Hi again, Richard!  This is a continuation of my previous message to you:   
      
   RW>  [...] when using qedit I want my synthesizer to give   
   RW>  me punctuation spoken aloud because it may be crucial   
   RW>  to proper syntax for program code.   
      
      
              Uh-huh.  Some folks say guys aren't detail oriented, but the guys I   
   hang out with regard the punctuation of batch files as a serious matter.  :-))   
      
      
      
   RW>  IF I'm using it to just read a textfile though I'll   
   RW>  shut it off.   
      
      
              Too bad you can't use Victor Borge's Phonetic Punctuation... [BEG].   
      
      
      
   RW>  still speech doesn't have that immediate connection   
   RW>  to the brain braille has.   
      
      
              Although I don't read Braille, I can relate as a clarinet player to   
   the concept.  Where speech does have an immediate connection to the brain it's   
   probably not the literal meaning of the words which engages the audience.  :-)   
      
      
      
   RW>  I can speed read and still comprehend using Braille,   
   RW>  synthesized speech, I'm limited to the rate at which   
   RW>  I can understand spoken words, if not a bit slower.   
      
      
              IOW, you find reading more efficient... just as I do.  You can skim   
   or scan the information in the owner's manual which you already know.  You can   
   slow down and/or re-read as necessary when you get to the more difficult bits.   
   You can take a moment to stop & enjoy a particularly good turn of phrase or an   
   amusing example of Chinglish.  If you're reading for pleasure you can also use   
   your imagination to understand how I'd read "Double, double, toil and trouble"   
   to a group of fifteen-year-olds who considered me to be an old hag even when I   
   wasn't much older than they were.  Maybe it's type casting, but it works.  ;-)   
      
      
      
   RW>  Other disadvantage:  WHen doing something such as sitting   
   RW>  in a waiting room I don't want to be closed off from the   
   RW>  rest of the world as I would be with audio reading and   
   RW>  headphones, even one earbud is more cut off from the world   
   RW>  than I like to be.   
      
      
              Yes.  When I'm sitting in a waiting room I play solitaire on one of   
   Dallas's castoff pieces of hand-held electronic wizardry which is still usable   
   as long as you don't mind too much if it reboots without warning & forgets all   
   about what you've been doing for the last ten minutes.  These games don't take   
   up so much bandwidth that I'm not paying attention to my surroundings....  :-)   
      
      
      
   AH>  As a teacher I generally found a multi-sensory approach   
   AH>  most effective... i.e. the more connections one can   
   AH>  establish the better.   
      
   RW>  Always.  IN fact, some of my arguments in other activities   
   RW>  is that we're too busy teaching to standardized multiple   
   RW>  guess tests than we are putting folks' hands on what is to   
   RW>  be learned.  I get a bit frustrated with that .   
      
      
              As do I.  Some folks like standardized tests because they think the   
   numbers are all that matters.  Okay, so here is a question from a standardized   
   oral test... "What are the colors of our country's flag?"  The standardization   
   was done in the US.  Is it fair to expect elementary school students living in   
   another country to figure out what was going on in the mind of the author(s) &   
   respond accordingly??  I often felt similarly betrayed when I was a kid.  Tell   
   me what you see... I'll take the flak if it messes up the standardization!  As   
   I'm sure you realize, I'm not singling out Americans.  What bothers me is that   
   kids are rewarded for memorizing textbook answers & punished for noticing when   
   the textbook disagrees with their own observations.  I feel for the latter.  I   
   found myself under a lot of pressure as a teacher, however, to fill up my mark   
   books with numbers.  It didn't seem to matter to the folks who were evaluating   
   me what the numbers really meant.  Encouraging kids to think for themselves is   
   much more challenging & the assignments take longer to mark.  If others prefer   
   the easy way out sometimes I can well understand the temptation... [wry grin].   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)