Serious Game Design Of Sound Identification For Deaf Children Using The User Centered Design

The loss of hearing function in deaf children causes deaf children to experience obstacles in listening to the sound of objects or sounds of language as children generally hear. Therefore, it is necessary to optimize the hearing function of deaf children. The Development of Sound and Rhythm Perception Communication (PKPBI) is a special program to practice understanding sound so that the remaining hearing of deaf children can be maximized. So far, the PKPBI learning media at the sound identification stage used by the Karnna Manohara Yogyakarta Special School teacher is the keyboard. However, the keyboard has weaknesses such as the collection of sounds on the keyboard is very limited. Another problem is the Covid 19 pandemic, PKPBI learning is less than optimal due to limited face-to-face meetings. The purpose of this research is to design a serious game as a learning medium for sound identification for deaf children that can be used in the classroom and at home. The method used to design serious sound identification games is User Centered Design (UCD). Based on the research results, the design of this serious game can be developed into a serious game application to practice sound identification in deaf children

When John-Boy Learned Sign Language: History and Disability on Walton's Mountain

This dissertation examines CBS Televisions historically-based drama The Waltons (1972-1981) as a case study in disability and American cultural history. Produced throughout the 1970s and the very early 1980s, but set in the 1930s and 1940s, The Waltons affords a unique opportunity to view disability through a layered lensthat is through the historical veneer of the Great Depression and World War Two in which the show was set, as well as through the ideological and material circumstances of the 1970s during which the series was produced. The series was not explicitly about disability, but depicted it often, and in a variety of ways with varying results. Relying on oral research with key figures in The Waltons production history, as well as on the show itself as text, I unearthed the story of how and why, under unique cultural circumstances and at the hands of certain groups of people, specific ideas and images about disability filled television screens. These discoveries enlightened me to the fact that, in addition to images and ideas expressed in a visual medium such as television, the circumstances leading to the production of said images and ideas are significant considerations for analysis. This dissertation argues that to properly understand the history of disability on screen and to effectively mitigate its stigmatizing legacy, scholars must look beyond the images of disability that have long graced television screens and consider the people and production processes that brought them to light. As this research demonstrates, the life experiences, professional constraints, material and cultural circumstances, and personal views of those involved in making The Waltons influenced the series depictions of disability, suggesting that when it comes to disability and popular media, what we see is not a straightforward transmission of ideas and beliefs about disability. Rather, these representations of disability are an amalgam of circumstances and influences. Understanding these processes is an important step in understanding the interplay of disability, history, and popular culture. Such an approach would likewise be beneficial for unpacking representations of other identity groups for whom representation is especially significant

Reciprocal Relationships and Creative Expression in Literacy Learning: Ameliorating Disability Circumstances and Empowering Individuals

Individuals engaged in the production of art, who are untrained, and marginalized by disability, are known as outsider or visionary artists. With them in mind I sought to better understand the relationship between art-making and meaning-making. Students with disability attributes in my classroom were motivated by arts-based activities, prompting me to include art in the content I taught. My own art-making grew out of those efforts, and in order to better understand how to implement my classroom practices, I began an autoethnographic study that evolved into phenomenology, positioning myself in the disability culture first, and then conducting an archival document search seeking evidence of the use of arts-based activities in teaching students with disabilities. I located extensive records on two community schools in Depression-era New Mexico. The schools were progressivist experiments in curricular reform initially focused on bilingual education. Art projects and lesson plans included in teacher diaries spanned seven years, evidencing reciprocal relationships, along with focus on creative expression as central in the culturally-based literacy pedagogy of the reforms being implemented. Contextually, this work is grounded primarily within the ideologies of John Dewey, and Paolo Freire. Data were collected and reported using narrative storytelling, observations, and reflections, personal art making, and archival document searches with research journaling. This research contributes to evolving perceptions about the value of reciprocal relationships in literacy pedagogy, and suggests the need to expand scholarship regarding engagement in arts-based activities with persons with disabilities, and the community school as a means to reach underserved populations

Retrying Leopold and Loeb: A Neuropsychological Perspective

They called it the crime of the century; in 1924 in Chicago two brilliant, well-educated, and wealthy young men kidnapped and murdered a 14-year-old boy and killed him for the thrill of it . Expert testimony was presented by several well-known psychiatrists and psychologists, but even with all their clinical insights, none could reach a conclusion about the causal relation between their disturbed childhoods and a violent senseless crime. In fact, the well-known criminal defense attorney Clarence Darrow made little mention of the extensive psychiatric and psychological workups, and the judge did not deal with it in his sentencing. A review of the findings does suggest a delusional disorder for one of the defendants and psychopathy for the other; the interaction of these two disordered personalities led to a perfect storm a confluence of factors that only in combination could result in the brutal crime. Recent developments in neuropsychology allow us to see how these two disordered personalities interacted; the neuropsychological basis of delusional disorder and of psychopathy will be explored in this presentation along with a re-imagined closing argument by their attorney

Sign-Lingo: Feasibility of a Serious Game for Involving Parents in the Language Development of their Deaf or Hearing Impaired Child

Family involvement plays a critical factor in the language development of a deaf or hearing impaired child. Hearing parents often have major difficulties in communicating with their child when it is deaf or hearing impaired. These difficulties often lead to issues in the language development of the child. In this research we investigate the feasibility of a serious game for involving parents in the language development of their deaf or hearing impaired child by using sign language together in a fun and engaging way. From the feasibility analysis we find that such a serious game is feasible and could help deaf and hearing impaired children to improve their language development

Sign-Lingo : Feasibility of a Serious Game for Involving Parents in the Language Development of their Deaf or Hearing Impaired Child

Family involvement plays a critical factor in the language development of a deaf or hearing impaired child. Hearing parents often have major difficulties in communicating with their child when it is deaf or hearing impaired. These difficulties often lead to issues in the language development of the child. In this research we investigate the feasibility of a serious game for involving parents in the language development of their deaf or hearing impaired child by using sign language together in a fun and engaging way. From the feasibility analysis we find that such a serious game is feasible and could help deaf and hearing impaired children to improve their language development

COVID-2019 Impacts on Education Systems and Future of Higher Education

The rapid outbreak of the COVID-19 has presented unprecedented challenges on education systems. Closing schools and universities and cancelling face-to-face activities have become a COVID-19 inevitable reality in most parts of the world. To be business-as-usual, many higher education providers have taken steps toward digital transformation, and implementing a range of remote teaching, learning and assessment approaches. This book provides timely research on COVID-19 impacts on education systems and seeks to bring together scholars, educators, policymakers and practitioners to collectively and critically identify, investigate and share best practices that lead to rethinking and reframing the way we deliver education in future

User participation in the design and development of Web 2.0 technologies for people with learning difficulties

In the twenty-first century People with Learning Difficulties (PWLD) still face oppression, discrimination and exclusion from the mainstream of social life. Over recent decades the policy of the United Kingdom’s (UK) government and activist organisations regarding people with learning difficulties has been on enabling inclusion, ensuring rights, providing choice and developing advocacy and independence. People with learning difficulties have been moved out of institutions with the intention to be included and respected as equal members of society. During the same decades that the government and activist organisations have been striving for the inclusion and equality of people with learning difficulties, the use of Information Technology (IT) has reached pervasive levels, to the degree that it is almost impossible for individuals to socially function successfully, unless they have access to it. Unfortunately, most IT is not designed to be usable and accessible to people with learning difficulties and this is a major barrier for their social inclusion.Participatory Design (PD) methodologies which emphasise end-user involvement in the software development process are widely considered the key to system usability and accessibility. However, most researchers and software developers believe that people with learning difficulties are not capable of participating in the process of development as a result of their disabilities. Others, report that they do not know how to work with this specific group of disabled end-users. This discriminatory behaviour is a major reason why IT remains inaccessible to people with learning difficulties. The study described in this thesis combined Evolutionary Prototyping, a software development methodology and Participatory Action Research (PAR), a social science methodology, in order to involve a cohort of four Health Trainers with learning difficulties in the development of a Web 2.0 based system. The aims of the study were to explore how people with learning difficulties could be involved in the development of a software system and if they could use a system developed with their participation. A further aim was to explore how software developers can approach the field of Learning Disability, the issues they will face and how those issues can be overcome. Qualitative data was gathered during fourteen Participatory Action Research meetings, in which the Health Trainers were involved in research, software development and system use. The data was analysed using Thematic Content Analysis facilitated by the use of the NVivo software package. The findings were validated by the participating Health Trainers.The findings suggest that during software development participation, the Health Trainers faced a number of challenges. However, the Health Trainers indicated the type of support they needed from the researcher in order to overcome them. The support required was easy to provide and the Health Trainers managed to engage in the software development process. The study conducted a system use evaluation to explore if the developed system was usable and accessible to the Health Trainers. The Health Trainers managed to complete all the system tasks posed to them during the evaluation. This suggests that the developed system was usable and accessible to the Health Trainers. Further evidence suggests that a number of factors affected the participation of the Health Trainers during development and during the use of the system. Finally, the study explored how the developed system was used over the long run, in a period of eighteen months. The findings suggest that system use over time was affected by factors other than the system’s accessibility and usability. Concluding, the findings suggest that with easy to provide support, the Health Trainers with learning difficulties could be involved in software development and they could use a system developed with their participation. It is hoped that the findings be used by policy makers and advocacy groups, to make a case towards convincing researchers and software developers to involve more people with learning difficulties in software development, thus making systems accessible to this community of end-users

Transforming our World through Universal Design for Human Development

An environment, or any building product or service in it, should ideally be designed to meet the needs of all those who wish to use it. Universal Design is the design and composition of environments, products, and services so that they can be accessed, understood and used to the greatest extent possible by all people, regardless of their age, size, ability or disability. It creates products, services and environments that meet people’s needs. In short, Universal Design is good design. This book presents the proceedings of UD2022, the 6th International Conference on Universal Design, held from 7 - 9 September 2022 in Brescia, Italy.The conference is targeted at professionals and academics interested in the theme of universal design as related to the built environment and the wellbeing of users, but also covers mobility and urban environments, knowledge, and information transfer, bringing together research knowledge and best practice from all over the world. The book contains 72 papers from 13 countries, grouped into 8 sections and covering topics including the design of inclusive natural environments and urban spaces, communities, neighborhoods and cities; housing; healthcare; mobility and transport systems; and universally- designed learning environments, work places, cultural and recreational spaces. One section is devoted to universal design and cultural heritage, which had a particular focus at this edition of the conference. The book reflects the professional and disciplinary diversity represented in the UD movement, and will be of interest to all those whose work involves inclusive design