Voice Recognition
The student considered for this technology must have clear and consistent voice quality. The user must be able to understand basic writing structures such as punctuation marks, paragraph indentation, as well as be able to correct voice recognition errors. Secondary students would be the most likely population to have success with this strategy. Microsoft 2000 and XP have built-in Speech recognition. This option is not designed for completely hands-free operation; you'll get the best results if you use a combination of your voice and the mouse or keyboard. You will need a high quality head set.

*Be sure you have a microphone plugged in before beginning.
Click on the Tools Menu and choose Speech. If you are asked if you want to install this feature click yes. The feature is part of the Language toolbar usually located on the right side of the task bar. There will be a wizard that walks you through voice recognition training. Initial training takes about fifteen minutes. As you begin to use the dictation tool, it is very important that you correct any errors in recognition so that your voice file remains accurate.
*If you need further assistance with this element or its installation, use the built-in Microsoft Word Help Wizard. The key word is 'speech recognition'.

Click on the microphone in the Language tool bar and dictate a page out of your favorite book into a new Word document.
*Remember to say period, question mark, or exclamation point at the end of each sentence. If there are any errors correct them using the keyboard.
**This built-in feature is not as powerful as some commercially purchased voice recognition software, but it is worth trying for those who have difficulty with typing or pencil and paper tasks.