Dragon Naturally speaking is the leading software product that converts human speech into written text. It has lots of applications across special education, for students with physical impairments who can’t utilise a regular keyboard through to students with language-based learning disabilities including dyslexia and other cognitive impairments.

Dragon goes beyond straight dictation, and can be used to edit and format documents and control the spacing and capitalization of items written in various contexts — all by voice. Students can use voice commands to dictate, edit and control the applications they rely on every day, using voice commands like “Backspace three,” “Delete line,” “Copy that,” “Close window,” “Open Microsoft Word,” or “Make that red,” and it automatically completes the task. To make things easier, the Dragon Sidebar lets users see important voice commands and tips at anytime — without interrupting what they’re doing.

Like any piece of assistive technology a proper assessment of the students’ needs is required first. There are considerations around how it will be used in classroom situations, what tasks it is best used for and if there are other strategies and tools that may be needed.

Dragon Naturally Speaking can also read back text using the high quality Australian voices, Karen and Lee. It also works in combination with a range of other assistive software programs such as WYNN, JAWS, MAGic and ZoomText.