Dictation software for dysgraphia
Say the sentence. Something else does the writing down.
- 99%+ accurate
- Auto punctuation
- Your ideas, unchanged
Free to try. No card. Nothing to read aloud.
Apple Silicon · macOS 14 or later · Windows 11
You can talk for five minutes about the book and then hand in four flat sentences. Everybody involved knows those four sentences are not the point.
Writing is two jobs at once: working out what to say, and getting it down. When the second takes most of the effort, the first gets whatever is left.
Do you have to write anything?
Step one
Hold one key
Right Option on a Mac, Right Ctrl on Windows. One key, and you can change which.
Step two
Say it
Whole sentences or half-formed ones. No punctuation out loud, no pausing.
Step three
Let go
Finished text lands where the cursor was. Punctuated, spelled, still yours.
The full stops are already in
Most dictation gives you a run of words with no punctuation in it, and hands back the exact job you were avoiding — where each sentence ends, where the capitals go, where the paragraph breaks.
Here it comes from the way you talked, so it is already there when it lands. That is the difference between dictation and a second draft.
Auto punctuation
Full stops and capitals arrive from how you spoke. You never say them out loud.
Ready to send
False starts and filler come out. You can talk it through and still get clean text.
Your words kept
It does not reorganise or improve anything. If the writing is good, that was you.
It types where the cursor is
Click into the document, the email or the form. Hold the key and talk.
The strikes mattered less for what they won than for what they showed. Ordinary people could stop the country if enough of them agreed to.
To mrs.doyle@school.uk
Subject Thursday
Hello. Sam will be out on Thursday morning for an appointment and back after lunch.
Three causes to remember: the price of bread, the failed harvest, and the war nobody wanted to pay for.
If this is for a student
Two honest things, if you are a parent, before you install anything.
- Whether it is allowed on assessed work is the school’s call, not ours
- Exam access arrangements are set by the school or the exam board
Everything that is not assessed needs nobody’s permission. Notes, revision, first drafts, emails, the paragraph that has been stuck for an hour.
Better than the dictation you already have
Mac and Windows both include it. On anything longer than a sentence:
| Feature | JotMic | Built-in dictation |
|---|---|---|
| Accuracy | 99%+ | ~85% |
| Ready to send | Fillers taken out | Every um typed in |
| Learns your words | Taught once | No way to teach it |
| Languages | 99+, picked up as you talk | One, set in Settings |
| Controls your apps | Open apps, switch, scroll | Types only |
Free to try, no card. A couple of real pieces of work, not a test sentence.
Works in every app you already use
It types at your cursor, the same as a keyboard does. If there is a text box, it works.
Plus Outlook, Word, Teams and every other app on your Mac or PC.
Setup takes two minutes
- Download, allow the microphone, pick your key
- No voice training and nothing to read aloud first
- Free to try, every feature, no card
Read next
Dyslexia
When spelling interrupts the sentence, and you write around the word instead.
ADHD
The four-day email, and why saying it is easier than starting it.
Offline dictation
Dictating with the wifi off.
Compared with the other apps
The difference worth checking is how much correcting is left once the app has finished.
Questions
Does dictation help with dysgraphia?
It removes the writing-it-down part, which is the part that uses up the attention. What is left is deciding what to say, and that was never the problem.
Is typing not already easier than handwriting?
For some people, a lot. For others it swaps one effortful thing for another — hunting for keys still takes attention, and attention is what is in short supply.
Do I have to say the punctuation out loud?
No. Full stops, commas, question marks and capitals come from the way you talk. Punctuation is often the hardest part to add afterwards, which is why it matters here.
Will it change what I said?
It drops ums and false starts, adds punctuation and capitals, and leaves everything else as spoken. It does not reorganise your ideas — if the writing is good, that was you.
Will it spell names and technical words right?
Add them to your vocabulary once and they stay right. Teachers, classmates, place names, the vocabulary of a subject.
Can my child use it for homework?
It types into whatever they are writing in, so mechanically yes. Whether it is allowed for a particular piece of work is the school’s decision, not ours, and worth asking before it becomes a habit on assessed work.
Is it allowed in exams?
That is decided by the school or the exam board, and access arrangements vary. Nobody selling software can promise you an answer to that. Ask the SENCO or the exams officer.
Does it work on a school laptop?
It needs installing, so it depends on whether the machine is locked down. On a personal Mac or PC it takes about two minutes.
Is it better than the dictation built into the computer?
The built-in ones leave every um in and never learn a name however many times you correct it. All of that lands back on the person writing. For a sentence or two they are fine, and they are free.
Does it need training on your voice?
No. Install it, pick a key, and talk. There is nothing to read aloud first.
Is this a treatment?
No. It is a way to write with your voice instead of your hands. An occupational therapist or a specialist teacher will have better ideas about handwriting than we will.
Free to try, no card. Nothing to set up, nothing to read aloud.