Language skills were investigated in a multicultural sample of 13 prelingually deaf children (11 profoundly deaf from birth) who received cochlear implants between 14 and 38 months of age; average duration of implant use was 49 months. Individual post-implant language skills ranged from extremely delayed to age appropriate. On average, skills…

The present study has three purposes: (a) to determine who disseminates information on cochlear implants on the Web; (b) to describe a representative sample of Web sites that disseminate information on cochlear implants, with a focus on the content topics and their relevance to parents of deaf children; and (c) to discuss the practical issues of…

The Achievements of Deaf Pupils in Scotland (ADPS) project has been tracking the educational attainment of deaf pupils in Scotland's schools since 2000. At the time of writing, the database contains records for 1,752 deaf pupils (2000--2005). Here 4-year aggregate educational attainment data are reported for a subset of 152 school-aged deaf pupils…

Five cases of non-use of cochlear implants by children were investigated through semi-structured interviews with the children and their carers. The children were interviewed at school by a researcher who is deaf, and the carers, all of whom were hearing, were interviewed at home by a hearing researcher when the children were not present. The…

Background: People with aphasia may experience difficulties that prevent them from demonstrating in writing what they know and can produce orally. Voice recognition systems that allow the user to speak into a microphone and see their words appear on a computer screen have the potential to assist written communication. Aim: This study investigated…

Purpose: To investigate the effects of talker variability on vowel recognition by cochlear implant (CI) users and by normal-hearing (NH) participants listening to 4-channel acoustic CI simulations. Method: CI users were tested with their clinically assigned speech processors. For NH participants, 3 CI processors were simulated, using different…

This paper describes a project carried out by the first author, an academic in special education, with the other authors, teachers of students with severe disabilities. It aimed to explore the application of the New South Wales (NSW) model of pedagogy, derived from authentic pedagogy, to the education of students with severe intellectual…

The purpose of this study was to survey universities that have teacher-preparation programs for teaching students with visual impairments and deaf-blindness to determine how assistive technology training is integrated into the programs' curricula. The survey investigated how the knowledge of assistive technology is addressed (whether in specific…

Many individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) have difficulty recognizing emotions in themselves and others. The present pilot study explored the use of assistive technology to teach emotion recognition (ER) to eight children with ASC. Participants were between the ages of 8 and 11 years and had a diagnosis of Asperger syndrome (AS). ER…

This article presents systems that use speech technology, to emulate the one-on-one interaction a student can get from a virtual instructor. A web-based learning tool, the Learn IN Context (LINC+) system, designed and used in a real mixed-mode learning context for a computer (C++ language) programming course taught at the Université de Moncton…

The Montessori philosophy advocates that the classroom be a reflection of the home, the community, and the world. Now, a century after Maria Montessori founded her Casa dei Bambini, the world is becoming a high-technology society, with computers a part of everyday American lives. Computers are almost a household necessity, and basic…

The Tips for Transition contains 134 Transition Tips submitted from all over the country by practitioners. The purpose of the Tips was to identify grassroots transition practices being used by practitioners. Tips are categorized into the following domains: (1) Transition Planning; (2) Student Involvement; (3) Family Involvement; (4) Curriculum and…

Since 1998 there has been a dramatic increase in children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), resulting in an estimated prevalence of 1 in 150 children. Federal law requires schools to educate children with ASD in the least restrictive environment, increasing the number of children with ASD in regular classrooms. Teacher preparation…

Speech technology--especially automatic speech recognition--has now advanced to a level where it can be of great benefit both to able-bodied people and those with various disabilities. In this paper we describe an application "TalkMaths" which, using the output from a commonly-used conventional automatic speech recognition system,…

Beginning your college education means you'll be exploring a new place, making new friends, learning new things and setting your own priorities. You are going to face a lot of big changes in a short time. That's exciting--and challenging. The more prepared you are for college when you get there, the more ready you'll be to address these new…