INNOVATIONS AND PROGRAMS: Lamar Professors Offer ESL and Math CD-ROMs For Deaf and Hearing Students

• Published in: The Hispanic outlook in higher education 2000-05, Vol.10 (17), p.19
• Main Authors: Andrews, Jean F, Jordan, Donald L
• Format: Magazinearticle
• Language: English
• Subjects: CAI; CD-ROM; Computer assisted instruction; Computers; Education; Educational software; Online instruction

We targeted Mexican American deaf children because Hispanics are the fastest growing minority group in the deaf school-age population in the U.S., particularly in Texas, where we work. There are more than 7,000 deaf children from Spanishspeaking homes in the U.S. (Schildroth & Hotto, 1996). Because of cultural and linguistic differences, these children often find it difficult to learn language and other school subjects (Gerner de Garcia, 1993). Many score two to three years below their white deaf peers on standardized measures of reading, language, and mathematics (Allen, 1995). Cultural influences can be Spanish, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Dominican Republican, Cuban, Latin or South American in origin. Children might know different languages: some spoken and written English, American Sign Language (ASL), gestures, and home signs. They might also use Spanish simultaneous communication (spoken Spanish and sign), and some English simultaneous communication (spoken English and sign), or a mixture of these. If families recently emigrated from Mexico or South America, children might use an indigenous sign language. Such a trilingual environment (Spanish, English, sign language) can be confusing -- and further complicated by the fact that no one language has been fully acquired. With global markets opening in South and Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean, more adults are seeking Spanish instruction. It is also widely taken in high school and college because of the close proximity of countries such as Mexico and South and Central America to which students can go to practice ASL as second language. ASL is used by two million deaf adults in Canada, and in the U.S., ASL has been designated as a foreign language by many states, and there are more than 2,000 ASL programs nationwide (Kemp, 1998). Students in Texas may take ASL for foreign language credit in high school and college. People learn ASL for different reasons, as in working with the deaf children as teacher, aide, counselor, or interpreter. Parents might want to learn ASL too. Our "Meet the Math Wiz" series is made up of five CD-ROMS that offer more than 130 math word problems across six math grade levels of difficulty. Chris Kurz, a math teacher who is deaf, is the math wizard and welcomes readers to his castle. He describes a four-point plan for solving math word problems using ASL. He has a glossary of math terms with definitions for teachers. The math wizard leads the reader into eight demonstration p