YouTube Automatic Captioning Moves Out Of Beta
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010In recent years websites such as CaptionTube and independent services made videos and audio more accessible to deaf or hard of hearing people. In November 2009, Google announced the automatic captioning of videos on its YouTube site to boost captioning provision and support text indexing.
Existing captioning services are not always user friendly or free. With [...]
European Award for Languages 2010 (Leargas)
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010Leargas, the national agency in Ireland for co-operation programmes in education, youth and community work, vocational education and training, is managing the European Award for Languages 2010 on behalf of the EU.
Schools, colleges, businesses and language institutions can apply for these awards. The aim in 2010 is to find organizations that promote language learning in [...]
Hearing Screening For Newborns Brings Results
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010A pilot scheme in the UK which aims to improve service co-ordination for children with deafness, is expected to be underway by early 2010.
The Local Record of Deaf Children in the UK seeks to improve services and raise awareness of the numbers of young people living with hearing loss. Information will be shared by state [...]
New Simply Signing Initiative For Parents/Teachers
Monday, January 4th, 2010Simply Signing is inviting members to join its new “Now I Can Sign Programme” (NICSP), which is geared to parents and teachers.
The NICSP gives the skills to learn basic vocabulary in Irish sign language (ISL) such as “more” and “all gone”. These signs can be easily introduced to all babies and children from as young [...]
Lamh - The Manual Language Explained
Thursday, November 19th, 2009After receiving several queries about Lamh, the manual language, we asked Mary Cullen, Lamh Development Officer, a few questions.
What is Lámh?
Lámh is the accepted manual sign system used by children and adults with intellectual disability in Ireland. Some people use Lámh as their main way of communicating while others use Lámh together with speech and [...]
Lip-Reading Training Benefits From Technology
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009A new study by the University of East Anglia (UEA) suggests computers are now better at lip-reading than humans.
The performance of a computer based lip-reading system was compared to that of 19 human lip-readers. Results showed the computerised system was over 50% better at recognition than the humans completing the same task.
Simultaneously, the study found [...]
Low-Cost Internet Video Streaming For Educators
Monday, October 19th, 2009A low-cost way of video-streaming to use and distribute information online has been described in the US by Thomas McNeal Jr. and Landon Kearns.
Their article, “Using Video Streaming: Setting up a Cheap System for Distributing Information to Teachers and Students” explores how to set up a streaming system, using tools readily available in classrooms.
Vintage computers [...]
Introducing Babies & Toddlers To Books & Reading
Saturday, June 13th, 2009Babies and toddlers need to become familiar with books before reaching school age, otherwise they will tend to associate books only with school.
Infants at home will be attracted to simple pictures in books, which can prompt their first item-and-word link, the initial step in language-learning.
Toddlers exposed to image-rich books and flash cards early on may [...]
Deaf People Don’t Always ‘Fit The Box’
Sunday, July 27th, 2008Any deaf person will tell you they’re often ‘pigeon-holed’ by others who don’t understand deafness, or can’t see the abilities of the person they meet.
Deaf people can do most things - even if they don’t hear. They just communicate in different ways and encounter issues other people don’t.
Kellie Moody, a deaf competitor in the UK reality TV [...]
Natural Child-Family Language Development
Friday, July 18th, 2008With modern hearing-aids and cochlear implants, many deaf kids soak up language without any obvious reinforcement.
Some with cochlear implants even learn by overhearing incidentally.
Others need natural language practice with their families, at home or out and about. Simple interaction with your kids is what’s required.
The key points are:
Parents who understand their child’s deafness
Good amplification worn [...]