Assistive Technology Tools

Assistive Technology Tools
Assistive Technology Tools South Africa

Friday, 16 May 2014

Signs and Symptoms of Dyslexia

Signs and Symptoms
Some early symptoms that correlate with a later diagnosis of dyslexia include delays in speech, letter reversal or mirror writing, and being easily distracted by background noise. This pattern of early distractibility is partially explained by the co-occurrence of dyslexia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Although each disorder occurs in approximately 5% of children, 25-40% of children with either dyslexia or ADHD meet criteria for the other disorder.
At later ages symptoms can include a difficulty identifying or generating rhyming words, or counting syllables in words (phonological awareness), a difficulty segmenting words into individual sounds, or blending sounds to make words, a difficulty with word retrieval or naming problems (see anomic aphasia)), commonly very poor spelling, which has been called dysorthographia or dysgraphia (orthographic coding), whole-word guesses, and tendencies to omit or add letters or words when writing and reading are considered classic signs. Other classic signs for teenagers and adults with dyslexia include trouble with summarizing a story, memorizing, reading aloud, and learning a foreign language.
A common misconception about dyslexia is that dyslexic readers write words backwards or move letters around when reading this only occurs in a very small population of dyslexic readers. Individuals with dyslexia are better identified by reading accuracy, fluency, and writing skills that do not seem to match their level of intelligence from prior observations.

Early Warning Signs of Dyslexia

Early Warning Signs of Dyslexia


SPEECH AND LANGUAGE
  • Word-naming problems
  • Word mispronunciation
  • Jumbling words
  • Poor use of syntax
  • Hesitate speech
  • Needs frequent presentation of a word before being able to use it accurately and consistently
VISUAL DIFFICULTIES
  • Some children will be very poor at drawing; alternatively they could be the total opposite and very good with colour.
  • They may find it difficult to sort beads by shapes
  • Have difficulty in learning to dress themselves, putting clothes on inside out and not remembering which comes first, a vest of shirt, as well as difficulty with buttons and button holes.
  • May put their shoes on the wrong foot  as well as have difficulty in learning to tie their laces
  • They struggle with turning on and off taps, and have difficulty in turning door knobs.
  • They may find doing jigsaw puzzles or making models difficult.
MOTOR SKILLS
  • They find it difficult  to use a pair of scissors
  • They will find it difficult to trace
  • They may not be able to use a rubber effectively
  • They tend to hold a pencil awkwardly
  • Learning to do a tie will be extremely difficult
GROSS MOTOR SKILLS

  • They find hopping difficult
  • They constantly bumping into people and objects
  • They have tendency to knock things over or to drop things
  • Learning to ride a bicycle can be a tortuous process
  • Setting the table may be difficult – knives and forks may be put on the wrong side
  • Learning to swim can be difficult for some children, especially the breaststroke.
  • Playground games may be difficult, especially if they involve words such as left/right, up/down, backwards/forwards and front/behind.
  • Learning to dance may be difficult for some children.
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Monday, 10 February 2014

iZoom Screen Magnifier low vision software Microlinkpc South Africa

Microlinkpc South Africa 




iZoom Screen Magnifier/Reader -Standard


iZoom low vision software Magnifier and Reader Standard incorporates our latest iZoom Magnification and Reading technology. Zoom into areas of the screen that are difficult to see, reduce glare, read out web pages, emails, new articles and more. At half the price of conventional screen magnifiers, iZoom Standard offers cutting edge magnification technology at an unbeatable price.

iZoom Screen Magnifier and Reader USB

Ever had to check your email or surf the web at a computer other than your own? At a hotel, library, school, co-workers or family members computer?
Most low vision screen magnifiers today offer a USB version, but all of them require administrative privileges to install some software before they can run.
Odds are if you're using a public computer, you won't be granted installation rights. Moreover, a computer can be a very personal possession and others won't appreciate you installing software on it.
iZoom low vision Screen Magnifier and Reader USB is Portable. We mean it! Attach it to your keychain and carry it with you where ever you go.
Walk up to any Windows compatible computer and plug it in. Within a few seconds, it'll start up. It's that simple.
No installation! No administrative rights needed! No License restrictions! It just works. iZoom USB Screen Magnifier/ Reader Version 4.0-
Now Available iZoom 4.0 low vision Magnifier and Reader USB is not just portable but also has some new feature improvements such as PDF reading and a posture improvement module.
This version of iZoom not only reduces eye strain but also helps users maintain a better posture while using the computer.

iZoom 4.0 Features:

- Reads PDF
- CCTV compatible
- Dual Monitor
-Posture Improvement Module

iZoom Screen Magnifier & Reader USB

iZoom Screen Magnifier & Reader Standard -CD

As with all our iZoom family of products, iZoom low vision Screen Magnifier and Reader Standard incorporates our ground breaking screen magnification/reading software into an easy to use software package.
iZoom Standard is perfect for individuals who primarily use only one computer. If you often use more than 1 machine, we recommend iZoom USB.
iZoom Standard Magnifier/ Reader Version 4.0 is not just affordable but also has some new feature improvement such as PDF reading and a posture improvement module.
This version of iZoom not only reduces eye strain but also helps users maintain a better posture while using the computer. iZoom 4.0

Features:

- CCTV compatible
- Dual Monitor
- Posture Improvement Module
- Reads PDF
iZoom Screen Magnifier & Reader CD

Magnification


Magnification levels
iZoom can magnify your screen from as little as 1.5X all the way upto 36X. Our new fractional magnification technology allows 1.5X and 2.5X magnification levels, so you can pick the setting that works best for you. 

Zooming Modes
Different situations warrant different zooming modes. Reading paragraphs is often easier with line zoom, while general web browsing is easier with Full Screen or Lens mode. iZoom supports 8 different zooming modes, ensuring that there's the perfect zoom mode for any situation you encounter.

Color Enhancements
Don't like the glare from white background on webpages? Color Blind? iZoom can manipulate the colors on the screen in dozens of ways so it doesn't strain your eyes.

Font Smoothing
Your computer wasn't designed to zoom into areas of the screen, which is why all screen magnifiers suffer from a phenomenon known as pixelation. Pixelation causes the edges of text to appear jagged as you zoom in, making text difficult to read. iZoom's patent-pending ClearPoint font-smoothing will maintain crystal clear text quality regardless of zoom level.

SmartAlign
If you've ever used a video magnifier, you know that all the text doesn't fit on the display at one time, causing you to scroll the table horizontally over and over to read the text. iZoom's patent-pending SmartAlign technology will re-align the entire paragraph so it fits on the screen with just a mouse click allowing you to be more productive and reduce eye-strain.

Focus Tracking

Since you're only able to view a portion of the screen while zooming in, there's bound to be events that happen outside of your viewable area, such as "Would you like to save..." dialog boxes or chat messages which appear out of nowhere. iZoom can automatically figure out the areas of the screen that demand your attention and move your focus to them, ensuring you're never left in the dark about what happening on your screen.

Mouse Enhancements

Even those with perfect vision can lose track of the mouse pointer occassionally. Individuals with vision impairments have a much harder time. That's why we've incorporated mouse enhancements into iZoom. Mouse enhancements can make your mouse larger and even change its color to make it easy to find.

Locator Enhancements

For those who have an extra hard time finding the mouse, such as users with tunnel vision, iZoom has several locators which can make life easier. Locators are enhancements which make it easy for even those with severe visual impairments to find the mouse effortlessly.

Floating Window

Ever had to keep referring to an area of an email while typing a response? Keeping a sticky note on the screen to make sure you don't forget a to-do item? With iZoom's Floating Window you can swiftly lock any area of the screen so it always remains in view, no matter what else you're doing.

Caret Tracking

Imagine you're typing an email while zoomed in. Since your viewable area is only a small area of the screen, you could type beyond what you can actually see and lose track of what you're writing. iZoom has built-in caret tracking which will follow whatever you're typing and keep it in view.

Zoom Scroll Bars

While zooming in to a part of the screen, you can lose track of what area of the original screen you're viewing. This can become rather frustratiing and cause disorientation. We've invented a revolutionary technology called Zoom Scroll Bars and incorporated it into iZoom. Zoom Scroll Bars are very similar to scroll bars in a webpage which let you know what part of the webpage you're viewing. With Zoom Scroll Bars you'll never lose track of where you are on the screen.

Dual Monitor support

iZoom's dual monitor support allows you to utilize two monitors to expand the area of magnified view. This will give you more information at any given time. Choose from 4 dual monitors options: Single, Stretch, Independent and Original and Magnified.
CCTV Compatibility

CCTV compatible for more flexibility.

Speech



In addition to screen magnification, iZoom will read on-screen events such as Windows, Message Boxes, Tooltips etc. to help you keep track of what's happening on the screen 

Mouse echo will automatically read text you point your mouse to such as paragraphs on webpages, emails and more.

Typing echo will reinforce what you're typing auditorily by speaking letters, words or lines based on your preferences.

Gives your eyes a break. Sit back and relax while iZoom speaks out entire web pages, emails and word documents to you with just the click of a button.

MSN is used by millions of people worldwide to chat with friends, family and co-workers. MSN displays a sign-in message at the bottom right of the screen when someone on your list logs in. iZoom can automatically speak who logs in even if you're not looking at the bottom right of the screen where the sign-in message is displayed.

iZoom allows you to configure how fast and how loud to speak. You can change the voice it uses by installing any SAPI5 compatible voice on your system and setting is at your default.