Check out this month's Shareware Awards for the best in Education titles

Dragon Naturally Speaking Deluxe
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System requirements: Win 95, Pentium 133, 16-bit soundcard, 65Mb HD, 32Mb RAM, 4x CD-ROM
From: Voice Perfect (02) 9264 4055; www.dragondictate.com.au
List price: $1399

Get rid of that mouse! Voice recognition software has improved in quantum leaps and though it's still a little frustrating to begin with, long-term use pays off.

Dragon Dictate Naturally Speaking comes in three versions: Personal Edition ($599), Preferred Edition ($799) and Deluxe ($1399).

With Naturally Speaking, you speak to the computer without the mandatory pausing between words required by Dragon Dictate previously, and other software such as VoiceDirect.

How fast can you dictate? When you speak quickly, the program records your voice. Then after a paragraph you pause and may wait four or five seconds for the text to appear on-screen. Once trained its makers claim you can dictate at up to 160 words per minute without pausing between words. Though we found this may be a slight exaggeration, Dragon Naturally Speaking lived up to its claims as the best on the market.

ViaVoice (UK Version)
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System requirements: Win 95 or NT 4.0, Pentium 166MHz, 32Mb RAM, 120Mb HD, Creative Labs SoundBlaster 16-bit or IBM MWave soundcard, CD-ROM
From: IBM 132 426; www.software.IBM.com/is/voicetype
List price: $249

At first glance, IBM's ViaVoice seemed on a par with Dragon Naturally Speaking. On testing, however, we found significant differences in ease of use.

Like Dragon Naturally Speaking, IBM's ViaVoice uses continuous speech technology so you can speak without pausing between words at a rate of up to 140 words per minute.

As you use the system, ViaVoice learns your vocabulary and patterns of use, so the more you use it, the more accurate it becomes. Even so, I'd prefer to start with 50 per cent of my words recognised, and at least the proportion that Dragon Naturally Speaking does. The fact that it does not seems to indicate that Dragon Naturally Speaking is more efficient at handling regional accents.

Food For Thought
Age range: N/A
Skills: Maths, language
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System requirements: Windows 95, 486SX, speakers or headphones, 256 colours
From: Education by Design (03) 9886 3328
Publisher: Education by Design www.edbydesign.com
List price: $129

Developed by Johanna Rievers, the computer coordinator at Noble Park Special Developmental School in Victoria, Food For Thought aims to cater for the intellectual needs of people with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities.

You click on a food item in the 'choice bar' at the bottom of the screen; use 'More' to bring up more food choices -- 20 in all. Only one sentence will show up at a time and this will change each time a new choice is made. Once students select the COMPIC picture of the food, the program places the picture in a sentence and reads the text back. At this stage of development you cannot print sentences. This activity enhances vocabulary, decision making and reading and writing skills.

Other features include speech, simple screens to reduce distractibility and optimise generalisation to COMPIC cards, sentences read back to the student, and two levels of difficulty for each activity.