High-Tech Educational Toys for Blind Children
Deborah B. Gilden, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist
Multimedia games and educational materials provide sighted children with the sounds and graphics that attract their interest and make learning especially enjoyable. Visually impaired children, however, cannot benefit from the "a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words" value of attention-grabbing graphical presentations. Nor can they experience an easy and natural introduction to computers through play. The Smith-Kettlewell Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center has designed devices for blind children which marry traditional hands-on educational materials with electronic technology. Most utilize a speech synthesizer to verbally present tasks, and then provide feedback in the form of speech or music. The user responds by manipulating hands-on educational materials that are monitored by the system. The result is a family of devices for blind children which provides them with new knowledge and skills through enjoyable experiences.
The AUDITORY ARCADE and the TACT TELL SYSTEM are both computerized devices which call for the manipulation of educational materials. The Auditory Arcade is a self-contained stand-alone unit; the Tact Tell system is composed of hands-on educational materials and a "talking" computer. The educational materials for both devices have sensors to enable monitoring of the user's performance, and both provide synthetic speech feedback. Because the systems are modular, new tasks can be designed and added. Our prototypes help youngsters improve their texture matching ability, auditory memory span, fine motor skills, tactile exploration strategies, tactile object recognition, auditory word recognition, geography knowledge, ability to solve time problems, etc.
THE-FORMBOARD WITH A BRAIN is an electronic shape puzzle which rewards correct shape insertions by playing music and for activating a battery-powered toy. The shape receptacles can be configured in an astronomically large number of ways, and present tasks ranging from 1 to 9 shape insertions. Deaf-blind children can also enjoy the FORMBOARD WITH A BRAIN either by feeling the toy's motion or by taking advantage of a vibratory mode built into the base. The multi-sensory nature of the feedback makes this puzzle usable by all children, even those who are deaf and blind. This device is commercially available from Toys for Special Children.
KINDER KEYBOARDS( makes computer keys function as the buttons on a talking educational toy or interactive game board. Our first module is based on K is for Kiss Goodnight, an alphabet bedtime story by Jill Sardegna (Doubleday). The computer recites the entire book as well as announces individual phrases associated with specific keys. Related keyboard games will make it fun to learn letter names, sounds, and key locations. In a second module, Letter Hunt, the computer indicates a key to be pressed by stating letter name, letter name clue (e.g. "Press the letter after 'B' in the alphabet"), spatial information (e.g. "It's under letter 'Q"'), etc. Feedback is presented such as "Try again to find letter 'A"'; "You're getting warmer"; "It's in a different row"; "Move to the left"; etc. For braille preparation, questions could be "Find the letter which is made of dots 1, 2, and 3."
We plan to develop JUMBO KEYS for children with low vision by coloring large areasof the plastic moisture guard on a keyboard. Special software graphics will teach color matching, pattern sequencing, etc. Adding artificial speech will extend this list to include a variety of other concepts such as "in front of."
The hands-on interactions and instant speech feedback provided by many of the educational devices developed at the Smith-Kettlewell Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center offer both blind and sighted youngsters enjoyable approaches to acquiring new information, developing new skills, and becoming more sophisticated in the use of technology.