has ceased trading – but still producing valuable assistive technology information
The famous sunglass makers have joined the AI world and produce some very normal looking glasses that describe what’s in front of you and also reads books for you. Called the Rauy Ban wayfarer it comes in at £300 . Check out the website at:-
https://www.ray-ban.com/uk/electronics/RW4006ray-ban%20%7C%20meta%20wayfarer-black/8056597982788
The above link will give you the information you need. Wouldlove to try one out! They look cool!
News to JAWs users. From mky one of my blind cleints. He reports that JAWS is changing to a subscription model. This will take place after the 31st October this year. It will be a three figure sum for those users who want a professional version of JAWS. So if you were thinking fo changing JAWS or buying it best to do in the next few weeks!
JAWS has transitioned to a subscription-based model, alongside its sister products ZoomText and Fusion, offering flexible 1-, 2-, or 3-year terms that include software updates, security patches, and technical support. This new approach replaces the older model of purchasing one-time perpetual licenses and separate Software Maintenance Agreements (SMAs), making it simpler and often more cost-effective for users to stay up-to-date with the latest features and support. Professional Edition subscriptions also incorporate remote desktop access for Citrix/RDS environments at no extra cost.
What the change means for users:
Why the change was made:
For existing users:
It is important to ensure your software is on the latest version and to transition from an expired SMA to a subscription to maintain access to vital updates and support.
Existing users with perpetual licenses are encouraged to explore the subscription model to benefit from continuous updates and support.
This article has been generated by AI
There is a wealth of AT stuff to get to grips with. Some free! Some AT is subscription based. Be careful what you agree to!
A list of current hardware – some old, some new . Some are really pricey.
Scanmarker Pen https://editmicro.co.za/product/scanmarker-pro/
Scanning Pens – https://www.scanningpens.com
Lexilens- https://www.lexilens.com
Olympus DS9000- https://dictation.omsystem.com/en/product/ds-9000/
Orcam Read – https://www.orcam.com/en-gb/orcam-read
New Stuff – not promoting but giving you information and a chance to see these products
Ivvi – https://ivvi.app – £30 monthly, £300 per year, £495 for 3 years
Lexilens – 490 euros / £409.22 https://lexilens.com/product/lexilens/ – smart glasses for dyslexics that see letters moving.
Goblin Tools – £free – https://goblin.tools/
Microsoft CoPilot – paid for in your Microsoft 365 subscription, free on The Edge brower – https://copilot.cloud.microsoft/?fromcode=cmc&redirectid=08374CBFBCD64F729B19AE31285BF999&auth=2
TalkType – £20 monthly subscription(1,000 minutes per month) or £50 monhlty billed annually (3,000minute per month) https://talk-type.com/
Ayoa – £free for up to 10 mind maps , Ayoa Ultimate £10 a month billed annually £120 – https://www.ayoa.com/
Google Gemini – £free ai tool – https://gemini.google.com/
More apps that have been around a while but still useful
Clicker – https://cricksoft.com/clicker/ talk to Crick before any purchase to gain best rates
DocsPlus – https://cricksoft.com/docsplus/ mainly secondary , grown up Clicker with word banks and mindmaps again talk to Crick before purchasing
Dictate – built into Word, PowerPoint, Outlook part of your Microsoft 365 subsription
Immersive Reader – built into Word, PowerPoint, Outlook part of your Microsoft 365 subsription
Microsoft OneNote – part of your Microsoft 365 subscription
Typing Suggestions – built into Windows 10/11
Google Docs – on your Google Account – free to access
Voice Typing – on the tools menu in Google Docs
Mindview – £15 a month billed annually £180 – https://www.matchware.com/mind-mapping-software
My Study Bar – £free – useful exam access software as all the tools run without internet access
Free apps
ClaroSpeak – https://apps.apple.com/us/app/clarospeak-literacy-support/id977258467
Provides word prediction, text to speech, capture text, dyslexia friendly check
Postit! – https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/post-it/id920127738
Use sticky notes? Now its electronic and can be used to make mindmaps
Popplet Lite – https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/popplet-lite/id364738549
Simple and effective mindmap that can export to PDF and JPEG
Correct Spelling Checker – https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/correct-spelling-checker/id1481028375 – Provides a way to find and check spellings
Class Timetable – https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/class-timetable/id425121147 – organisational tool for pupils to log their homework and lessons on a two-week timetable
Notability – https://apps.apple.com/us/app/notability-smarter-ai-notes/id360593530 note taking tool that uses colour to designate to subject areas. Organises your notes into subjects.
Paid for apps
ClaroScanPen – £9.99 – https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/claro-scanpen/id994933713
Text to speech tool on printed materials. Not handwriting
Easy Dyslexia Aid – £2.99 – https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/easy-dyslexia-aid/id1088194043 – input your word via your voice and see how it’s correctly spelt. Also uses different languages
Organisation
Microsoft Todo – part of Microsoft 365 subscription
Mindview – £15 a month billed annually £180 – https://www.matchware.com/mind-mapping-software
Global Tasks – demo avaialable – https://global-tasks.texthelp.com/Welcome DSA solution https://www.texthelp.com/en-gb/solutions/dsa/global-tasks/
Trello – £free – paid products as well – https://trello.com/
Alexa – £free – dates and calendars on the Alexa device – can be used on the phone
Mind42 – free mindmapping software – good for collaboration over the internet as well – https://mind42.com/
Helpful Resources
https://www.nasen.org.uk/atminiguide
https://bataonline.org/initiatives
There are some useful links here to accessibility tools built into Windows, Apple and Android. I call them ” Quick Wins”
Great free event that you can attend virtually for free this Saturday 10th May
If you get an email from me saying I have sent you a file please don’t open it just delete it . I have been the victim of a phishing attack . After two calls to Microsoft their technicians ensured that the attack was over and helped with email recovery as they had managed to move my incoming emails to another folder. I was receiving emails but I couldn’t see them. I won’t tell you how it was done as it would give ideas to others. Let’s say it was a bad move !
Let’s hope that’s the end of that!
This is the place where you can access the information I shared at this day. All the links are on the presentation which will be sent out to participants but also duplicated here for ease of access.
New Stuff – not promoting but giving you information and a chance to see these products
Ivvi – https://ivvi.app – £30 monthly, £300 per year, £495 for 3 years
Lexilens – 490 euros / £409.22 https://lexilens.com/product/lexilens/ – smart glasses for dyslexics that see letters moving.
Goblin Tools – £free – https://goblin.tools/
Microsoft CoPilot – paid for in your Microsoft 365 subscription, free on The Edge brower – https://copilot.cloud.microsoft/?fromcode=cmc&redirectid=08374CBFBCD64F729B19AE31285BF999&auth=2
TalkType – £20 monthly subscription(1,000 minutes per month) or £50 monhlty billed annually (3,000minute per month) https://talk-type.com/
Ayoa – £free for up to 10 mind maps , Ayoa Ultimate £10 a month billed annually £120 – https://www.ayoa.com/
Google Gemini – £free ai tool – https://gemini.google.com/
More apps that have been around a while but still useful
Clicker – https://cricksoft.com/clicker/ talk to Crick before any purchase to gain best rates
DocsPlus – https://cricksoft.com/docsplus/ mainly secondary , grown up Clicker with word banks and mindmaps again talk to Crick before purchasing
Dictate – built into Word, PowerPoint, Outlook part of your Microsoft 365 subsription
Immersive Reader – built into Word, PowerPoint, Outlook part of your Microsoft 365 subsription
Microsoft OneNote – part of your Microsoft 365 subscription
Typing Suggestions – built into Windows 10/11
Google Docs – on your Google Account – free to access
Voice Typing – on the tools menu in Google Docs
Mindview – £15 a month billed annually £180 – https://www.matchware.com/mind-mapping-software
My Study Bar – £free – useful exam access software as all the tools run without internet access
Free apps
ClaroSpeak – https://apps.apple.com/us/app/clarospeak-literacy-support/id977258467
Provides word prediction, text to speech, capture text, dyslexia friendly check
Postit! – https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/post-it/id920127738
Use sticky notes? Now its electronic and can be used to make mindmaps
Popplet Lite – https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/popplet-lite/id364738549
Simple and effective mindmap that can export to PDF and JPEG
Correct Spelling Checker – https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/correct-spelling-checker/id1481028375 – Provides a way to find and check spellings
Class Timetable – https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/class-timetable/id425121147 – organisational tool for pupils to log their homework and lessons on a two-week timetable
Notability – https://apps.apple.com/us/app/notability-smarter-ai-notes/id360593530 note taking tool that uses colour to designate to subject areas. Organises your notes into subjects.
Paid for apps
ClaroScanPen – £9.99 – https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/claro-scanpen/id994933713
Text to speech tool on printed materials. Not handwriting
Easy Dyslexia Aid – £2.99 – https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/easy-dyslexia-aid/id1088194043 – input your word via your voice and see how it’s correctly spelt. Also uses different languages
Organisation
Microsoft Todo – part of Microsoft 365 subscription
Mindview – £15 a month billed annually £180 – https://www.matchware.com/mind-mapping-software
Global Tasks – demo avaialable – https://global-tasks.texthelp.com/Welcome DSA solution https://www.texthelp.com/en-gb/solutions/dsa/global-tasks/
Trello – £free – paid products as well – https://trello.com/
Alexa – £free – dates and calendars on the Alexa device – can be used on the phone
Mind42 – free mindmapping software – good for collaboration over the internet as well – https://mind42.com/
Adminstration Tools
Fellow – AI meeting organiser – https://fellow.app/
Fathom – AI video conferencing recording tool – https://fathom.video/
Helpful Resources
There are some useful links here to accessibility tools built into Windows, Apple and Android. I call them ” Quick Wins”
Last day of the show and shamelessly I am picking up freebies from the suppliers. Sorry, but it’s true to give the most suitable ones to my daughter.
In doing so had a great conversation with Douglas Stewart supplier on the nuance directed hearing device. Here are some photos to explain what you do
Also a useful bendy connector that doesn’t cause your audio jack to be damaged if pulled unexpectedly.
Another company making STEM kit that might be of interest is PIPER they have kits that can be built into action items such as robot walking dog illustrated here
Lastly, apart from the colourful jacket this Maths software could be of real benefit to pupils with special needs. Magma Maths take a look and see if you agree. A simple interface that wouldn’t put pupils off.
Finally I did meet a turtle and asked for a selfie
Well this should be simple to report on for our only caught one new product and visited my old friends Texthelp (now called Everway) . Seek them out on SK41. As to Everway they have new AI assisted voices added to their free ReadWrite extension for Google Chrome. They give better pronunciation and inflection to their speech engine. You might need to re-install to get them. But if you go into Settings and Speech you will see AI assisted voices. I am saying this as I missed it myself.
Odoo is a Belgian based company giving pupils and students experience of running a business. I think it will help any business studies module. Not particularly designed to be accessible but I think the process would work well for students with different needs. It is a business software available for teachers. It’s free to use and puts the user into the position of running a business and the different process in an engaging way using WhatsApp like features.
… and that’s it
As is my tradition I write up the things I saw and the things I did.
First of all , BETT 2025 is 40 years old and they produced this T-Shirt with my name of it. The second thing in life with my name on it after the High Speed Train
In relation to what I did I was involved in a panel discussion on AT and Higher Education with my old friend and colleague Dave Banes and Kellie Mote from JISC,
So what I saw that took my eye. Well, nothing mind blowing but some interesting stuff. There is usually a trend at BETT. This year it’s AI. AI is everywhere on the stands from Microsoft’s Co-Pilot and Agents ( yet to understand what they do!) to AI powered systems in vendors products.
BrainFreeze offers an AI system for education . You can sign up for a free version showing its potential. I haven’t got access yet but will feedback later on this product which is offering discounts at the moment.
Scanning Pens have a new pen out which works with over 40 languages has a new colour display and is a mini computer in your pocket.
Robotpen is a device that can be used to solve Maths problems and has an AI-powered tutor that answers your questions. It can be used with an app and also link to larger devices
Jam-Coding good to see them at BETT. I was impressed by their scheme on coding. I especially like their work with autism. That’s because the owner – Roger – is autistic themselves. They are promoting a 50% discount on their E-safety workshops and Free E-Safety resources for E-Safety week.
CherryPot is a Korean company promoting Maths skills and tools which prompts and helps students learn Maths concepts.
Bow Tie Maths is a UK teacher inspired idea that helps pupils work on their Maths and find their gaps. Well worth a look to see if it can help your pupils. Designed for GCSE Maths and a good tool for revision.
Catch Box is an audio capture device that you can literally throw around the room! In a lovely soft cube that is dribble proof this might be a solution for a special needs classroom but other devices apply.
Plex is a company that work with HE/FE in giving students information about university and college building about the amount of people in a lecture room. It also identifies quiet spaces for students to use if they are feeling stress. It’s cloud-based so could work on a browser or you could use a large display. It works through counting people coming in and out of buildings. It doesn’t take personal details if you were worried about that! See the large screen display below
Well that’s from Day 1.
Report back on Day 2.
Image by Freepik
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Suzanne Tanner
AccessAbility Solutions 