Read&Write

Read and Write puts a toolbar across the top of whatever you are working in, offering text to speech, word prediction, a picture dictionary and study tools. It is one of the most widely awarded pieces of software in education and through Access to Work.

It is designed for people who read visually and want speech support alongside, rather than instead of, their own reading. That distinction matters when you are deciding whether it is the right tool for you.

• Run one speech tool at a time. Read and Write and a screen reader will both try to speak. For most people, one or the other is switched on for a given task rather than both at once.
• The study tools are the real value. Collecting highlights across a set of documents and turning them into a single revision sheet is something no screen reader does, and it is the feature people most often keep using a year later.
• Word prediction reduces effort, not just errors. For a dyslexic writer the gain is as much about confidence and speed as about spelling.
• The picture dictionary helps with meaning, not decoding. It is aimed at understanding an unfamiliar word rather than reading it aloud.

• Two voices talking at once. Turn off whichever speech you are not using for that task rather than trying to make them share.
• The toolbar covers what you are reading. It can be moved or docked. On a small laptop screen that is usually worth doing on day one.
• It does not appear on a website. The browser extension has to be installed separately from the desktop application, and both need the same account signed in.
• Your licence stops working. Most licences belong to a school, university or employer and end when you leave. Worth checking before you rely on it.

Students and employees with dyslexia, and anyone who reads accurately but slowly and tires by mid afternoon. It is also common on Access to Work awards alongside training, because the software on its own rarely gets used to anything like its full extent.