The Reading Pen

The Reading Pen is a handy tool for those who cannot read print due to illiteracy or a learning disability. It is best to provide a regular headset along with the pen since it only comes with an ear bud.

These are the basic steps for its use:

Remove the protective cover from the tip.

Press the red button on the pen and look at the tip to see if there is a flashing red light.

If you see the flashes, the pen is ready for use.

Place the pen half an inch from the first word you want to scan.

Scan the word or line carefully, keeping the pen at a 75 degree angle and the center of the pen on the center of the words.

When you lift the pen, the first word will appear in the screen.

Now you can choose to do different things with the text you have scanned:

You can press the “ENT” button to hear the word spoken.

Press the left arrow to separate it into syllables and the down arrow to put it back together.

Press the right arrow to have it spoken letter by letter.

Press Escape to see the whole line.

Press ENT to highlight a word.

Pressdown arrow to get a definition of the highlighted word.

Updated September, 2009 by Cassy Polen, Region 3 Navigator.