How Read&Write supports students with mental health problems

Read&Write is a literacy support toolbar which is enhancing the learning experience of millions of students worldwide. From reading and comprehension help, to tools for writing and research, the toolbar has lots of features to help every student study smarter.

With lots of helpful features, it’s often recommended by DSA assessors to support students with particular learning needs. In this blog, we’ll explore how features of the Read&Write toolbar help students who experience mental health problems including anxiety, OCD, stress, ADHD/ADD and working memory difficulty.

Read&Write is particularly helpful when it comes to writing essays and assignments, reading course material, conducting research and using the web. So, here’s a brief overview of how different features could help you if you have a mental health problem.

Prediction

If you experience anxiety or stress when typing or remembering complex course terms, the prediction feature will suggest a list of words as you type. This will save you time and reduce some of the stress associated with completing assignments.

Scan, screenshot reader and PDF tools

Sometimes course materials can be in an inaccessible format, causing unnecessary stress. You can use Read&Write’s clever scanning feature, screenshot reader and PDF tools to make these documents accessible. Once you’ve done this, you can use the features within Read&Write to continue working in your normal way.

Screen masking

If you experience poor working memory or find it difficult to concentrate, reading lots of text on screen may be a challenge. With Read&Write’s screen mask feature, you can use the reading ruler to narrow your focus to smaller paragraphs. This reduces the amount of information you need to take in.

Audio maker

For many students, reading and concentrating on large amounts of text can be overwhelming and stressful. If you can relate to this, you could try using the audio maker in Read&Write. You can convert text into an MP3 file, to listen to course content instead of reading it.

Highlights

One of the most popular features in Read&Write is the highlights tool. This feature helps you to be more organised and feel less stressed when carrying out research, assignments and revision. Use the four coloured highlighters to pull out key text that you’re reading on screen. Then click ‘collect highlights’ to create a document with all the notes you’ve highlighted. It will even create a bibliography which references each source.

Check It

Check It is a phonetic spell checker that helps to solve spelling and grammar mistakes. If you experience stress when spelling words or ensuring you’ve used correct grammar, this feature could give you the added safety net you need to check work before submission.

With the Read&Write for Professionals add-on, it also recognises specific words for medical, pharmaceutical, engineering and legal courses. Which may not be picked up by standard spell checkers.

Vocabulary list

If you come across words and terms used in your course that you know you’ll have to remember in the future, try using the vocabulary list. You can create your own lists which can help with memory recall – ideal for revision!

Research folder

Processing large amounts of information can be challenging and cause students to feel stressed or anxious. With the research folder, you can collect all your notes in one place and organise them for easy access in the future. A really useful tool to ensure your notes remain organised, which is helpful when completing assignments and revision.

Check out ‘Study smarter with Read&Write’.

Getting Started

If you are a student and would like to find out more about Read&Write contact our admin team on 0161 745 8353 or email us at admin@remtek-online.co.uk