Using Terminal Servers and Thin Clients with Software to Support Dyslexic Users

Increasingly, large organisations are moving over to delivering software applications through a remote, server based solution. This article looks at the implications for running assistive software for users with dyslexia in these environments.

Introduction

Increasingly, large organisations are moving over to delivering software applications through a remote, server based solution. Although usually more cost-effective and supportable, this route can have grave implications for employees relying on assistive technology. Developers of assistive technology for visually impaired users have already started work on over-coming these problems, but what about the packages used by dyslexic employees?

What are Terminal Servers and Thin Clients?

Terminal server technology enables users to access a server over a network or internet connection to run software packages instead of doing so on their local PCs. This:

enables workers outside the office to connect to both data and applications securely;
reduces the processing requirements for the local PC;
reduces support time and costs as there is only one server instead of a large number of workstations;
can be run on any platform including non-window platforms, PDAs or a low -spec PC.

Terminal services can also be run on “thin clients” low-spec computers with limited or no processing power or local applications, offering huge cost-saving and longer hardware life. Thin clients can present insurmountable barriers for providing access to technology for visually impaired users (RNIB, 2004) because screen reading and magnification programs rely on information provided by the applications. Some applications can be installed on a terminal server but will only work on a full Windows PC or “thick client”.

Assistive Software

With software used to overcome the difficulties associated with dyslexia there are both technical and licensing issues, as a look at the following popular packages demonstrates :

Speech Recognition programs such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking are used by dyslexic users and those who have physical difficulties with typing, such as RSI and Carpel Tunnel Syndrome. The Preferred version of Dragon can be installed on a terminal server, but can only be used for transcribing .wav files from digital recorders. The recently released Dragon Professional v9 is now compatible with Citrix thin client environments.

If installed on the client machine Dragon Preferred can be used to dictate text into the server window, but commands such as Select and Say editing do not work as they require knowledge of the text within the window. There are also reports that text can change case during dictation . This can hamper correction of dictated text and it is recommended that the Dictation Box tool is used instead. This allows text to be dictated and corrected before being pasted into the server window with a simple voice command.

Text to Speech can help dyslexic users to read text from the screen and assists with proof-reading. Text to speech applications can be installed on the Windows Server 2003 based systems if the server has a sound card and the local client settings are set to redirect audio to the client workstation.

Programs which also offer writing support tools such as speech-enable spell and homophone checkers, e.g. Texthelp Read & Write and ClaroRead, can run on a terminal server although streaming audio over a network can lead to network performance problems. Also applications that highlight text as it is read aloud can get quickly out of sync. Such applications are licensed per workstation and, if installed on a server, access must be tied to specific users on the server to avoid all users requiring a licence. Installing such applications on the server is not advised by the manufacturers as not all the functions will work correctly.

An alternative approach is to run WordRead on the client PC. This can read aloud text copied to the clipboard in the server window.

Concept Mapping programs are used to help with organisation, planning and writing. There are few technical problems; it is more a licensing issue:

Mind Manager Pro can run on Terminal Services 2003 environment
MindGenius for Business will only run with an Enterprise licence which requires a minimum purchase of 100 licences.