Computer Activities to Support Communication and Language Development in Children Who Are Deaf-Blind
By Buckley, Wendy L.; Deaf-Blind Perspectives, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 7-12Publication Date: Fall 2003
Article provides teaching suggestions and examples of successful computer activities used with children in the Deafblind Program at the Perkins School for the Blind. Effective computer activities designed to support communication include: (1) the teaching of cause-and-effect relationships, (2) early language development activities, such as symbol recognition, choice making, requesting, and labeling, and (3) continued language development and expansion. An example of a program that can be used for cause-and-effect activities is SwitchIt! Suite, from IntelliTools, which provides options for changing images, colors, and the number of switch activations needed before an animated reward is presented. The suite consists of four separate programs, with display options ranging from simple patterns with large, bold components, to complex fine-line drawings. The complexity and number of graphics presented on the screen at one time can gradually be increased as a child demonstrates understanding of an activity and the ability to visually discriminate the content. Other programs include Creature Antics from Laureate, which presents more complicated animated creature characters against a solid black background. Eensy and Friends from Don Johnston has large, colorful graphics and stable background images, for use when a child is ready to process an increased number of visual variables as part of an activity. Early language development activities can be created with multimedia authoring programs such as HyperStudio, from Sunburst, and IntelliPics Studio, from IntelliTools. The program Stickybear Opposites Deluxe uses clear, bold animated graphics to illustrate basic concepts such as on/off, up/down, in/out, and big/small. The program provides multiple opportunities to support language development by talking or signing about the animation as it plays out on the screen. Words Around Me focuses on developing common vocabulary by using photographs and drawings for lessons in labeling, matching, and categorizing. Customized computer activities for picture matching utilize images representing the features of a child’s daily routine, or photographs of family members and classmates. Eventually, the child is required to look away from the screen and locate the match on an alternative keyboard such as the IntelliKeys keyboard from IntelliTools. OverlayMaker, also from IntelliTools, can be used to create keyboard overlays appropriate for a child’s visual and cognitive abilities. For continued language development and expansion, IntelliPics Studio allows a teacher and child to work together to create stories about field trips, special events, and classroom activities. Events can be illustrated using a picture of the child, classmates, and other aspects of an experience that appear on palettes as clip art choices and backgrounds within the program. Children can write sentences with picture support using a program such as Clicker 4 from Crick Software, which is a word processor that integrates the Mayer-Johnson Picture Communication Symbols with text. On-screen grids containing pictures and words facilitate sentence formation while a teacher discusses events with the student.
Assistive Products Discussed: SWITCHIT! AT HOME
SWITCHIT! DIGGERS
SWITCHIT! GADGETS
SWITCHIT! MAKER 2
CLICKER 6
STICKYBEAR OPPOSITES
WORDS AROUND ME
INTELLIKEYS
OVERLAY MAKER
INTELLIPICS
CREATURE ANTICS
EENSY & FRIENDS
Published by: Teaching Research Institute (Website:http://www.tr.wou.edu)
Link to text: http://www.tr.wou.edu/tr/dbp/pdf/sept03.pdf
