Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Tar Heel Reader


With the long summer school holiday upon us I am trying to get my son to improve his English.I recently came across a useful site that could be used for dyslexic children to do some online reading and writing.

The Tar Heel Reader site is a collection of free,easy-to-read, and accessible books on a wide range of topics. The books can be read online or downloaded. They are all speech enabled.

The books are intended for teenagers who are just learning to read ,however many are also suitable for younger children who are beginner or struggling readers and also for English language learners. The books have very simple wording so they are suitable for dyslexic children.Books are also available in a number of different languages such as Spanish and German, as well as English.

Some of the books may be inappropriate for your child so it is best to create your own favourites page of the books suitable for your child.To do this you need to be a registered user.

Besides reading a book, students also have the option of creating their own books. They can make their own books using pictures from the Flickr collection or using their own photos. To create a book you will need to register for free.

This site is a result of collaboration between the Centre for Literacy and Disability Studies and the Department of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.



NB Tar Heel is a nickname for the state and people of North Carolina.

Get your child to make their own books and put them online as this may help to encourage your child to want to write more !!

Please see the article I wrote about talking / audio books for dyslexics.

2 comments:

kekik said...

Dear Anne,

Many thanks for sharing this valuable resource. You're an amazing researcher, and I'm so lucky to meet you:)

Cheers!

Candan

ben said...

I appreciate your insight into this resource for children with dyslexia and agree that it is important to maintain a productive schedule over the summer break from school. Having been identified with dyslexia at a young age, I’ve found that resources, like these, that gave me better access to text are so important for learning. Another tool that children with dyslexia may find useful is the Intel Reader, which is a handheld device that takes a picture of printed text, converts it to digital text and then reads it aloud to the user. Having been part of the design team for this product, I can personally speak to its benefit in my own life. Check out www.reader.intel.com for more information or www.experiencereader.com to connect with other people with similar experiences. In addition, the National Center for Learning Disabilities has some great resources to help parents choose the right assistive technology, and you can learn more at http://www.ncld.org/at-school/general-topics/assistive-technology/choosing-an-assistive-technology.