ClaroRead and ClaroRead Plus v5

ClaroRead Plus is Claro Software's flagship program that brings in screen reading (as found in WordRead), word prediction, homophone support and scanning conversion (OCR). An alternative program would be TextHelp's Read & Write Gold.

Screen reading

This is one of the main functions of this software for many, though if this is the only function you need, then consider buying Claro's WordRead instead as it does almost the same job at a much cheaper price.

As I have just mentioned, the screen reading function is almost identical to WordRead, with its' ability to read out character and/or words as typed, and have sentences or whole pages read out by the computer by just hovering your mouse over the sentence where you'd like the computer to start reading from.

To have editable text read (text that you have typed into a program such as MS Word, an email, Facebook etc.) you simply use the mouse to highlight the text needed and press the Play button on ClaroRead's toolbar. As with WordRead, you can have the text highlighted in your choice of colour as it reads the words.

Again, as in WordRead, there is the ability to save the text being read as an audio file to be played at will from a program that plays audio files, such as Window's free Media Player. ClaroRead, however, goes one step further by giving you the ability to save the text as a video file (that can be played through Media Player as well). If I had to criticise this function, it would be that the highlighting of words as it is read isn't displayed on the video. Though both the audio and video saving function does give a form of portability from computer to computer without needing ClaroRead to be installed on them all.

Changing the display

If the reason you are looking at this review is to help with dyslexia, then you may be interested in the software's ability to change the font size, colour and spacing, as well as the page background colour. It is true that this can all be done within many programs such as MS Word, though this can be done in a much easier way by using ClaroRead's toolbar.

The spacing option allows you to change the spacing between characters, lines and paragraphs. It scrolls through 3 pre-sets before returning to the initial setting. Claro seems to remember the original setting, so if you accidently save the file (Word 2007) and re-open it, pressing the spacing tab returns it to the original.

Sounds like

ClaroRead has homophone support that enables you to see all words that sound the same as other words, or have more than one meaning for the same spelling (for example 'too', 'to' and 'two' or 'for', 'four' and 'fore'). This is done by selecting the Homophone button from the toolbar which will highlight all homophone words in the document, allowing you to click on them and select the spell checker button on the toolbar.

Spell Checker

ClaroRead's spell checker offers what you'd expect from a spell-checker, though with a few additions. Firstly, for each word there are multiple explanations of the word within the context of a sentence. Secondly, there is also a homophone tab to allow you to check for similar sounding words, along with a picture to depict many of the words. Lastly, there is a 'Lookup' button that automatically uses Google to search for a meaning of the current word that's selected.

Word Prediction

Unlike some other word prediction programs, such as TextHelp's Read & Write and Penfriend XP, ClaroRead always follows the text cursor and displays up to 5 suggestions at a time. Moving the mouse cursor over the word prediction list will speak the words out for you, to help check the word audibly. The required word can either be clicked or the corresponding function key (F1 - F5) pressed to have the word completed on the page.

Like all good word prediction programs, after completing a word the prediction list then tries to anticipate the next word, going off the word just typed. This is never 100% accurate, though I suppose even computers can't read minds.

ClaroRead's prediction uses word lists (or lexicons) to predict from, but there are just 2 sizes of word lists - 2,000 and 5,000 words. I would like to see a bit more flexibility with these lists, such as found in TextHelp's Read & Write, where word lists can be smaller or larger (500 - 35,000), can be set in subjects (history, geography etc.) or could even be drawn from a text file that you can input (such as words found in an early learning reading book).

An issue with the word prediction box is that the font is not adjustable. With the page view set to 500%, the prediction text was unaffected. This would indicate that it is only suitable for those with good eyesight!

Scanning and reading

The option to scan documents and have them read to you is especially important when you place it into context. What happens if you have post or homework (or work) handed to you in paper format? Having the ability to scan the paper into a computer using a scanner (which is not included with the software, though can be bought for around £40), and then have the computer read it out to you can solve this problem.

The scan function utilises a long-existing piece of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software package called OmniPage, which seamlessly incorporates itself into ClaroRead's toolbar. OCR software works by taking a scanned image and looks for picture shapes that look like letters. When a letter shape is found, it turns it into a character that is recognised by the computer as a letter, and therefore can be read out loud by ClaroRead.

Some scanners come packaged with OCR software that can convert pages of text to readable text, within MS Word anyway. When looking at the cost of ClaroRead, take the price of OCR software into account as this makes the cost of ClaroRead a little more pallatable.

Extras

There are a whole host of extras bundled with ClaroRead. 

Screen Ruler - Some people have difficulties in keeping track of lines of text. Screen Ruler offers a software solution to using a ruler to keep track of the line you are reading. This dims out the rest of the page and highlights a line across the screen that can be moved up and down with the mouse.

ClaroView - Enables you to change the colour balance of the screen. If you find that a blue tint, for example, helps you read, then you can use ClaroView to change the overall screen colour. Of course, a multitude of different colours are supported.

Speaking Calculator - Pretty obvious what this is really. Having said that, you'd expect something 'custom-built' but no, it just brings up the standard Windows calculator and having the screen reading turned on turns it into a talking calculator. Not really an extra!

Advanced Settings Editor - This is where you can add new homophones and words to the prediction list. You can add single words at a time, or import words from a text document. When I tried to add words from a text document it only added one very long Japanese or Chinese word (don't ask me which, I speak neither). I'm guessing this was a bug in the program and not multi-lingual support!

Conclusion

I must say I like this program. Why? There seems to be a lot of thought that has gone into the program, especially for those with dyslexia. 

The screen reader is flexible and will read anything and everything (apart from the embeded links - grrr). The Homophone support is good and the spell checker is also very neat. The addition of some drawings to illustrate the word and the link to the Google definitions is also good, though a bit unnecessary due to the explanations within the spell checker being thougher.

The price depends on the version you buy. The version you buy depends on the tools and functions you need. If you go for the Standard Edition, then forget the scanning support as you don't get it. If you go for the SE edition (I thought SE stands for Standard Edition but it seems not) then you don't get the character and line spacing, font colouring, screen colour changing, screen ruler or the scanning.

So price... SE edition is £49 + VAT (look at our WordRead review as it seems almost identical), Standard edition (not to get confused as I did with SE edition) is £129 + VAT, ClaroRead Plus is £159 + VAT. In their literature they mention a Pro version that includes idea mapping (not mentioned in this review), but there doesn't seem to be a mention on their site, apart from Plus and Claro Ideas at £189 + VAT. 

If you understand their pricing structure, then well done, go to the top of the class!