Having access to information is critical! This page has been developed to share information about materials that have been made accessible for deaf learners. Media that is animated, captioned and signed will be featured. If a publisher makes all their products accessible then a summary of their available media will be described. If you know of a product that is accessible for deaf learners, please let us know and we will share the information!
If you would like to make your software reviews
available for other teachers, post your opinions at TechEds Review, formerly
known as Software To Go. TechEds Review is an online database sponsored
by the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Network (previously Pre-College
National Mission Programs). The new address is: http://clerccenter2.gallaudet.edu/stg/index.html
All programs created by Soleil Software <http://www.soleil.com> are captioned.
The programs currently published by Soleil are:
Zurk's Learning Safari
Zurk's Rainforest Lab
Zurk's Alaskan Trek
WorldWalker Destination Australia- has a good help screen with more explanation.
Sumeria Inc. - http://www.sumeria.com
We don't have any title that have actual close captioning on the actual video themselves, but some of our titles do have have narration that is the same as the written text.
Micrograms Software - http://www.micrograms.com
All of our Macintosh and Windows programs present onscreen all of the information necessary to use and learn from the program. Chuck Wagon Bill's Language Skills, Marty's Family Reader, Oliver's Crosswords, and Word Zapper are four programs on the Sample CD you may wish to examine closely as you search for langauge arts software for your students.
Nordic Software. Exploring New Horizons in Education. - http://www.nordicsoftware.com
Turbo Math Facts
The Math Majors
Tackle English,
Clock Shop
Coin Critters
Dinosaur Kids
Word Foundry (Mac only),
Wordsearch Studio and Crossword Studio might be good.
In the titles with voice instruction, text instruction is also provided. Crossword
and Wordsearch Studio don't have sound at all. The only auditory part in the
program is the feedback that goes with wrong/right answers. The lessons are
provided in text/caption form. Incorrect answers disappear by process of elimination,
so the buzz sound for wrong answers is really an extra. With correct answers,
the computer generates an animation to reinforce the right answer given. Here,
too, the sound that accompanies the animation is extra. If you want more information
(screen shots, too) on these programs, visit our site.
Thomas S. Klise Company - http://www.klise.com
All their software is captioned for deaf learners, and for learners whose primary learning style is through the written word. On each disc, the presentation sections, although fully narrated, also include text. The games all have written instruction screens, and the resource sections can be printed and read.
Humongous Entertainment- http://www.humongous.com
April 23, 1999 How to Display Text in Humongous Entertainment Games
Most Humongous Titles have text option that allows spoken dialog to display as text on screen within the game. Most of our newer titles require that the hegames.ini file be modified to include the line: TextOn=1 below the heading for the individual title. Only our older titles have a check box option (enabled by pressing the Space Bar and then checking the display text box) within the game. The following titles have captions.
Blue’s Birthday Adventure
Blue’s ABC Time
Big Thinkers Kindergarten
Big Thinkers 1st Grade
Junior Field Trips Collection*
Freddi Fish and The Case Of The Missing Kelp Seeds
Freddi Fish 2: The Case Of The Haunted Schoolhouse
Freddi Fish 3: The Case Of the Stolen Conch Shell
Freddi Fish 4: The Case Of The Hogfish Rustlers of Briny Gulch*
Freddi Fish and Luther’s Maze Madness
Let’s Explore The Farm
Let’s Explore The Jungle
Pajama Sam in No Need To Hide When It’s Dark Outside
Pajama Sam 2: Thunder And Lightning Aren’t So Frightening
Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo
Putt-Putt Enters the Race
Putt-Putt and Pep’s Balloon-O-Rama
Spy Fox in Dry Cereal
Putt-Putt Joins The Parade - Turn on using Space Bar (see directions above).
*Junior Field Trips Collection: Let’s Explore the Farm and Let’s Explore the Jungle both have text if TextOn=1 is entered under their heading in the hegames.ini file. Let’s Explore the Airport does not have a text option.
*Freddi Fish 4: Text in this game is enabled by adding TextOn=1 to the hegames.ini file, However the display speed of text during the intro movie was too fast to read on our test machine. Text in the remainder of the game was displayed at a normal speed.
Math Mysteries by Tom Snyder prints all the text on screen.
Magic School Bus (I heard that some of these titles have captions, we are looking into that now!)
SOFTWARE RECOMMENDATION
I saw a demonstration of some software last week that would work very well with hearing- impaired students. It's the SmartBooks series by Scholastic. The initial instructions were verbal, but beyond that everything that was spoken also included the text. They are interactive versions of best-selling Scholastic book titles. The students can see videos of people and places they are reading about, play music, and run news-reels of life in other times, access primary source material, use a built-in dictionary, use note-taking and highlighting tools, and much more. Each one integrates a popular social studies theme with reading and language arts strategies. Each title includes one Theme CD-ROM, a Teacher's Guide, and six paperback copies of the theme-based book. There are currently four titles: Favorite Greek Myths, If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island, Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary, and The Titanic. The price quoted in Software Express Educators' Catalog is $149 each. That company's web site can be found at http://www.swexpress.com. I'm sure other companies have a similar price (Educational Resources, Learning Services, etc.).
Do you know about some CD-ROMs or other educational media that is captioned or signed to be accessible for deaf learners?
Do you know about Web sites that feature content and information that may be accessible to deaf learners or that deaf learners may be interested in?
Do you know about some CD-ROMs or other educational media that is not necessarily captioned or signed, but all the content is presented on the screen?
Do you know about any CD-ROMs or other educational media that is very effective because it does not rely on auditory prompts and deaf learners can independently access the activities? Let us know.
Page created 4/03/00
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