Homophones are best described as words that sounds the same but are spelled differently, such as "there" and "their" or "witch" and "which."  For someone who struggles with reading and writing, distinguishing which word is most appropriate to use in a specific context, as well as spelling it correctly, can be challenging.

Using the homophone support button on the ClaroRead toolbar allows users to:

-Identify every homophone listed in a document. ClaroRead provides a feature that actually highlights homophones in blue, so they can be easily identified after a document is written or as the writer writes them.

-Add additional words the user finds particularly tricky for ClaroRead to identify and correct within the Advanced Settings Editor.

-Select a homophone and view alternative words that sound the same, along with the meaning of each word.

-View a picture of the homophone (over 1000 images are provided with ClaroRead) if text definitions are not thorough enough to help the user identify the correct word.

-Have everything in the homophone feature read back to the user with ClaroRead's sophisticated text to speech capability.

For additional information about ClaroRead's homophone support features, visit us online at http://www.claroread.com/.

Senior high school student Makenzie Kozojet, 17, of New Orleans, has been using ClaroRead for two years.

A dyslexic and auditory learner, Makenzie plans to go to college next year where she hopes to continue using ClaroRead.

Makenzie says “I read slowly. I can mix letters up and I struggle with some words. But ClaroRead reads text out and helps with your comprehension, without the need to have someone read out loud for you.

“I did use another product before, which had the same basic process of reading words out – but it was more complicated to use, and it couldn’t scan in text and books.

“Reading 30 pages a night would basically take me about two hours. But with ClaroRead, I can do it in 30 minutes to an hour. So it more than halves my reading time.

“When I am doing research, or making notes, it is a lot more useful to have text read out to me. ClaroRead can also read my own stuff back to me. Hearing my mistakes helps me fix them much more easily.

“My grades are all As and Bs. I am not sure what I want to do – perhaps I will study something do with either science or art.

“I have a 3.5 grade point average. Based on my academic grades, the colleges I’ve applied to are offering me scholarship support, that is, financial help to go to college. I’m just not sure which one I want to go to yet!

“ClaroRead has made me a lot more focussed and helped me save time. It has definitely made a difference in my comprehension and reading and writing.”

Makenzie’s mum Christine says “It is incredible the difference ClaroRead has made in Makenzie’s schoolwork. I used to have to read to her all the time – but as you get older you don’t want your mom reading to you!

“It has been a real confidence boost for Makenzie, and as result she is getting great grades at school. She used to struggle with a lot of her reading. It was really laborious, but ClaroRead just takes that away from her. And by having words read out, her comprehension has really improved.

“She and her friend were studying the same material together for a test recently and they were using ClaroRead. Makenzie ended up doing better on the test than her friend. She never gets a C – her grades are great.

“Imagine you are sitting in a classroom and the teacher asks you to read out loud and you can’t read as fast as the other kids. It’s terrifying, the other kids think you are stupid. It could really affect your self-esteem.

“Now that Makenzie uses ClaroRead, her grades are as good or better than her classmates, and she doesn’t have these issues any more. Since we bought the program, she has used it everyday – and that is a real testimony to the quality of the product. ClaroRead really has been a lifesaver.”

With the launch of ClaroRead v5, educators and students alike are inquiring about the newest features. Read on for additional information or see first hand by downloading a FREE 15 day trial.

Visual highlighting

The new focus sentence feature dims out sentences in Word not being spoken by ClaroRead. This is helpful for focussing the eye on the text, and also tracking the position in a document. The word trail feature makes words colour progressively as they are spoken by ClaroRead. This allows effective word by word highlighting, with minimal visual disruption. Any color can be chosen to highlight the text.

Research and capture information

The new ClaroCapture program included with all versions of ClaroRead V5 lets you collect text from any document and web page, grouping it as a project file. The research file can be sent to Word or Power Point. It can also extract highlighted text from Microsoft Word documents. A great study skills tool.

Scanning paper and converting PDF files

ClaroRead Plus V5 now uses the updated Omnipage 16 engine, which gives you faster and more powerful scanning, including a rich new Preview function. The Preview function lets you pick scan order, size, orientation and other settings. The highest quality optical character recognition is now included in ClaroRead Plus and Premium, making it ideal for scanning or converting books, articles and other content to become accessible, readable and editable.

Word checking

Word Check now gives extra definitions, context for the current spelling, and a Google search link within the improved Word Check window. Any corrections you make in the ClaroRead spellcheck window are remembered, and you can review your own spelling corrections later. You can use this information to build your personal correction list and add your corrections directly to Word’s Autocorrect in bulk from the ClaroRead Advanced Settings Editor.

New voices

Claro has always aimed to offer the highest quality voices for inclusion with ClaroRead. Two new voices have been introduced for ClaroRead Plus V5, a Scottish female Heather and another English male William. Links to the samples of the new voices are below:

http://www.clarodownloads.com/audio/ClaroHeather.mp3

http://www.clarodownloads.com/audio/ClaroWilliam.mp3

Readable font

The Tiresias family of fonts have been designed for optimum accessibility and usability. Tiresias PC font is now installed by ClaroRead V5 for use in all your Windows applications. Tiresias was developed by Dr John Gill currently at RNIB Scientific Research Unit.

ClaroRead USB and ClaroRead Premium Bundle

ClaroRead Standard on a USB pen drive has been popular since release. This is now available as V5, and also includes ScreenRuler, Claroview and Claro Capture on the USB stick. We have reviewed the pricing of the ClaroRead Premium bundle and reduced it to $210.00. The ClaroRead Premium (ClaroRead PLUS CD and ClaroRead Standard USB pen drive) bundle no longer includes our MindFull concept mapping tool (still available separately) but does include the new USB Exporter function for synchronising the settings of ClaroRead PLUS on the PC with the USB stick (or vice versa).

For additional information, visit us online at http://www.claroread.com/ or download the informational specification sheet here.