Supports for Reading
Britannica School, a tool available in Loudoun County Public Schools, provides resources with a built-in text to speech function which highlights the sentence being read aloud. The highlighting invites learners to follow along with their eyes to track the content. Text to speech is accessed by pressing the play icon located in different locations based on which level (elementary, middle, or high) is being used. Britannica School is available through LCPS Go.
MackinVia, a tool available in Loudoun County Public Schools, provides ebooks with an option to have the text read aloud using text to speech with a variety of voice options. Listeners can choose which voice best matches their personal preference. MackinVia is available through LCPS Go and as an app in the Google Play Store on Chromebooks.
Screenshot of an ebook in Mackinvia displaying 5 different voice options.
MackinVia, a tool available in Loudoun County Public Schools, provides ebooks with an option to adjust the playback speed. Listeners can adjust the speed to either slow down or speed up the playback based on their needs. MackinVia is available through LCPS Go and as an app in the Google Play Store on Chromebooks.
Screenshot of a book in MackinVia showing the variable playback speed options.
Tarheel Gameplay is a website that turns videos into interactive experiences by intermittent pausing. Users search the library of activities all of which are created by other users. Once a video is selected and started, it pauses periodically. The participant then selects the button that appears on the screen either directly, by pressing a key on a keyboard (like the Enter key), or by activating a switch.
Tarheel Gameplay
More button over a video in Tarheel Gameplay.
Microsoft has recently added a new reading fluency practice feature to Immersive Reader called Reading Coach. Using a tool that has Immersive Reader such as Microsoft Word, a learner reads a passage aloud. Reading Coach then analyzes the audio to provide specific, personalized feedback to the individual including five target words to practice. The feedback includes measure of a percentage of accuracy, time spent reading, and words read accurately per minute. Learners can keep a record of their scores and use it to document progress over time.
Feedback from Reading Coach
This video provides a quick demonstration:
MackinVia, a tool available in Loudoun County Public Schools, provides books with a built-in text to speech function which also features dual highlighting. This means the sentence being read aloud is highlighted yellow while the words being spoken are highlighted in grey. The dual highlighting invites learners to follow along with their eyes. MackinVia is available through LCPS Go and as an app in the Google Play Store on Chromebooks.
Screenshot of dual highlighting in Mackinvia
Audiobooks are a way for some learners to read with their ears. MackinVia, a tool available in Loudoun County Public Schools, has a number of audiobooks students can use to listen to human-narrated content. MackinVia is available through LCPS Go and as an app in the Google Play Store on Chromebooks.
Screenshot of MackinVia Audiobooks
Texthelp, the company that produces the Read&Write for Google Chrome extension for literacy support, has created an online, self-paced learning experience called Read&Write for Education Academy to help anyone become familiar with the tool. Completing the course earns one a certification, a certificate, a badge, and tons of information on how better to use the product to design inclusive experiences.
Work alone or find some friends to work through it together! Either way, you can become Read&Write for Google Chrome certified! Read&Write for Google Chrome is currently available for anyone to use in LCPS.
Microsoft Office tools have a built-in accessibility checker. Under the Review tab is a Check Accessibility button. 
Selecting the button checks the document for accessibility errors and considerations displaying suggestions about how to rectify or resolve the concerns. Consider checking every document for accessibility before publication.
Example of suggestions from the Accessibility Checker
Not all web pages are created equally. Some provide information in a clear and concise manner. Others are cluttered including extensive text, numerous graphics that might or might not add to the understanding of the content, or advertisements that detract from the content. This can be frustrating for any user, but especially so to those who are working on limiting distractions, focusing on goals around decoding and comprehension of text, and people with certain visual impairments.
TextHelp’s Read&Write for Google Chrome extension is available to all LCPS staff and students and has a tool that can help alleviate these issues called Simplify Page. It reduces visual clutter from Chrome web pages, simplifies the text on the page, and has features to make the web page even more visually accessible.
When on a Chrome web page, select the purple puzzle piece icon 
on the menu bar to open the Read&Write for Google Chrome toolbar.
Then, select the Simplify Page 
tool. A new tab will open showing a simplified version of the page and the available features.
Simplify: The amount of text displayed on the page can be summarized or shortened by selecting the minus (–) icon. If you’ve decreased the text too much, you can select the plus (+) icon.
Discover: This feature underlines key words in purple. When the words are selected, a brief description or graphic appears, similar to a dictionary.
The visual contrast can be modified by changing the text and background color. Choices include Black on White, White on Black, Blue on Yellow, and Yellow on Blue.
The font size and style can be changed, including the Open Dyslexic font.
The spacing between the lines can be also changed to Single, 1.5, or Double.
Check out this video for more information and enjoy exploring this amazing tool!