Text Reading software will read the text in a document or web file. The text is either typed, copied and pasted into the program or opened from the software program as a text file. The software then has the capability to read the text aloud. For example, a test or worksheet created by the teacher can be read aloud to the student or an electronic text file (eBook) can be opened through the program and read aloud. Most of these programs have features that include a selection of voice type, reading rate, font size and color, background color and highlighting features as long as the text is opened or copied in the text reading software.

There are numerous commercial software programs that have text reading capabilities such as IntelliTools Classroom Suite (Mayer-Johnson), Read:OutLoud and Snap&Read (Don Johnston), Communicate: SymWriter (Mayer-Johnson), Picture It (Attainment Company), Clicker 7 (Crick Software). There are other programs that not only include the talking word processing component but have additional capabilities such as advanced reading and writing aids such as SOLO (Don Johnston), Kurzweil 3000 (Kurzweil Educational Systems), WYNN (Freedom Scientific), and Read&Write (Texthelp Systems).

Students who experience difficulties reading required materials may better comprehend materials that are read aloud to them. Having a text reading software program available to access texts may enable students with reading difficulties to read and comprehend material that they may not be able to read independently.