For today's homestudy assignment, I decided to check out the blog OT's with Apps & Technology. As I scanned through the blog, one post really caught my attention. It was a post about OrCam Read which is a handheld scanning and reading device for people with mild low vision, reading fatigue, reading difficulties such as dyslexia, or for anyone who consumes large amounts of text.
The design of this device is outstanding. The OrCam Read is 5” in length by 1” height and ½” width. It is small enough to carry on a lanyard or put in your pocket. The device uses a laser light beam to scan the text. The accuracy of scanning from text to read is very high with about a 99% accuracy rate. Trials were done using various types of print and fonts. Another awesome feature of this device is its ability to connect via bluetooth to speakers or headphones.
This is an amazing device! How awesome would this be for students who have vision difficulties or LD? Their access to materials would be greatly increased. I think of some of my previous students who were assigned iPads or tablets for reading and they did not always like using the device because they felt different than other students. If they had access to this technology, they would still get to interact with paper book. However, at about $2500 USD I think that it is not likely we will see this technology available within the public school system.
For more info on OrCam Read check out the following website: https://www.orcam.com/en/read/
Click on the picture to view a review of OrCam.
Hi Colleen,
ReplyDeleteI was interested to read your post about the OrCam Read device. Wow! I have worked with students in the past who used the C-Pen Exam Reader and thought that was amazing, however it only scanned one line at a time. The OrCam is great in that it scans the whole page at once making it much more efficient. I did notice that the voice is still a bit robotic, as was the complaint with the C-Pen. This assistive technology is marching forward at an incredible pace and I am sure it won't be long before a more natural sounding voice can be developed. The OrCam MyEye looks like another amazing invention from this company that is enhancing the everyday life of people with a visual impairment.
Thanks for posting this. This is definitely an area of innovation to watch!
Kathryn F.
Yes! a great site. As noted above we use the C-Pen in our area. It is about $300.00 so a little more affordable. It is also accessible and user friendly. Kids love it
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