An American Sign Language Picture Dictionary/Storyboard for

This project will create an American Sign Language Picture Dictionary/Storyboard for young children on an IBM-compatible CD-ROM. The majority of sign language programs on the market are developed for school-age children and older. This CD-ROM is targeted for pre-school age children. This program will assist children in associating pictures with the written English word and the American Sign Language sign. In Phase I, five topics or categories will be developed (e.g.- people, animals, toys, "outside," alphabet and numbers). Each topic will be developed for three levels--beginning, intermediate, and advanced. Each sign, definition and story will be videotaped and captured onto a computer file using a full motion frame grabber. A computer program will be developed to utilize the databases of text and video files. The resulting program will be a CD-ROM picture dictionary/storyboard designed to run on computers commonly found at home and in schools. During Phase II, the CD-ROM will be expanded and data will be programmed for approximately 50 categories with each category having three levels of difficulty, including games and activities. During Phase III the dictionary will be marketed through educational software distributors. Retail prices are expected to be under $50.00 per package. Key Words: deaf, hard of hearing, sign language, computer-assisted instruction, dictionary