Do you have students who struggle with the written word? Would you prefer to listen rather than read?…maybe while you’re mowing the grass or shoveling the snow?

In Muskegon County, educators and parents can take advantage of a special licensing agreement for Universal Reader. This software can be installed on every computer in the county – school and home – to help individuals who have reading difficulties. For more information about this project in Muskegon, contact the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District.

There are also free online tools to help convert text to audio. One that recently came to my attention is called Read the Words. After creating your free account, you submit what you want read using these options:

• Upload MS Word
• Upload Adobe PDF
• Upload HTML File
• Write Text Content
• Cut & Paste Text
• Website Address
• RSS Feed

You then pick the voice (out of 15 voices) that you want to have read your text, including Spanish or French. Finally, you listen to the audio of the text you entered. In addition to listening to your converted audio online, you can also:

• Download mp3 to your iPod
• Post Your Reading in Website or Blog
• Turn Your Reading into a Podcast

The conversion takes place quickly and the ability to save after conversion provides many options for the user.