Interactive Multimedia ASL Vocabulary

I am keenly interested in vocabulary development for all students, but especially for those who have limited access to the informal language-learning opportunities commonly afforded most children through exposure to ordinary conversation in the home: deaf children. In looking for a way to make vocabulary aquisition motivating, meaningful, and permanent for my deaf
students, I created American Sign Language (ASL) multimedia storybooks and interactive game-like instructional activities based on popular children's literature.


My students interacted with the books for five weeks during speech therapy sessions. Not only did they improve their understanding of the words taught, transfer that learning to their everyday lexicon, and demonstrate understanding of the stories, but they also loved interacting with the words within the multimedia activities. Their excitement in learning words with technology was inspirational for this old lady!