Kurzweil and Read & Write Comparison

 

 

If you are registered with the Office of Disability Services and looking to utilize this as an accommodation please be sure to speak with your campus’ ODS Coordinator.

Features List

Feature Kurzweil 3000 Read&Write
Specialized Dyslexia Font Yes No
OCR Functions Yes Yes
Text to Speech Yes Yes
Support for Visual Impairment Magnification Yes Yes
Compatibility with other types of AT
such as braille display		 Yes Yes
Active reading strategies Yes

Yes
Graphic Organizers Yes Yes
Options for dictation Yes Yes
Integrated Content Sharing Yes No
Integrated Math Tools No Yes
Text Summarization No Yes
Access to One Drive/ Cloud storage Yes No
Windows/Mac Laptop/Desktop support Yes Yes
Android/IOS Mobile Support Yes (web version only) Yes

 

Notable Differences

Feature Kurzweil 3000 TextHelp Both
Writing
  • Better tools for organizing writing
  • Includes Templates for writing papers
  • Ability to do Mind Mapping
  • Write documents in Word/Google Docs
  • Allows you to format your documents and add footnotes
  • Word Prediction
  • Speech to Text
Reading
  • Opens in Kurzweil 3000
  • Everything is in the Universal Library
  • Remembers where you left off
  • Better Navigation of documents
  • Opens through TextHelps' PDFreader
  • Files are stored locally or via the cloud
  • Reads the Web
  • Built-in Dictionary
  • Standard read aloud
  • Highlighting options
  • Extracting highlights for notes
  • Take notes via audio, sticky notes, or overlaid text
Platform
  • Web-version includes limited features
  • No mobile app. Need to use their web version on mobile
  • Mobile Apps available
  • Browser plug-ins are available. (Need to install multiple plugs ins however for full options)
  • Desktop supported app on Windows/Mac

 

Summary

  • Both offer text-to-speech, speech-to-text, OCR, and access to the cloud.
  • Texthelp includes built-in math support, Kurzweil does not.
  • Both offer Windows and Mac support; however, Texthelp offers better web and mobile applications.
  • Kurzweil works better for reading Textbooks and PDFs while Texthelp is better at reading websites and EPUBs.
If you have questions or need support using this assistive technology, send us an email at radr.aft@echo.rutgers.edu or schedule an online support call..

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Tag: Assistive Technology ,  Alternate Format Text

Resource Category
Assistive Technology
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Faculty
Students
Campus
New Brunswick
Off Campus Locations
RBHS
Newark
Camden