In 1992, the Web was invented by Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) as an application over the Internet using TCP/IP protocol as stated in the World Wide Web Consortium (WC3). Accessing local IS to process data is no longer appropriate in the revolution of distributed processing. Web environments are heterogeneous and portable. First, the Web was developed for textual publishing purposes. However, in parallel the rapid advances of related technology and the incredible growth of ubiquitous data, the Web has evolved from a static medium for information sharing into an interactive multimedia platform that includes video, sound, animation, with dynamic links. In the light of these advancements, Web accessibility and associated problems (eg. People with deafness), represent a serious obstacle that prohibits people with special needs from accessing telecommunication systems. The Deaf Community’ is almost a closed community that has its own language (i.e. sign language), customs and traditions. There is little research around the world investigating direct machine translation of sign language. To avoid machine translation and associated problems, this thesis built on current Web technology to integrate Signage Information into the Web environment. As part of this integration, it made use of an ‘Intermediary Signage Object’ rather than intermediate transmission of video-based sign language. Finally, this thesis provides a Sign Language Annotation tool. It generates an XML document in order to process signage object content. The Graphical Usage Interface (GUI) contains a display window that plays customized sign language clips according to the sign viewers’ preferences. The Signage Tool extends IBM VideoAnnEx Tool to include sign language attributes and related data. In addition, it has been developed for different types of users involved with the deaf community (i.e. hearing impairment, hard of hearing, and sign language interpreters.) / Master of Science (Hons.)

<p>This thesis o ers some prototypes to provide browser-based and mobile video communication services for Deaf people and evaluates these prototypes. The aim of this research is to identify an acceptable video communication technology for Deaf people by designing and evaluating several prototypes. The goal is to nd one that Deaf people would like to use in their day-to-day life. The thesis focuses on two technologies | browser-based systems and mobile applications. Several challenges emerged, for example, speci c Deaf user requirements are di cult to obtain, the technical details must be hidden from end users, and evaluation of prototypes includes both technical and social aspects. This thesis describes work to provide South African Sign Language communication for Deaf users in a disadvantaged Deaf community in Cape Town. We posit an experimental design to evaluate browser-based and mobile technologies in order to learn what constitutes acceptable video communication for Deaf users. Two browser-based prototypes and two mobile prototypes were built to this e ect. Both qualitative data and quantitative data are collected with user tests to evaluate the prototypes. The video quality of Android satis es Deaf people, and the portable asynchronous communication is convenient for Deaf users. The server performance is low on bandwidth, and will therefore cost less than other alternatives, although Deaf people feel the handset is costly.</p>

Communication is an integral part of life that allows for independence. It is common for individuals with disabilities to have deficits in communication, which often coincide with an increased presence of challenging behavior. One successful method of addressing this issue is the use of functional analysis to determine the function of challenging behavior. Next, functional communication training is used to teach the individual an a socially-appropriate and functionally-equivalent method of communication so that he/she no longer relies on challenging behavior in order to get his/her needs met. While functional communication training has proven to be a helpful procedure, it has been noted that it should be combined with other procedures for maximum efficiency. Additionally, very little research has targeted the generalization of skills acquired via functional communication training, although, research clearly identifies that generalization of skills as an area of difficulty among individuals with developmental disabilities. One possibility of improving both the intervention and the generalization of skills is the use of motivating operations. Motivating operations are any environmental change that alters the value of a reinforcer. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess the effects of potential motivating operations on functional communication training and generalization of newly acquired skills across four participants. This was accomplished by conducting functional analyses on each participant. The maintaining condition was repeated with pre-session conditions of either no access to the reinforcer or satiation with the reinforcer to identify motivating operations. These pre-session conditions, which were identified as motivating operations, were then implemented prior to functional communication training sessions, in the effect of no prior access to the reinforcer or 15 minutes of prior access to the reinforcer. This was again repeated with four different generalization assessments. Several patterns of behaviors resulted. First, functional communication training was improved for two participants when prior access to the reinforcer was implemented. Second, approximately half of the generalization assessments also showed improved responding when the participant had prior access to the reinforcer. Also, prior access to the reinforcer rarely impaired intervention or generalization. The results, limitations, and further research are discussed. / text

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The purpose of this study was to examine the processes and patterns of communicative interaction which preschool and elementary school-aged deaf and hearing siblings utilized to initiate, maintain and terminate dialogs during play. Specifically, the focus was to determine if the processes and patterns of communication differed when a deaf sibling interacted with an older hearing sibling who has been exposed primarily to a simultaneous visual-auditory (SimVA) pattern of communication, as compared to when a deaf sibling interacted with a younger hearing sibling who has been exposed to both a SimVA and a sequential visual (Seq V) pattern of communication. Video-taped playbouts were observed between each of two sibling dyads at play within a single family: (a) an older dyad composed of a seven-year-old hearing child and her five-year-old deaf sister, and (b) a younger dyad with the second-born deaf sister and her three-year-old hearing brother. The video-tapes were coded to determine: the kinds of play siblings engaged in; the use and expression of behavioral and communicative elements of attention-getting, exchange of information, and termination processes of dialogs; who initiated and terminated dialogs; the occurrence of turn-taking during message delivery; and the expression of patterns of communication used by siblings during dialogs. Only three of five possible kinds of play were actually noted, of which social play was the most frequently observed kind of play taking place between siblings within both dyads. In the older hearing and deaf sibling dyad, it was found that the older hearing sister predominately used visual processes and patterns of communicative interaction when conversing with her deaf sister, whereas the deaf sibling relied extensively on visual-auditory processes and patterns of communication when conversing with her hearing sister. In the younger dyad, visual-auditory patterns of communication predominated both hearing and deaf siblings' expression of processes and patterns of communication with each other. New terminology reflecting siblings' behavioral and communicative patterns of communication are introduced. This study represents the first known research examining the processes and patterns of deaf and hearing siblings' behavioral and communicative interactions of dialog. The findings are discussed in relation to potential applications to early intervention programs for hearing families with deaf and hearing siblings and to future research directions. Overall, the findings from this study appear to indicate that deaf and hearing siblings communicate in ways largely influenced by developmental maturation and the communicative environments to which each child has been exposed during language acquisition processes. The findings are also consistent with Vygotsky's theory of a sociocultural origin of language development.

It is practically impossible to peruse any discussion relating to psychology or philosophy without encountering frequent references to sense deprivation. These usually take the form of supposititious analogies regarding the world of the blind and the deaf, and, in many cases such analogies are entirely incorrect . It is the aim of the present work to place the aberrations from what is commonly accepted as normal mental development which accompany the loss of vision or hearing, in a more scientific and unprejudiced light than that in which they have hitherto been considered. The writer himself with vision so seriously defective as to place him well within t he scope of the common definition applied to blindness , recently became interested i n the purely psychological aspects of sense deprivation . It occurred to him that psychology as a science ought to be able to contribute toward the solution of the educational and social problems of the blind and the deaf, and he believes that the material incorporated in the following chapters is sufficient to justify this hypothesis. [...]

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<p>This thesis o ers some prototypes to provide browser-based and mobile video communication services for Deaf people and evaluates these prototypes. The aim of this research is to identify an acceptable video communication technology for Deaf people by designing and evaluating several prototypes. The goal is to nd one that Deaf people would like to use in their day-to-day life. The thesis focuses on two technologies | browser-based systems and mobile applications. Several challenges emerged, for example, speci c Deaf user requirements are di cult to obtain, the technical details must be hidden from end users, and evaluation of prototypes includes both technical and social aspects. This thesis describes work to provide South African Sign Language communication for Deaf users in a disadvantaged Deaf community in Cape Town. We posit an experimental design to evaluate browser-based and mobile technologies in order to learn what constitutes acceptable video communication for Deaf users. Two browser-based prototypes and two mobile prototypes were built to this e ect. Both qualitative data and quantitative data are collected with user tests to evaluate the prototypes. The video quality of Android satis es Deaf people, and the portable asynchronous communication is convenient for Deaf users. The server performance is low on bandwidth, and will therefore cost less than other alternatives, although Deaf people feel the handset is costly.</p>