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Assistive technology (AT) can take many forms; however, as a support for reading, electronic text is a core feature of AT. Anderson-lnman and Horney offer a typology that describes the types of resources that can be used to vary the supportiveness of electronic text (Anderson-lnman & Horney, 1998; Horney & Anderson-lnman, 1999). The typology focuses on the function that each of the resources plays in the supported reading process (e.g., translational, explanatory, and illustrative) and is intended to serve as a conceptual framework that guides the selection of appropriate AT for students who struggle with reading. Table 1 shows a recent version of this typology as presented by Anderson-lnman and Horney (2007).
While the typography does fairly represent the range of supports that are possible given today's technologies, there is little research to guide its use with students with dyslexia. In general, research supporting the use of AT in reading for students with dyslexia is limited, and research to guide the selection of specific supports to meet individual student needs is even more limited. Yet, understanding the possible impact of AT on the reading skills of students with dyslexia requires that we move beyond questions regarding the use of AT generally or electronic texts specifically and focus on the impact that AT supports have on students with varying profiles of strength and weakness in reading.
AT, Reading, and Dyslexia
It is well understood that dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin and characterized by difficulties with accurate and fluent word recognition and decoding abilities. AT, specifically text-to-speech with electronic text, has long been recognized as an important reading solution for students with dyslexia (see, e.g., Abelson & Petersen, 1983; Anderson-lnman et al., 1990), and as technology has become ubiquitous, text-to-speech solutions are becoming commonplace. However, research regarding the use of AT to support reading for students with dyslexia has not kept pace with the development of the technology itself (Holmes & Silvestri, 2012).
Extant research supports text-to-speech solutions as a means of improving reading rates and comprehension for students with dyslexia (Elkind, 1993) and learning disabilities more broadly (Elkind, 1998; Montali & Lewandowski, 1996). For students with learning disabilities, text-to-speech has a positive impact on vocabulary (Elkind, Cohen, & Murray,...