Penfriend XL Reviewed in Disability Product News

This is a remarkably sophisticated program for a mere £120, offering a powerful screen reader, text magnification, word prediction and on-screen keyboard – all this in nine major European languages, including Latin. It's designed for people who may require additional support with reading and writing, so is ideal for those with dyslexia, for example. The on-screen keyboards and word prediction also make this a useful tool for people with physical impairments, especially when used with switches – most of the best programs of this kind will have switch input options.

To demonstrate, this article is being typed using only Penfriend XL and a standard mouse! With word prediction and on-screen keyboard options enabled, when you type a letter the on-board dictionary offers a list of possible words that would fit. You can insert the word by pressing one of the function keys, or clicking on it with your mouse. If, for whatever reasons, you have difficulties reading the word, the screen reader will help by reading it aloud before you select it.

Penfriend offers an impressive screen reading and magnification facility, especially in such a reasonably priced package. It can read letters, words or sentences back to you as you type, or whole paragraphs that you might have saved in Penfriend's clipboard. When reading text aloud from the clipboard, each word is highlighted. If you want to hear it again, simply click on it.

The on-screen keyboards allow you to type away quite happily in Spanish, for example, on a keyboard set up to be used in Germany and font, colour and keyboard size can all be adjusted for individual users.

Penfriend is a comprehensive literacy aid which can boost confidence and increase reading and writing skills across the age and ability range, and should be a mandatory purchase for any school or resource centre.

With thanks to Disability Product News.

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