What is Read & Write?
Read & Write (R&W) is a Chrome extension that works with Google Suite (GSuite) services as a literacy support tool. It acts as a toolbar above the main interface of your document (shown below). The free version primarily provides text-to-speech, translation, and fluency tools. The Chrome extension is a branch of the main Read & Write suite, which is a premium version. This article will primarily cover the free extension.
What are Read & Write's features?
R&W’s text-to-speech service provides over 100 voice options for a range of languages and accents. Additionally, there are various settings the user can adjust, such as speed, continuous reading, and a “Speak as I type” option allowing your writing to be read after each word you type, after each sentence, or both.
R&W’s translation tool is rudimentary but offers many languages. The tool allows you to select text and hear both the original and translated version, although it only allows for one or two words to be selected at a time.
The fluency tool opens a separate tab with selected text. This tab provides the option to hover over sentences and hear the text-to-speech to model your own speech after. You can then record yourself reading the text and play the recording back, which you can re-record multiple times.
What are Read & Write's limitations?
Because it is primarily a paid service, the extension version of R&W has both a basic and a premium version. This means that the free version only has the three tools mentioned, while a premium version includes many more features for accessibility, such as screen masking capabilities, speech-to-text, and annotation tools. R&W as a whole is very large and has a lot of features, which can make it hard to find exactly what you’re looking for on the website. Due to the variety of features, the price point is also inaccessible for many people, as the paid version is $150 dollars per year. If you’re in a K-12 education program, however, teachers are given a free premium version, which may provide students access for school activities.
What are Read & Write's benefits?
The main benefit to R&W is that it is compatible with GSuite services and allows for live editing. The tools work on Google Slides, although you need to select the topmost textbox instead of generally selecting a slide for the text-to-speech tool. The variety of voice options also allows for having different languages spoken aloud through one tool, which you can change in the settings as needed through the toolbar.
Additionally, the increased language support is beneficial for users who read or write in a different language some or most of the time or generally use multiple languages.
How can you access Read & Write?
This isn’t an official College assistive technology, but you can download it as a Chrome extension through the following link: R&W extension. Once you sign up, you will have access to the premium version for 30 days.