When I activate Read out loud, the reader will read my textbook titles as ..............until it gets to real text. It also reads across a two column page. It also reads the copyright information on the bottom of the page. Almost done, If I use the select tool, it will select a paragraph only up to a hyphenated word (from one line to the next). Please point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance!
A PDF that, mastered properly in an authoring application that has tag management, and provided as a Tagged PDF will not exhibit the behavior you describe.
Read Out Loud (ROL) would not "read" content in headers and footers because the content would be tagged as "Artifacts".
ROL would not "read" across columns.
ROL is a little challenged with 'word breaks'.
ROL and Assistive Technology applications can have problems with the different flavors of "hyphen";
so, content authors have to be more explicit with their usage when authoring and provide output Tagged PDF.
Trials using Adobe FrameMaker and MS Word to author and output Tagged PDF validate this.
Possible options:
--| If the text book publisher has it, obtain a properly Tagged PDF.
--| Tag the PDF manually with Acrobat Professional (this presumes the PDF has no security applied that prevents this).
If you are in a formal academic environment and are vision impaired (which includes "low vision" by the way) you may want to consider taking the issue to whomever is tasked with support of students with disabilities.
If a school provides (as optional or required) "electronic" text books then the school must provide "accessible" versions.
The US Department of Justice group responsible for enforcement of ADA has accumulated a growing body of cases that establishes this.
I know, cold comfort as there is no "quick fix".
The problem is not with you or Adobe Reader / Acrobat, Read Out Loud or Assitive Technology.
Rather, it lies with those who mastered the text book content, those who provide PDF that are not Tagged,
and those who provide unaccessible PDF content for use by others.
Be well...
Be well...