Multimedia Literacy Software for Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing and Visual Learners

It is a well-documented fact that persons who are Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing (D/HH) have difficulty learning to read and write proficiently. The average Deaf high school graduate reads at only a third to fourth-grade level. Over the last decade, several software screen readers and literacy tools have been developed for persons with blindness and learning disabilities. However, to date, none of these tools has incorporated features and functions that specifically target the needs of the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing population. We envision a multimedia module that presents a highly detailed representation of an animated human that can: speak selected words and text segments, while demonstrating correct mouth movement to form speech sounds; translate selected words and phrases into American Sign Language (ASL) and/or Signed English; provide ASL definitions of selected English words and, assist students in vocabulary development by suggesting semantically related English words that are found via a sign description look-up search. Such a tool could extend to DIHH students many of the benefits of similar software currently available to other groups who have print disabilities. These benefits could, in turn, contribute significantly to closing the literacy and communication gap that leaves so many D/HH students behind.