DEVELOPMENT OF INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA SOFTWARE TO TEACH SIGN LANGUAGE TO FAMILIES OF DEAF CHILDREN

THE EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF HEARING IMPAIRED CHILDREN IS DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL TO THEIR FACILITY WITH LANGUAGE. PRIMARY LANGUAGE SKILLS THAT ARE EASILY AND NATURALLY ACQUIRED BY ALL OTHER CHILDREN ARE DELAYED IN DEAF CHILDREN WHOSE PARENTS AND FAMILY MEMBERS ARE NOT SKILLED COMMUNICATORS IN SIGN LANGUAGE. CURRENT SIGN LANGUAGE TRAINING PROGRAMS ARE MARGINALLY EFFECTIVE AND ARE LIMITED BY THE EXISTING INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCE MATERIALS. FLUENT PRODUCTION OF SIGN LANGUAGE REQUIRES AMPLE PRACTICE TIME AND EXPOSURE TO WELL-REPRESENTED SIGNS IN AN APPROPRIATE LINGUISTIC CONTEXT. TRADITIONALLY, SIGN LANGUAGE TEXTBOOKS AND DICTIONARIES HAVE BEEN THE ONLY RESOURCE OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM. PRESENTLY, MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES EXIST WHICH CAN BE ADAPTED AND EXTENDED TO PROVIDE INTERACTIVE, INSTRUCTIONAL SIGN LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES ON A VARIETY OF COMPUTER PLATFORMS. THE PHASE I PROPOSAL INVESTIGATES THE EXTENT TO WHICH MULTIMEDIA COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES CAN BE USED TO CREATE STIMULATING, INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE FOR THE TEACHING OF SIGN LANGUAGE. PHASE I WILL ACHIEVE THIS OBJECTIVE BY DEVELOPING A PROTOTYPE OF MULTIMEDIA SOFTWARE FOR SIGN LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION ON A SINGLE COMPUTER PLATFORM AND BY EVALUATING ITS EFFECTIVENESS. PHASE II WILL ALLOW FURTHER DEVELOPMENT AND REFINEMENT OF THE INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE, MORE EXTENSIVE FIELD TESTING OF THE SOFTWARE AND THE PEDAGOGY EMBODIED IN IT, AND WILL UNDERTAKE THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOFTWARE ON OTHER VIABLE PLATFORMS.