[blindkid] Zoom Text with Speech vs. JAWS

Olivero, Treva TEOlivero at nfb.org
Tue Sep 1 20:13:03 UTC 2009


Kim, 
I recommend calling our access technology department to get the
technical answers. This will help clarify the difference between JAWS
and the ZoomText speech. 

My understanding from talking to people is that although ZoomText
markets it's speech addition as a screen reader, it doesn't really work
the same way. Also, if Kayleigh magnifies the screen 5-6 times or more,
it probably is not efficient for her to use magnification, and she
should switch to a screen reader. I used ZoomText without too much
training, and I was pretty successful with it. However, when I got
training on JAWS and started using it, it became a lot faster to use a
screen reader. 

Those are just a few things to consider. 

Treva

-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Jess
Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 1:44 PM
To: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Zoom Text with Speech vs. JAWS

Kim,
I'm no expert. But, the fact that you said that your daughter hasn't
been trained on ZoomText makes the big difference to me as to why she
won't use it. Since she had a training on JAWS she most likely prefers
hearing Eloquence speech over Via Voice or whatever Synthesizer is used
in Magnifier/Reader version of ZoomText. By the way I'm much like your
daughter I prefer using JAWS to ZoomText because all the ZoomText does
in my case is make the screen area larger. And, I'm already using a 19
inch or so flat panel monitor. Also, Freedom Scientific also has a
Magnifier Program called MaGic as well Both JAWS and MaGic work
seamlessly together.
Jessica
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kim Cunningham" <kim at gulfimagesphoto.com>
To: "Blindkid" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 10:42 AM
Subject: [blindkid] Zoom Text with Speech vs. JAWS






Could anyone tell me about the differences (good and bad) between using
Zoom Text with speech vs. JAWS? I understand that Zoom Text has the
ability to enlarge print, etc. and JAWS is speech only. Do both work
with all files or is one better than the other. My daughter trained with
JAWS over the summer and really liked it. She found it easy to navigate.
Currently she has Zoom Text with speech on her laptop and the school
district wants to know why she won't use this program instead of JAWS
since Zoom Text also allows her to use her residual vision. Kayleigh was
given Zoom Text without any training from her TVI. What she has learned
has been on her own and I'm not sure if she just needs more training
with Zoom Text or if JAWS is the way to go for her.
Regards,
Kim Cunningham
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