

If it meets your students’ needs and offers them independence and the ability to communicate electronically with freedom and confidence - go for it!.Make sure it is a better option than what your students are currently using, and that it is worth the price tag.The bottom line with using the Dragon speech recognition system in a Special Education setting is this: Students need to be able to cope physically and cognitively with spending a fair amount of time using a computer and interacting closely with the technology.In addition, having a student speaking aloud can be distracting to other students in a classroom situation. There will be students who may not enjoy speaking their text out loud.It takes time to ’teach’ the program your voice style, and to help it recognize how you say certain words, which can be a frustrating experience for some students.Keep this in mind when recommending the program for students with cognitive deficits.


The user speaks into the microphone and the text appears What You Need to KnowĪs with most technology, and particularly with a speech recognition system, there are a few items to be aware of:.The Dragon toolbar appears and the Dragon is told to ‘wake up’.The computer has the Dragon program loaded onto it.The user wears a headset fitted with a microphone.The software program is simple in principle: This can be especially true in a special education setting, when touch typing or even basic keyboarding, has been difficult for a student to master. It is a life changing experience for some computer users, as it may be the first time they are able to independently create text in Word, communicate via email, write letters, enter search terms into Google or create a PowerPoint slide, or do the thousand other tasks that have somehow become a part of the student day. The speech recognition system, Dragon Naturally Speaking, provides a system for a computer user to ‘speak’ to their computer and in doing so, create text on the screen.
