With young readers now having the latest screen-based reading options like e-books, touch-phones, DVDs and more, we are firmly in the digital age.
In the US, a new DVD to teach children sign language is now on release. It is based on “Goodnight Moon” and other bedtime stories, adapted from the 1947 storybook by Margaret Wise Brown.
Each DVD in this set has three best-selling stories with vocal and ASL (American sign language) narration. To develop the reader’s early literacy skills, ASL vocabulary lessons and reading comprehension questions are included. These add-ons show technology is strongly influencing education.
iPhone applications are undeniably one of the best known ways to sell products. Applications are no longer games that you play on the bus, and developers recognize this.
iStorytime, the iPhone app developer for Dreamworks’ “How to Train your Dragon“, is to make the award-winning children’s picture book “Danny the Dragon Meets Jimmy” into a children’s book iPhone app with an ASL option.
“Danny The Dragon Meets Jimmy” is available as a book or DVD (with ASL). The app is due to be available by August. This will be the first application of its kind and ideally will inspire other application developers to follow suit.
Other iPhone apps available, include:
- The Grace App (€29.99) allows user/s to communicate with pictures, based on the PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System). You can use the camera on your phone/iPod to add pictures to the app.
- Baby Sign ASL (free/€3.99 for full version) Aimed at kids, this app gives pictures with corresponding signs. Animals, places, and numbers are the signs available at present.
- iASL (€2.39) This app allows you to type in a sentence and using its video database it will translate this sentence into the relevant signs.
VAT can be reclaimed on iTouch, iPhone and iPad products that are used for educational purposes. Just download & complete VAT form 61A & post to Revenue with a copy of your child’s medical records to validate your claim.
(compiled by Miriam Walsh)
