Leslie+Module+1

Preface: Module 1 At the beginning of the year I began to use a reading program that was developed by Project PREPARE HOPE, Inc., 1856 North 1200 East, North Logan, Ut. 84341, www.hopepubl.com It is called the ELF Program or Early Literacy Fun. It was developed to teach deaf or hard of hearing students to read who have some ASL [American Sign Language] signing skills). I use this program for two profoundly deaf students who know some limited signs. One student in particular is quite bright, but also has another impairment, cerebral palsy. Because of spastic motions he is unable to control the mouse at this time and the teacher must do it. He can sign a few signs ( his own dialect) and can smile when it is the right answer. He has gone through the entire program during this year and learned all 120 words with 95% accuracy. The other student has multi-disabilities as well, but we have not been able to distinguish if he comprehends the material. At this time he just views the lessons.

The ELF program has two sets of CDROMs. Each set consists of three disks. The first two disks contain 30 words each. And the third set is a test disk. When the disk is turned on a smiling green elf appears on the screen and then turns into a menu of four choices. Each unit offers an introduction of the teacher signing to some deaf children, the 10 words in an easy demonstration to learn the single word and also in a sentence with actions, a simple test on the 10 words and a fun section with games and song. The first disk on Set 1 offers all verbs e.g. ride,push,sleep,wash,make etc. for 30 verbs, but only 10 words per unit. The second disk offers 30 adjectives e.g. hot, cold, excited, mad,scared, etc., but only 10 words in each unit. what I have noticed is that the words center around a problem-centered principle. For example, the new words are introduced in Unit One as the teacher and two students visit the farm. They climb the ladder and jump in the hay. They ride in wagon and take turns pushing and pulling. They kick a ball and play with some objects. All the actions are verbs. The students are next introduced to each of the ten words. The teacher signs the word and the child sees the word at the same time,plus there appears animated actions and pictures of the word. The teacher then uses the word in a simple sentence or in a simple command, e.g. Climb up. Come here. The student reads the simple words and sees some action taking place. The student can play and replay the action many times over and see the action. This makes for excellent demonstration of the 10 words. The third option is the 10 word quiz. The teacher signs the action of the word and asks the students to choose the correct word from three words presented. The student is able to see if he/she can read and find the correct word by clicking on it. If the student is correct a BIG sign comes on the screen with balloons or fireworks. The total score is given after the student finishes the 10 word quiz. The last option is a song and games. These are signed by an actual deaf person who is highly animated with her face. She has many games and fun panto-mines to watch. They are all different and engaging to watch. She signs all the 10 words in a context as the student watches. This last part uses the principle of integration. I would rate this program with a Level 3 Instructional Strategy because it uses problem=centered information, demonstration and application.

Module 2 The ELF Program uses a series of portrayals which show a specific event or person doing a particular thing in a one case scenario when presenting each word in a lesson,e.g. push, wagon. The teacher signs the word "push" and the student reads the word "push". Then the teachers signs the word "wagon and push" and the student sees a wagon being pushed by a little girl. The student can click on just the word "push" or he can click on the sentence "Push wagon" and see the little girl push the wagon as many times as he wants. This method demonstrates both Part-of and also What happens. The part-of shows the word as it is placed in the greater sentence using the word and it shows what happens when the sentence is used with the word. I'm not sure if I understand all the definitions, yet. I've read them over and viewed the figures, but maybe I'm not able to see how ELF generalizes to this assignment. The program also uses Simon-Says. The teacher signs the word and the students tries to sign the word and then reads the word ( in his mind). The program uses all four instructional strategies: Tell, Ask, Show, and Do. The teacher signs the word and then shows the word in English and also shows a demonstration of the word. The teacher signs "sleep" and closes her eyes. She then signs" alseep in bed " and the screen shows a little girl laying her head down on a bed and closing her eyes. The student reads "Asleep in bed". In the quiz the teacher asks the student to identify sleep as she signs "sleep". If the student selects the correct word the little girl appears and goes to sleep in her bed. The student must recall the word in his mind and recognize the word, "sleep".If the student cannot recall the word as the students signs, he can click on "click" and see the little girl in bed that could perhaps help him to recall the word. The program uses both matching guidance and divergent guidance by using similar words like "write or wash" or dissimilar words like " eat and climb". the program uses corrective feedback by using a BIG RED X when the response is incorrect, but it does not explain why. The range of difficulty is gradual. The first two units are relatively easy, but sentences get harder and harder as the students progresses forward learning more words and signs. ( Actually the student is supposed to know how to sign all the signs, but the teacher ( me) does not and it gets more difficult as my student progresses, if I don't recognize the sign. Of course, I can read the words. My student is sometimes learning both, signing and reading and we give extra time and repetitions for that.