Adaptive Technology - JAWS 3.7

JAWS 3.7 (Job Access With Speech) is a screen reading software program for people who are blind or visually impaired.  It provides speech technology that works with the Windows operating system to access software applications and the Internet.  Students using JAWS in the Library would be able to search the catalogue, databases and the Internet.

Using hotkeys to start JAWS

Alt+Ctrl+J

Using the keyboard to start JAWS

  1. Press Ctrl+Esc to open the Start Menu.
  2. Press P until Programs is selected, then press Right Arrow to open the submenu.
  3. Press J until JAWS is selected, and press Enter.

To Exit JAWS

To shut down JAWS, use Insert+F4.

To halt speech

Press the Ctrl key.

JAWS allows users to customize the voices used for speech so they will not confuse them. You can assign different voices for cursor messages, the keyboard voice you hear when you type and even upper case characters.

  1. Press Insert+J to make the JAWS window active.
  2. Go to the JAWS Voice menu by pressing the Down Arrow, and press Enter.
  3. Select the voice you want to change.
  4. n each case, you are able to select:
    •  Rate of Speech
    •  Name of the Voice being used
    •  The Pitch
    •  The Punctuation that is spoken

Tips for JAWS

The Help files are clear, helpful and easy to understand.

JAWS reads HTML code but a problem may arise depending on how the tables were first coded.  For example, when Internet Explorer loads a page, the HTML code is read and placed into a buffer file, and JAWS may remove the columns in the text and treat each column as one line, resulting in sensible text.  Or JAWS may read across all the columns, resulting in nonsensical text.

JAWS should go to sleep when Kurzweil is running so that both programmes do not speak.  To ensure that JAWS sleeps, go to the JAWS Manager (Insert+J), click on the Configuration Manager (under Utilities) to enable the sleep box.