Or they can step back and reread sentences, just as they might when reading from the printed page. The addition of a speech synthesiser opens up further possibilities to help the pupil. For example the pupil could read without the synthesiser, then stop for individual words to be spoken by a speech synthesiser as confirmation. A whole passage might be read aloud by the synthesiser before the pupil tries reading it without speech to hear each word with their inner ear. Experiments have demonstrated that young children learn to read in the very beginning stages much more easily in the absence of accompanying illustrations.
Illustrations hinder the young reader's attempts to deal with print.
Boys are particularly susceptible to this danger. The better overall exam results of older girls can be explained by their better reading skills at an earlier age, which gives them an advantage in all subjects. It falsely assumed that adults are whole word readers. They don't have the phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge to work out pronunciations for themselves, so they ask the adult, or become frustrated. But with computer assistance, the child need not involve the adult at all, except where the meaning of a sentence as a whole is not clear.