Monday, September 23, 2019

Helpful Chromebook and Chrome Settings for Special Needs Students


The school year is in full force for me and I recently had a student
come to me for assistance with enabling settings in his Google account pertaining
to Chromebook Accessibility and Chrome extensions.
This is what I compiled. I hope you find it helpful!


Allow the student to login to their Chromebook.
Go the Chrome Webstore and Install the following: (more info below)

Go into the Chromebook settings, by clicking on the bottom right, where the clock is, and selecting ‘Accessibility’.  Either of these are optional for the student.

To listen to the ENTIRE PAGE:
To listen to PART of the PAGE: 

  • Click on ‘Select to Speak’ to turn on/off.  To listen to specific text, highlight the words, sentence, or paragraph, press the Search key Search + s.
  • Enable ‘Dictation’ - will allow voice typing in any field
  • Enable High Contrast Mode
  • Enable On-Screen Keyboard
  • Enable Large Mouse Cursor
  • Enable Highlight Mouse Cursor

 Zoom in on the browser: CTRL + SHIFT and Plus +
Zoom out on the browser: CTRL + SHIFT and Minus -

Beeline Reader: 
  • It may ask you to select a “work”, “school”, or “home” account.  Just keep closing any messages or pop-ups from this extension.
Mercury Reader:  
  • Click on the rocketship to enable/disable the extension. It will remove any distractions from the page.
  • It will work on any website.
OpenDyslexic Font:   
  • Click on the O icon at the top right.
  • Enable the on/off switch
  • Right now, it is not working properly in Google Docs.  All of your words are being cut-off on the right side. However, you can still enable it for everything else on the web. 







Set it up as your default font in Google Docs. Follow the steps below

  • Create a new document or go into a current document with the formatting you want.
  • Drag your cursor through a couple of sentences that are set up the way you want them, with the font and line spacing you prefer.
  • Go to Format > Paragraph styles > Normal text.
  • Select "Update 'Normal text' to match."
  • Next, go to Format > Paragraph styles > Options.
  • Select "Save as my default styles."



Posted by