Grant Closed

Project PREPARE: Teaching Service Words to Deaf Children

NCSER

Program: Small Business Innovation Research

Award amount: $499,594

Principal investigator: Susan Watkins

Awardee:

Hope, Inc.

Year: 2005

Project type:

Phase II Development

Award number: R305S050034

Purpose

Although "service words"-including prepositions, conjunctions, articles, adverbs, adjectives, pronouns, or "to be" verbs-constitute up to 75 percent of all text in basal readers, many deaf children have difficultly learning these words because they do not have visual referents. Further, deaf children of hearing parents are infrequently exposed to service words since it is less likely such parents will sign all of what they say, thus excluding key service words. The purpose of this project is to develop and evaluate the Early Literacy Fun Series, which is being designed to teach deaf children from prekindergarten through Grade 1 the most common service words that appear in basal readers used in schools.

Project Activities

The technological development includes producing 13 CD-ROMS that employ animations and games to teach service words in a clear and engaging manner. The research will evaluate the intervention on a sample of deaf students' (preschooler through 1st grade) in Utah School for the Deaf classrooms.

People and institutions involved

IES program contact(s)

Edward Metz

IES Research Scientist

NCER

Products and publications

Product: The Early Literacy Fun Series will contain 13 units organized around a theme and word category, such as pronouns or adjectives. Each unit has four sections, including: Having Fun (service word concepts are introduced), You Can Play With Me (interactive animations), Which One Is Right? (child assessment), and Games (review and summarize the concepts). Early Literacy Fun will be available in three language versions to assure wide application, including American Sign Language, Spoken English, and Manually Coded English (English that is signed).