Assistive Technology Training Online Project

As a publication offered through Oxford's Ace Centre, Richard Walters' in-depth guide to making your own talking books is written especially for those with no experience of multimedia creation. This guide covers the construction of books in Microsoft's PowerPoint presentation software. It also available for TAG Software's HyperStudio and Crick Software's Clicker. The guide includes step-by-step instructions on how to scan pictures, add symbols, record speech and put together a talking book. Fully illustrated with screen shots, these guides are useful for teachers, parents and professionals who want to give young people access to any story.

(Permission to post: 2/19/02 by ACE (Aiding Communication in Education)
Centre Advisory Trust, Oxford)

To View Tutorial Files:

Adobe Acrobat Reader

To Use Tutorial:

Microsoft PowerPoint

Download the complete tutorial (916k)

1: Introduction

What is the purpose of this guide?
Why do we need talking books?
Before you start

2: Important! The copyright issue

Joint Industry Guidelines

3: Getting your resources together

Creating a folder for your resources
Creating pictures for your talking book

4: Creating a talking book template

Creating a template

5: Using the template to create a talking book

Creating blank pages from the template
Adding pictures and symbols onto a page
Adding speech to a slide
Completing your talking book
Adding extra sound effects
Combining a page turn with speech
Adding a time delay to a page turn

6: Enabling access with a single switch

7: Getting creative with talking stories

Adapted 8 page version

Storybook Template to use for quick start

To make your story "talk", there is a free program, PowerTalk, available at http://fullmeasure.co.uk/PowerTalk/. PowerTalk requires PowerPoint 2000 or later to be installed on Windows 2000, XP, 2003 Server or newer.

NOTE:From Accessible Book Collection April, 2006: Since PowerPoint is often used as an e-book reader for picture books and easy readers Henny Penny and Chicken Soup with Rice are formatted as PowerPoint files.