reading pens?

[NorthernBeth]

Has anybody used one of these reading pens with their child?  They are apparently text to speech but with printed text rather than digital text. Are they useful or too buggy to really be helpful?

Here is a link of the kind of thing I am talking about:

https://www.scanningpens.ca/ReaderPenCA/

[Melissa in Australia]

twin 2 has a C pen reader https://www.spectronics.com.au/product/c-pen-reader

He very rarely uses it. 

I think He could use it more but he doesn't.

[NorthernBeth]

does he not use it because he finds it hard to use or because he is embarrassed by using it or some other reason?

 

[City Mouse]

I was able to borrow a C Pen to try with a student of mine who is visually impaired and has some fine motor issue.

it didn’t work for her because it was too difficult for her to track along a line of standard size print and hold the pen in the right position.

when I tested the pen, I found that the OCR was pretty accurate as long as it is held at the correct angle. As with all digital speach, sometimes the pronunciation is off has to have enough knowledge to know what the correct word is supposed to be. Back when my DS was younger and using Snap and Read text to speech software, something like the C Pen would have been useful for him. 

[Melissa in Australia]

On 12/24/2021 at 10:21 AM, NorthernBeth said:

does he not use it because he finds it hard to use or because he is embarrassed by using it or some other reason?

 

He does find it  a bit tricky to use, finds it difficult to pull the pen evenly along the text, and has trouble keeping to the line. Also the pen speaks in a monotone which he doesn't like

[NorthernBeth]

Thank you, that's helpful

 

[prairiewindmomma]

On 12/24/2021 at 6:47 PM, City Mouse said:

I was able to borrow a C Pen to try with a student of mine who is visually impaired and has some fine motor issue.

it didn’t work for her because it was too difficult for her to track along a line of standard size print and hold the pen in the right position.

when I tested the pen, I found that the OCR was pretty accurate as long as it is held at the correct angle. As with all digital speach, sometimes the pronunciation is off has to have enough knowledge to know what the correct word is supposed to be. Back when my DS was younger and using Snap and Read text to speech software, something like the C Pen would have been useful for him. 

This was also our experience using a C-Pen with our visually impaired daughter.

For our next kid in line, we discovered that it was easier to put them on an iPad and use an app to read.  For other text in print form, you can photograph a page and then use an app. Voice and its spinoff Voice OCR are our favorites, but they do require an internet connection.

[Melissa in Australia]

An possably exciting update on twin 2 and his c- pen reader. He is trialing some new medication. And just in the last 2 days instead of having countless meltdowns and tantrums over every single bit of his schoolwork, of his own accord he went and got his c pen reader, used it to read the one line instructions for his school work. Then DID THE LESSON INDEPENDENTLY.  I am shouting with joy.