Read&Write is a literacy support tool that helps individuals of all abilities read, write, and express themselves with confidence. For education and the workplace, its assistive features include text-to-speech, word prediction, and research tools for users with diverse learning needs.
We chose Read&Write because it brings together so many helpful reading and writing tools in one place, and it works really well with the platforms we use, like Google and Chromebooks. We prefer it over Snap&Read and Co:Writer because it’s more user-friendly and easier for staff …
Great product, but very costly with the current education environment. I would hate to lose the product because of costs because our students love it, but it is very costly. There also should be more information about the usage. As a district with budget cuts, usage is very …
We use the screenshot reader often in our classes. Things like drama scripts, music sheets or other pdf's can be read online through the screenshot reader.
We are still learning how to use Equatio. I am not a mathematician and therefore I am finding understanding it a bit more difficult. Once I understand how to use it I will be able to cascade it down. My hope is that it will be as useful as Read & Write.
Cowriter, Snap and Read, Clicker, Kurzweil None of those popped up. I know of the merger but I would say some of the big things that made me choose CoWriter or Snap and Read over Read&Write for students still haven’t moved over and I’m hoping that will happen with time. Things …
Read&Write measure up well against these but can be a little more expansive. It does have a bank of tools in the one place though which is a positive as it means that users do not need multiple programmes
Read&Write has many more toolbar options, but I know that CoWriter and S&R have been incorporated into Read&Write. Nice to have one extension instead of 2 separate ones.
Special Education Coordinator/Resource Room teacher
Chose Read&Write
Read&Write has many more features, such as highlighting, speech to text, picture dictionary, screen contrast, and masking. Read&Write is much more accessible for all students and staff as well, since it is attached to their individual accounts.
Read&Write has a lot more inclusive features then Grammarly especially in terms of the picture dictionary and reading rulers and screen masking and the text to speech.
Early on our district was using Kurweil 3000 but that was restrictive to the computer that it was placed on. We also used co-writer (Don Johnson) for writing supports. By having both features available in one convenient toolbar along with other amazing features that follow the …
We still utilize Microsoft Immersive Reader as our Tier2 / UDL support tool. However, the word prediction is barely functional and there are confusing limitations to when certain tools are available (the picture dictionary is available in Word Online but not in Edge).
I like how diverse the tools are and that they can target specific needs while also being broad enough to be used by everyone. I have students who use the Co-Writer tool to write emails to their teachers. I have students who get tired from reading on their own and will use the text to speech aspect of it. I do have students who have cerebral palsy and it is hard for the program to understand their voice, so they have a hard time using the speech to text part.
Setting the speech to text up on different devices that do not have the internet speed to function smoothly or if it is in Exam mode and the user is not constantly using the speech to text mode.
Grouping the voices on their style such as harsh, clipped or soft would enable to pick their preference quicker rather than going through all of the different countries.
I'm just really impressed with the software and the access it gives to learners who are used to coming up against barriers in education. It's a quick-fix for a learner - something they can access usefully and productively with very little training. I also love that learners can access Read&Write on their devices at home - that really is a game changer.
I am giving this an 9. Not a perfect score because working on PDFs is better but not yet as easy as I need for it to be. Working with many students who have executive function challenges, I need a smooth simplistic access method. We are not quite there yet for writing on PDFs. Overall the toolbar on Read&Write is super easy to access and I love that the suite includes several tools on the toolbar providing a solution to many accessibility challenges.
The support team at Texthelp is excellent. They're all super helpful and open to feedback and new ideas. Still, more importantly, they are ultimately fully committed to aligning with us and ensuring they help us provide the best education possible. Furthermore, they're open to new features and always communicate this incredibly well.
It took a solid 2 weeks for R&W to work on our students chromebooks even after reaching out to tech support. The toolbar was greyed out and not accessible to students. Took a long time before tech support helped us solve this problem.
We are still learning how to use Equatio. I am not a mathematician and therefore I am finding understanding it a bit more difficult. Once I understand how to use it I will be able to cascade it down. My hope is that it will be as useful as Read & Write
