Free trial, $/month subscription

Captioning, Note-taking, Translation into almost any language, Streaming, and Speech generation; encrypted protocol for private information

Windows, Mac, Chrome

Meetings, conferences and communication needs for personal, professional, and school use

$, Free Trial

Select equations from menu

Windows, Mac, Chrome

Installed in Google Docs

$$

Select and draw equations

Windows, Mac

$$$$

Tablet with various tools, including picture library, ability to make phone calls with synthetic text, and home appliance control

Windows

$$$$

Personal keypad with text screen and text-to-speech software, allowing typing phrases to be spoken by the tool. 

N/A

$$$$

Phone app with selectable pictures, requests, and directions 

iOS

$$

Physical bag with velcro or pockets and cards with pictures for making requests 

N/A

$$$$

Phone app with selectable pictures, requests, and directions 

iOS

$$$$

Tablet device; uses touch-pad and eye tracking to receive input from users and generate speech.

N/A

Only available by referral

$$, Free Trial

Part of Microsoft Cognitive Services, conducts real time translation of speech and text on websites, programs, dictated information, or given document

Mac, Windows, Chrome

All purpose, versatile

$$

Present live captioning and subtitles in power point slides. Customization of caption style and automatic, real-time captions in 12 spoken languages

Windows, Mac, Chrome

Professional presentations, accessibility compliance

$$$

Smart notebook that uploads notes online, can scan, send directly as email, and is searchable

Any

Sync between different online systems, easy transcription, scanning and email

$$$

Suite of many features and technologies.

Chrome

Reading documents in Google platforms, including Google Docs and Google Classroom.

$

Easily create colorful maps made of text boxes and link together

Web, iOS

Organization of information, flexible for all ages

Free

A basic feature of most search engines such as Google. Press space bar after a target word or phrase to see list of commonly associated topics based on internet searches. Does not provide definitions.

Any browser

Basic internet proficiency required. Tends to give generic results. Adult filtering recommended. 

$$

Returns a list of commonly asked questions about a target word or phrase. 

Any browser

Uses internet trend data. Good for modern topics or public knowledge. Simple interface.

Free

Generates list of questions sorted into questions, associations, and comparisons based on target word or phrase. Clicking on any question will start a google search. Presented as visual map or list. 

Any browser

Large volume of results, not intuitive for children. Good for developing an established topic for highschoolers and above. 

Free, $$

Generates phrases related to input phrases based on internet searches. Adds questions, common searches, or similar topics. Provides links.

Any browser

Adults. Needs to be taught; not intuitive for children. Helps refine search terms; find better keywords. 

Free

PDF with examples and lists of ways to invert and innovate existing concepts. 

PDF

When topic is not known or vague. Doesn't use keywords.

Free

Often returns pop-culture. Generates random opinions or ways of tackling a target idea. Accepts phrases and single words. 

Any browser

For when a topic is already known, choosing an attitude, stance, or approach to the topic. Often gives silly answers. Not good for research. 

Free

Generates massive list based on a single word, sorted by verbs, nouns, and adjectives. Cannot filter to reduce volume. Large database, accepts most words. Provides pictures, definitions of target word. Words listed by relevance. 

All browsers

Research and writing with keywords. Older students, advanced students. Provides high volume of data to search through. Doesn't generate repeat words.

Free

Creates a map of related words to a target. Closer words are more relevant. Can click on any word to create a new search about that target. Exportable as picture. 

Any browser, requires flash

General or simple writing assignments. Visually easy to use. Single words only. Database limited, often won't accept complex or unusual words.

$/month (single license), $$$/month (bulk for classrooms)

Sentence starting prompts, database of simple writing tips, example/model statements and essays; collaboration and online group editing, shared reviewing

Any web browser

Grade 8 to university; peer to peer reviewing and sharing

$$$

Pocket-sized 

Reads text aloud in English, Spanish or French

Windows, Mac

$

Can be wired or wireless; available at most general stores 

N/A

Consult a doctor or physiotherapist when purchasing a wheelchair

$$$$

Used in rehab sessions, not meant for public use.

Helps to reteach the brain how to move limbs and torso after traumatic injury.

$$$$

Used in rehab sessions, not meant for public use.

Helps adjust center of gravity and gait during rehabilitation activities

$$$$

100m

10mins

(On flat ground)

To assist users who have very limited to no use of their legs with walking.

$$$

All

13 bilingual versions; website or app

Free

App for devices

All

Free

App for devices

Windows, MAC

Free

Clickable files similar to windows displays hard drive in branching trees

Windows

​

Free

Creates a virtual desk surface; software is no longer being developed but can still be downloaded

Windows, iOS

Intended for touch screens

Free, $

2GB of storage free

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android

​

Free, $

5GB of storage free, more to pay; online editing

Windows, Mac, iOS

Integrated into Apple Products

Free, $

15GB of storage free, more to pay; online editing

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome

Multi-user Collaboration.

Integrates with Google Classroom

Free, $

10GB of storage, more to pay

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android

Compatible with other programs

Free, $

5GB of storage free, more to pay; online editing

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android

Multi-user Collaboration

Free

Share custom made flash cards through Google Drive or print out cards

Any browser

$

N/A

When printing / physical cards are preferred

$$

Mac, Windows, Chrome

As part of office 365 suite

Free

Voice controlled, voice directions

Android, iOS, Windows

App for phone / tablet

Free

Voice controlled, voice directions

All

Desktop (website) or app (phone / tablet)

Free

Voice controlled, voice directions

Android, iOS, Windows

App for phone / tablet

$

iOS, Android

$

iOS, Android

Free

iOS, Android, Windows, Chrome

For Android and Windows users

Free

iOS

For iPhone users

Free with Office 365

Share events with other users, sync between multiple devices

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android

Sync with Microsoft products; ideal for office work

Free

Sync between multiple devices

Mac, iOS

Sync with all apple devices; ideal for personal work 

Free

Share events with other users, sync between multiple devices

Windows, iOS, Mac, Chrome, Android

Sync with gmail and all google accounts; ideal for personal or classrooms

$

Various sizes of paper agendas; hardback and paperback

N/A

Personal organization and planning, cheap

$

Wide range of color options for pens, pencils, markers, crayons

N/A

​

Fre

Generate custom free graph paper through website

All browsers

Hand written graphing assignments; unique grid displays

$$$-$$$$

Digitizer for iPad tablet

Mac / iOS

Hybrid between laptop and phone, good for sharing and multiple users

Free

All browsers

Tracks all spending linked to google account; can connect debit and banks transactions

Free

Can connect different credit cards, banks, spending patterns into one central app

​

iOS, Android, Windows

Personal spending and budgeting

Free

App which tracks spending, savings

iOS

Personal spending and budgeting

Free; by donation

Thousands of math problems sorted by grades 1-8

All

Free

1200 math skills for grades 1-8 with classroom student tracking and feedback

All

Classroom

Free

Website features hundreds of math problems for each grade from K to 12

All

Home practice

$$-$$$

One of the most advanced voice recognition software on the market

Windows

Easily compatible with external programs such as Microsoft Office, major browsers and social media services. Highly practical.

$$$

Handheld device

N/A

Personal dictation, 360 sensitivity for group meetings and multiple speakers

$-$$

Levels sorted by grade level, very child friendly progression through levels

All

Early keyboarding practice, grades K-5

$, Subscription

Includes translation and speech recognition

Chrome Plugin

Free

Speak incorrect words outloud and correct them

Windows

Word plugin

$

16 languages, interactive cursor for readers to control generated speech and rate, small size optimized for mobile devices

iOS, Mac

PDFs on mobile devices

$$ (personal copy)
$ School or subscription

Highlight and comment on text and documents 

All

Suite of products, includes Text to Speech, Word Prediction, Personal Dictionary, many other features

$

App that add notes and comments to documents, PDFs, excel, images, excels, and web pages

iOS, Mac

Personal mobile devices

$/year

Browser plugin, can highlight, paste notes, text, images, underline on PDFs and text documents

All

Classrooms and schools; purchase per year supports 150 students

$

Over 100 synthetic voices in 30 languages

Mac, Windows, iOS, Android

Free

Mac products come with default voices

Mac, iOS

Free

Microsoft products come with default voices

Windows

$

Variety of different voices and accents in many languages

Windows

Desktop and laptops

Subscription, $$$/year

1100 books for grades K-6, multiple languages, supplementary quizzes, lesson ideas and videos

School age children

$$$$

​

Anywhere

Free to $$$

Set daily goals. Receive a productivity score. 

Mac
Windows
Android
Linux

$$$$

Multiple display modes
Easy setup

Windows
Mac
IOS

Outdoor environments
High glare situations

$$$

Night-mode
Physical page turn buttons
Strong battery life

Windows
​Mac

Anywhere

$$$

Colour changing front light
Strong battery life

Windows
Mac

Anywhere

$$$

Waterproof
Support for audiobooks
Uses Amazon e-book store

Windows
Mac

Anywhere

$$$

No Backlight
Uses Amazon e-book store

Windows
Mac

Well-lit room

Free to $$$

Windows

Mac

iOS

Android

Chrome

Use with headphones

Free to $$$

Windows

Mac

iOS

Android

Chrome

Free to $

Windows

Mac

iOS

Android

Use with headphones

Free to $$

Windows

Mac

iOS

Android

Chrome

$$

Mac

All browsers

Free

Website and app blocker.

Windows
Mac

Chrome and Safari

Free

Windows

All browsers

$$

Website and app blocker. Blocked list is synchronized between devices.

Mac

Windows

iOS

Android

All browsers

Free

Can be a complete block or timed limit

Mac

Windows

Linux

Chrome

$$$

Controlled by parents

iOS

Windows

Android

Mac

Kindle

Nook

Free

Controlled by parents

Android

Free to $$$

Can be synchronized between multiple devices. Controlled by parents.

iOS

Windows

Android

Mac

$$$

Controlled by students or parents

iOS

Windows

Android

Mac

Free

Controlled by students

iOS

$

N/A

$

N/A

Must be tied to a chair

$

N/A

$

N/A

$$

N/A

$$$$

10 hours of play.

N/A

Wireless.

$$$$

15 hours of play.

N/A

Wireless. Compactable, travel friendly.

$$$

20 hours of play.

N/A

Wireless. Headband lacks padding. May be uncomfortable for long term use.

$$$$

20 hours of play.

N/A

Wireless. Styling may not be comfortable for everyone. Should try on before purchasing.

$$$$

20 hours of play.

N/A

Not wireless.

Currently we have no specific product examples. This may be because the technology is very new, there are far too many products to provide a concise list (e.g. laptops), or it doesn't make sense to list (e.g. carbon paper)

​

$$$$

Legs, 

100m

10mins

(On flat ground)

N/A

To assist users who have very limited to no use of their legs with walking.

$$$$

Legs

Used in rehab sessions, not meant for public use.

N/A

Helps adjust center of gravity and gait during rehabilitation activities

​$$$$

Arms, Torso, Legs
Used in rehab sessions, not meant for public use.

N/A

Helps to reteach the brain how to move limbs and torso after traumatic injury.

$$, Subscription

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome

$$, Subscription

Allows users to create and save custom writing templates.

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome

Classrooms. Teachers create templates for student use.

$$, Subscription

Built into a word processor, optimal for drafting documents.

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome

$$, Subscription

​

Capture a digital note and annotate with free-form drawing tool, sticky notes, text; can add music, sounds, images and basically anything else to notes

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome

​

Alongside other Microsoft software (Word, Excel, etc)

$$, Subscription

Takes texts from locked images and pulls them into a separate viewing window. Original text formatting is not preserved.

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome

​

Text documents with little to no spatial elements/formatting (e.g. a shopping list).

$$, Subscription

​

High voice quality available. Cloud sharing available.

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome

Reading documents.

$$$$

Book, Single Sided

Windows, MAC

$$$$

Pen, Single Sided

Windows, MAC

$$$$

Wand, Single Sided

Windows, MAC

$$$$

Feed, Double Sided

Windows, MAC

$$$$

Flatbed Scanner, Single Sided

Windows, MAC

Students are asked to consider a topic from multiple different perspectives. Students are given a cube with different activities on each side and roll the cube 2-4 times to complete each activity. 

This summarizing strategy allows students to organize their writing based on the main idea and supporting details.

Reading

Acronym: Think, Organize, Write, Edit, Rewrite, and Embellish, Delete, Insert corrections, Tally progress, Submit grading

Progress monitoring and metacognition

A rectangle is drawn and divided into four smaller rectangles of equal size. In the centre of the shape an additional rectangle is drawn, making a total of 5 rectangles. Students are required to write the topic sentence in the middle rectangle, three supporting sentences in the other rectangles, and finally a summary sentence in the bottom right rectangle.

This technique is used for individual paragraphs.

$$

Customizable word list

iOS, Mac, Windows, Chrome

App can be modified for each individual’s needs

$$$$

Customizable word list

iOS, Mac, Windows, Chrome

Use topic-specific dictionaries for projects

$, Subscription

Customizable word list

iOS, Mac, Windows, Chrome, Android

Use topic-specific dictionaries for projects

$$$-$$$$

Customizable word list

iOS, Mac, Windows, Chrome

iPad features are limited, best on Mac or Windows PCs

Free

Chrome

Cloud computing

$$, Subscription

Chrome

Cloud computing

Free

Mac

Local hard drive

$$$

Windows, Mac

Local hard drive

Free

All browsers

Subject specific information

Free

All browsers

Pop-culture and gaming news

Free

All browsers

Encyclopedia

Free

All browsers

Encyclopedia

$$$

Vibrations simulate heartbeat to function as mood regulator

N/A

$$$

Measures breathing and heart rate; alerts during periods of high stress

N/A

$$$$

Can be activated to encourage mood to a “relaxing” state or “heightened” state

N/A

$$

Delivers mild, silent vibration and text message at period times throughout day

N/A

$$$

Monitors various bodily signals relating to fitness: heart rate, blood pressure; can set goals, signal thresholds

N/A

$$$

Mobile devices, pending 2018

Ear pieces for conversation or lecture dyads; language learning app works independently on mobile devices and computers

Free

Android

Mobile devices and computers

Free

iOS

Iphone, Apple watch

Free

Any browser

Short Texts or Phrases

Free

Any browser

Short Texts or Documents

$$$$

Mathematics and technical braille, converts formatted text

Windows, Mac

Short and long texts, web pages, any on screen content

$$$$

Mathematics and technical braille, converts formatted text

Windows, Mac

Short and long texts, web pages, any on screen content

$$$$

Mathematics and technical braille, converts formatted text

Windows

Short and long texts, web pages, any on screen content

$$$

N/A

For short phrases; travel communication; spoken or text input, spoken and text output

$$$$

Windows, iOS, Mac, Chrome

Literacy Productivity

$$$

Suite of many features and technologies

Windows, Mac, iOS

Support independent student research

$$$

iOS

English, French, Spanish

$$$, Subscription

All browsers

$$$

Windows, Mac, iOS, Chrome

English, Spanish

$$$$

Windows, iOS

$$$

Windows

English, French

$$$$

Mac, Windows, Chrome

Reading – Advanced OCR and TTS

$$$$

Mac, iOS

Reading – Study tool, TTS and OCR.

$$$$

​

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome

Reading and Writing – Limited capacity with PDFs

$$$

Suite of many products

Windows, Mac, iOS

Easy to use, wide range of tools, great highlighting function.

Free, $$$, Subscription

Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome, iOS,

Has an outline function built in

$$-$$$

Windows, Mac, iOS

Has both templates for typical writing tasks and an outline function

$$$-$$$$

Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome, iOS, Android

Using bullets can be used to create an outline and templates can be downloaded online

$$$

Windows, Mac, Chrome

Breaks the writing process into three manageable steps

Free

Available for mobile

Windows, Mac, iOS, Chrome

Collaborative spreadsheet

Free

Available for mobile

Mac, iOS

Spreadsheet App

Free, $$-$$$

Available for mobile

Windows, Mac, iOS, Chrome

Electronic graphing and data input tool

Free, $

Available for mobile

Windows, Mac, iOS, Chrome

Cloud based collaborative spreadsheet

$$$$

Achieves the same purpose as FM systems, but uses digital rather than analog radio waves to transmit sound. Improved sound quality, higher intelligibility, reduced noise and a shorter delay between message transmission and reception.

$$$$

Rather than receiving a fixed FM amplification , this device is sensitive to the noise level in classrooms and adjusts the individual’s FM in response. This allows for adaptability to changing noise levels.

$$$$

Listeners receive the auditory signal through a compact device that can be worn. Typically used for children with APD who do not use a hearing aid or cochlear implant.

$$$$

Listeners receive the auditory signal directly to their personal hearing aid or cochlear implant processor.

$$$$

$$$$

$$$

16+ GB, 4.7" screen, average camera, 720x1334 resolution, 7.5 hours constant use of battery

iOS 8

$$

32+ GB, 5.5" screen, Good camera, 1920x1080 resolution, 1 day moderate use of battery

Android 7

$$

16+ GB, 5.5" screen, average camera, 1920x1080 resolution, 3 days moderate use of battery

Android 6

$$

16+ GB, 5.5" screen, Poor camera, 1920x1080 resolution, 1 day moderate use of battery

Modified Android

$$$$

64+ GB, 5.8" screen, Excellent camera, 2960x1440 resolution, 9.5 hours constant battery use

Android 8

$$$

64+ GB, 5.0" screen, Excellent camera, 1920x1080 resolution, 9 hours of constant battery use

Android 8

$$$$

64+ GB, 5.8" screen, Excellent camera, 2436x1125 resolution, 2 days moderate use of battery

iOS 11

$$

16+ GB, 5.0" screen, average camera, 720x1280 resolution, 30 hours constant use of battery

Windows 8.1

$$$$

Up to 60x, font smoothing, text to speech upgrade option, integrated color contrast

Windows

$$$$

Up to 36x, font smoothing, text to speech upgrade option, integrated color contrast

Windows, Mac

Free

Up to 4x, Separate function text to speech and color contrast

Windows

Free

Up to 40x, Separate function text to speech and color contrast

Mac

Free

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome

Identifying difficult words, to help instructors prepare texts

Free

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome

Poor simplification but creates list of difficult word definitions

Free

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome

Decode short passages and highlight changes

Free

Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome

Personal Research

See our page on Eye Gaze Systems

A head-mounted camera may be used as an alternative pointing device for people with limited hand/arm movement and control

Allows the user to hold a pen-shaped device in their hand and use it to move around the device screen.

Touchscreens are very commonly available and allow users to interact with their device by touching the screen where they would like to interact with the device.

Trackpads are rectangular sections typically found on laptops and are touch-sensitive, allowing the user to use their fingers to move a cursor around a computer screen.

​

See our page on trackballs

See our page on joysticks