Submitted by Jakeline Ortega (jakortega@unoeste.br) on 2017-07-21T13:34:11Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dilma Pereira dos Santos.pdf: 3316929 bytes, checksum: f23974c4aa0daa95988d34321b4e4e5f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-21T13:34:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dilma Pereira dos Santos.pdf: 3316929 bytes, checksum: f23974c4aa0daa95988d34321b4e4e5f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-18 / The present dissertation was developed for the Master of Education degree at the Universidade do Oeste Paulista (Unoeste). The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of certain educational tools as pedagogical resources to promote the development of writing and reading comprehension skills in deaf, hard of hearing, and speech impaired students. This study is based on technological and human sociocultural theories which help one understand the process of learning the written and spoken Portuguese language. Additionally, it is also based on the ethical and legal guidelines that promote the use of educational tools as pedagogical resources in teaching deaf, hard of hearing, and speech impaired students. A group of six deaf, hard of hearing, and speech impaired students participated in this study. Their ages ranged from 9 to 10. These students were enrolled in a school that serves hearing and speech impaired students in Foz do Iguacu, Parana, Brazil. This qualitative study. As part of the methodology, the following took place: Structured diagnostic observation, collection of data produced by students, text interpretation, and verification of the quality of texts produced by the students. Next, the researcher applied intervention activities by using HagaQue, Tux Pent, and Scrapbooking which are tools that focus on writing and reading skills. A second evaluation was conducted to determine if any significant change was found in the students’ writing and reading comprehension skills. Results show the significance and validity of these educational tools as pedagogical resources to promote the development of writing and reading comprehension skills in deaf, hard of hearing, and speech impaired students. / A presente dissertação foi desenvolvida no Programa de Mestrado em Educação da Universidade do Oeste Paulista (Unoeste). A pesquisa tem como objetivo investigar a influência de Objetos de Aprendizagem como recurso pedagógico para promover o desenvolvimento da leitura e escrita para alunos com deficiência auditiva. Para fundamentação foram utilizadas bases teóricas voltadas ao sociointeracionismo no qual o humano e o tecnológico interagem no processo de aprendizagem da língua portuguesa escrita; bem como bases legais que sustentam o uso de objetos educacionais no desenvolvimento dos alunos com deficiência auditiva. Os sujeitos da pesquisa foram seis alunos com deficiência auditiva, entre 9 e 10 anos de idade; devidamente matriculados no ensino fundamental, no qual cursavam o quarto ano em uma escola em Foz do Iguaçu (PR). A pesquisa foi de cunho qualitativa. Como procedimentos metodológicos para coleta de dados promoveu-se observação estruturada diagnóstica, análise dos documentos da produção de textos desenvolvidos pelos alunos, a fim de verificar a qualidade da produção e interpretação textual. Em seguida, foram aplicadas atividades de intervenção com os objetos educacionais HagáQuê e Tux Paint que visavam à produção escrita e leitura. Uma segunda avaliação foi realizada para determinar se houve mudança quanto à produção da escrita e interpretação textual. Como resultado, verificou-se a importância e validade pedagógica de tais objetos educacionais no processo de ensino e aprendizagem da Língua Portuguesa para alunos com deficiência auditiva.

The majority of video games utilize auditory cues to convey vital information such as enemy positioning and hazardous locations to the player. However, these audio cues are inaccessible to players who are deaf or hard of hearing. When playing high intensity online games such as Overwatch, being able to respond to your surroundings and the actions of both your team and your enemy team is of high importance. This paper analyzed the discourse around accessibility in the Overwatch community and also looked into the weight placed upon certain auditory cues in Overwatch by conducting a limited close reading of the game. The analysis showed that the game is highly inaccessible to deaf players, which was further proven by the game reading, which showed the overly common number of mechanics that highly or exclusively rely on sound. Further, the analysis also showed that there is a fixation on game balance within the community, making players averse to the idea of changing the game. This paper concludes that the implementation of visual aids for accessibility will likely not interfere with the Overwatchcommunity’s hesitations, because of earlier research proving that one's auditory reaction time is faster than one's visual reaction time. / Majoriteten av alla TV-spel på marknaden idag använder någon form av auditiva signaler för att informera spelarna om olika funktioner och händelser i spelet, såsom vart en fiende befinner sig. Problemet med dessa auditiva signaler är att de inte kan användas av spelare som är döva eller lever med hörselnedsättning. I ett intensivt onlinespel som Overwatch ligger mycket vikt på att kunna reagera snabbt på både ditt eget lag samt ditt fiendes lags rörelser och beteende. Denna undersökning studerade vikten som läggs på dessa auditiva signaler i Overwatch samt analyserade forumposter för att se hur communityt kring Overwatch reagerar på dessa. Analysen visade att Overwatch är mycket otillgängligt för döva spelare, vilket också bevisades av analysen av Overwatch, vilken visade att spelet har en mycket stor mängd signaler och funktioner som till stor del eller exklusivt förlitar sig på ljud. Dessutom visade analysen även att det finns en tydlig fixering på spelets balans i Overwatchs community, vilket leder till att många spelare är fientliga till förändring. Undersökningen sammanfattas med att implementeringen av visuella signaler för att förbättra tillgängligheten inte kommer att komma emellan communityts oro om spelets balans, på grund av tidigare forskning vilken visar att ens auditiva reaktionstid är snabbare än ens visuella reaktionstid.

No description available.

Spel har förvandlats till en mainstream underhållningskälla och har utvecklats tillsammans med teknologin. Till en nivå som nyttjar en spelares alla sinnen för att fördjupa de i ett spel. Uppmärksamheten kring tillgänglighet inom spel har dock försvagats.Detta examensarbete undersöker de tillgängliga lösningarna som syftar till att hjälpa döva eller hörselskadade, främst när det gäller situationsmedvetenhet genom att ersätta ljud med en visuell representation. De i skrivande stund tillgängliga lösningarna jämförs sedan med resultaten i relaterad forskning och en undersökning som genomfördes för detta arbete. Målsättningen var att hitta vad som fungerade som en visuell representation av ljud, med undersökningssvaren som ger insikt i döva och hörselskadade individers perspektiv på lösningarna.Dessa resultat kan fungera som en referenspunkt för utvecklare som vill implementera en visuell representation av ljud eller liknande funktion i deras spel. / Video Games have turned into a mainstream source of entertainment and have evolved alongside technological improvements. To the point of being able to bring the player immersive gaming experiences that rely heavily on their senses. However, the attention to the accessibility aspects of video games has been lagging behind.This thesis explores the available solutions that aim to help Deaf or Hard of Hearing (DHH) players, primarily in terms of situational awareness by substituting audio with a visual representation. The currently available solutions are then compared with the findings in related research and a survey that was conducted for this paper. The objective was to find what worked as a visual representation of audio, with the survey responses providing insight into DHH players perspective.These findings can serve as a reference point for developers who want to implement a visual substitute for audio or a similar feature intheir game.

The social work practice problem for this study was a lack of knowledge about social workers' experiences of working with deaf and hard of hearing people with mental illness. This study was needed to fill a practice gap by increasing an understanding of the experiences of social workers to inform best practices and address the needs of deaf and hard of hearing population through culturally and linguistically competent mental health services. The research questions focused on the experiences and challenges of social workers working with deaf and hard of hearing people and best practices identified by these social workers. Ecological systems theory was used to guide this study. Data were collected from a focus group comprising 9 social workers working with deaf and hard of hearing people with mental illness at a healthcare provider on the east coast of the United States that offered culturally and linguistically therapeutic services. Themes identified through thematic analysis of the data were cultural competence, empowerment and advocacy, professional education, and leadership to advance cultural competence. The findings of this study may be used to help healthcare providers identify key components of program design and service delivery that support culturally and linguistically competent mental health services for the population. This knowledge may also be used by social work practitioners and administrators to bring about positive social change by enhancing social work practice related to deaf and hard of hearing clients with mental illness, improving mental health outcomes, and supporting recognition of the importance of culturally and linguistically competent mental health services.

Childhood disability increases parental stress. Research on the laterality of childhood hearing loss or presence of a cochlear implant(s) as it relates to stress in hearing parents was limited before this study. The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify relationships between the independent variables of laterality (unilateral and bilateral) of a childhood hearing loss or presence of a cochlear implant(s) and the dependent variable of stress in hearing parents. Family systems theory provided a framework for viewing each member of the family as a part of a whole, whose life events, feelings, and actions affect all of the members of the family. For this study, hearing parents of children with a hearing loss living and receiving services in the state of South Carolina rated their personal stress levels by completing an anonymous Likert-scale questionnaire. Data were collected from 151 participants via an online hosting site and analyzed using factor analysis, descriptive statistics, and ANOVA procedures. Hearing parents of children with a cochlear implant(s) (n = 37) scored the highest on all measures of stress except those measuring communication stress. Hearing parents of children with a bilateral hearing loss (n = 56) scored highest on communication stress. Hearing parents of children with a unilateral hearing loss (n = 58) scored lowest on all measures. One of the largest contributing factors to parental stress was the differing opinions educators and medical providers. The findings of this study contribute to positive social change by providing insight into how a childhood hearing loss influences stress in hearing parents. This information may help educators, service providers, and families provide better resources to the family system.

A mainstream course has several components that deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students must reconcile. In class, components can include the instructor, projection display, whiteboard, interpreting, and real-time captioning. Outside the classroom, components can include materials from the instructor, notes generated by a note-taker, and a lecture transcript generated via real-time captioning. Web conferencing software can be harnessed to create inclusive experiences for DHH students. Such software can place all components of a class session on a single screen to create a composite screen solution that can be viewed by students in real-time and recorded for later, self-paced review. A composite screen solution may increase performance and comprehension of DHH students in mainstream courses, along with their hearing counterparts. This mixed-methods study focused on the implementation of web conferencing software in a mainstream, college course to explore utilization of a composite screen solution by students inside the classroom. Quantitative data were collected and analyzed to determine impact on student performance. Qualitative data were also collected and analyzed to investigate participant perceptions about the intervention. There was no significant impact on student performance found based on student self-selected usage of the composite screen solution throughout the term. Hearing students utilized the composite screen solution significantly more than DHH students to compensate for obstructed views due to the design of a classroom and to make follow-along demonstrations easier. Alternatively, DHH students had unobstructed views with the projection screen and ASL interpreter in their field of vision. Overall, the live stream of the composite screen solution was not widely utilized by the intended target audience, DHH students, as anticipated. Instead, the results illustrate the importance of design and how a solution has the potential to help an unintended audience with unanticipated issues. The generalizability of the results, as they pertain to DHH students, are limited given the number of DHH participants.

Due to the specialist nature of their use of a visual language, Deaf and hard of hearing students have unique experiences at institutions of higher education. This research explored the experiences of Deaf teachers as students at Wits University. I employed a qualitative research design in the study. In -depth interviews and documentary information were used to collect data from twelve current and past Deaf and hard of hearing students. Current theory, practice and legislation designed to guide the creation of an inclusive education society were examined in order to explore the implications they have for Deaf students in terms of inclusion and access to education. The findings showed high level of academic competitiveness among the Deaf and hard of hearing students but low social participation. Their academic success was driven by factors such as commitment to Deaf education, the availability of interpreting services, having Deaf peers and their pre-university experiences.

This study presented the past, current, and proposed practice of intelligence testing with a unique population, students identified as deaf and hard of hearing (D/HH). As a basis for describing the cognitive ability of Utah's D/HH students and to improve practice guidelines, 61 D/HH students served by Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (USDB) were administered the Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test (UNIT) standard battery and the Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI) subtests from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV). Based on these data, composite score distributions were described and compared with national standardization samples. Participants' WISC-IV PRI scores are summarized with the following descriptive statistics: M = 88.95, 11.05 points below the standardization sample's mean; SD = 14.55; skew = -.74; and SE = .31. Comparing the USDB D/HH sample's WISC-IV PRI scores with the WISC-IV standardization sample's distribution of scores, the participants' scores were significantly lower (two-tailed p-value of <.0001). Participants' UNIT Standard Battery Composite scores are summarized with the following descriptive statistics: M = 90.74, 9.26 points less than the standardization sample's mean; SD = 13.97; skew = -.55; and SE = .31. Comparing this sample's UNIT composite scores with the standardization sample, the participants' scores were significantly lower (two-tailed p-value of <.0001). Additionally, a Pearson correlation compared each participant's scores on the WISC-IV PRI with the corresponding score on the UNIT Standard Battery Composite, yielding a correlation coefficient of .75 with a two-tailed p-value < .0001. Recommendations for future guidelines regarding cognitive assessment of Utah's D/HH students are presented. In particular, this research supported administering the UNIT rather than the WISC-IV. Though no assessment is language free, the UNIT's administration uses simple gestures for directions, rather than spoken language. Additionally, D/HH students were included in the standardization sample. Furthermore, administering one assessment, rather than several, consumes less time for the examiner and the student, saving money and decreasing student time away from classroom instruction.

Many attempts have been made to determine what factors are most important in one’s potential for learning to read. These have been investigated for the purpose of determining effective instructional procedures. This chapter on literacy development aims to problematize instructional approaches that emphasize children’s deficits and, instead, make more visible approaches that build on children’s strengths, regardless of their individual differences. A fundamental belief must be that literacy is teachable and, for all children, learnable. This chapter will delineate those aspects of literacy that are malleable, evidenced by case studies and research review, and will suggest pathways (i.e., skills, strategies, and procedures) that are most effective for teachers and researchers to pursue. It describes connections to the broad field of deafness and literacy development and implications for teachers, administrators, service providers, and others concerned with the literacy success of deaf and hard-of-hearing children.