My school recently purchased a Victor Reader Audio CD Player. This CD player is especially equipped to help special education students, hearing impaired and dyslexic students. Although I do not teach any of those students at the present time, my classroom can still use the Victor Reader Audio CD Player. What is the Victor Reader Audio CD Player and how does it differ from other cd players you might use in the classroom? There are several models, but the one my school purchased is the Classic model.
This powerful classroom tool can be used in not only ESE classes, but regular education classes as well. The Victor Reader Audio CD player is designed to be used with students who are vision-impaired, who have various learning disabilities, or are even just for struggling readers. I have used it in the past with a couple of dyslexic students that I had. While reading basic text was a problem for these students, using the Victor Reader made it easier for them to follow along.
The Victor Reader Audio Cd Player doesn’t look like the typical CD player. It looks sort of like a large tape player. It comes equipped with large buttons that are easy to use, attachments and ear pieces to be used as a classroom set. There is an entire library of books that go with the reader, including text books.Many remedial reading classes use the player in their classes.
A school district will need to pay for a subscription to the Victor Reader in order to be able to access the library. After signing up for the reader, you are allowed to borrow titles. All of this is included in the subscription price for the school. Individual classrooms and homeschoolers can also purchase a subscription, but it is generally sold to an entire school or school district because of the price.
If you want to buy the more updated model, you can use it as an MP 3 player and even download stories and books online to go with the player. The more modern player is called the Vibe and looks very similar to a personal CD player. This might be the preference for one child being schooled at home, rather than an entire classroom
Would I recommend the Victor Reader Audio CD player to other schools and school districts? After using it in another school and here at my present school, I would suggest you try it with your classroom. You will find that students who are turned off by reading, will be more interested because the reader is reading it to them. I have seen teachers make the mistake of solely using the reader by itself, which doesn’t result in the full benefit. In addition to using the reader, students need to continue individual reading, have reading remediation, and continue to focus on fluency and vocabulary practice.
The only problem I have found is that some of the titles are not available and are on back order. Another issue is that some of the books the children want to read, are not on the list, such as the new vampire series, Twilight. When using the reader, sometimes the headphones short out. I’m not sure if that is the reader itself or the type of headphones being used. However you do have the option of using the player with or without headphones. Any typical headphone set can be used with the Victor Reader Audio CD Player.
Any tools that can assist teachers with improving reading scores is greatly appreciated. Check out the Victor Reader Audio CD Player’s web site to see if a subscription to the service is right for your school and your students. I am sure you will decide it is, as it has helped my struggling readers tremendously.
