Assistive Technology Center
MSU Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities (RCPD)
120 Bessey Hall
East Lansing, MI 48824-1033
517-353-9642
The following equipment is available at the RCPD Assistive Technology Center. Training manuals, tutorials and personalized assistance with the equipment is available by contacting either an RCPD Disability Specialist for students or the Coordinator for Employees with Disabilities.
Kurzweil
Educational Systems, Kurzweil 3000
This powerful Optical Character Recognition software allows the computer to scan printed materials and render them in a spoken and visually-highlighted output. The system also provides enhanced access to web content via text-highlighting and voice output. Finally, the built-in definitions dictionary provides full definitions and synonyms for hundreds of thousands of words.
Franklin Electronic Publishing, Language
Master
These hand-held devices allow students to quickly search for definitions and spellings of difficult or troublesome words. The systems also allow the user to locate synonyms and antonyms for particular words. Finally, the units include a speech synthesizer allowing them to read definitions and spellings aloud.
Optalec, SVGA Closed-Circuit Television
(CCTV)
This device assists students with visual impairments or learning disabilities by allowing them to enlarge the contents of printed materials. Like a traditional CCTV, the user places the printed material on an X-Y table. The image is then captured by a video camera which then allows the user to adjust magnification level, focus, brightness, contrast, and coloration. This unit differs from a traditional CCTV in that it shares a single display/monitor with an existing PC. The user can thus (with the press of a button or foot pedal) select a full screen view of the computer, CCTV, or a split screen containing both. This system allows the user to easily read printed materials while working simultaneously with a computer.