Reference software: Dictionary and thesaurus

What are they?

Reference materials in a digital format, such as dictionaries and thesauri, may be more accessible for many students, especially those with visual impairments, dexterity difficulties and specific learning difficulties including dyslexia. They facilitate searches and can be forgiving of spelling errors. Whether online or in CD format, they can often be used with screen readers and text to speech software. Some allow for text enlargement and colour enhancement. Most programs also work with magnification software.

How are they used?

A vast range of subjects is now available, suitable for personal study, research and practical work. Some dictionaries and knowledge resources, such as drug or chemical listings, are available for both the computer and PDA, so they can be used in the field. Most of them integrate well with word processors.

Subject-specific databases can be developed and added to some of the dictionaries when they are transferred to the hard drive. This can be very helpful to those with specific learning difficulties including dyslexia.

Any issues to be aware of?

Americanisms may appear as many are designed for the US market. Drug names may be different and spellings altered.

Some dictionaries only work with the CD in situ, which causes problems if other software has to be used from the same drive.

Users can become dependent on the support provided by these reference materials and find it difficult to cope when they are not allowed to use them during examinations.