer monitor or laptop screen, mainly used by the visually impaired or blind.

Natural Reader (Free version available PC & Mac)

Thunder (Screen Reader for the visually impaired PC only)

Howjsay (More of a pronunciation tutor rather than Text to speech)

This website is a really useful tool, especially when a dyslexic learner isn’t sure of how to pronounce a word. Some may argue that this can be done with commercial and free text-to-speech software. We at EDEN Skills champion Text-to-Speech software, but there are issues in how synthesized voices pronounce certain words, which can hinder the way a learner successfully learns a new word. Furthermore, the syllabification of words follows phonic rules, this in turn isn’t always helpful for learners with phonological processing difficulties. This site has thousands of recordings of words including many irregular words, pronounced in a very clear way.

Referencing, Bibliography & organising research

Zotero

http://www.zotero.org/

Firefox (Alternative to IE & Safari that allows the use of Zotero)

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

Word Processing and Presentation

Open Office

http://www.openoffice.org/

Revision

Flashcardexchange

http://www.flashcardexchange.com

Combination of the above in one place

EduApps (A fantastic Toolbar that combines some of the above and more)

http://www.eduapps.org/