RE: mistake in web page

I think that Beth is generally correct - but am aware of kids who are legally
deaf who do use amplified text-to-speech to help gain access to subject area
content such as social studies and science.  Many children who are deaf do
experience reading difficulties which complicates the use of captions on video
(analog or digital) for elementary school children.  Captions are often
fleeting and the oral language used in a video is often well above the
learners reading level.

Since synthesized speech as an access tool for prepared text is not generally
considered "critical" for those who are deaf, I would be inclined to change
it.

On the other hand, as Chuck Letourneau points out, individuals who are deaf or
have severe motor expressive difficulties often use synthesized speech to
generate language that others can more easily understand.  This, of course,
would not apply to the use of such speech to read prepared web pages.

Chuck


***********************************
Chuck Hitchcock, Director
Universal Design Lab (UDL)and
Product Development,
CAST, Inc.,
39 Cross Street, Peabody, MA 01960
Voice 978 531-8555
TTY 978 531-3110
Fax 978 531-0192
<http://cast.org/>
<http://cast.org/bobby/>

Received on Tuesday, 31 August 1999 14:12:04 UTC