Türk İşaret Dili Kullanan Sağır Çocuklar İçin İkidilli Okuma Gelişimi 2

BACKGROUND

Although there are applications that will provide the language, education and cognitive development of deaf children in many western countries, visual education materials for pre-school deaf children are very limited in Turkey. This situation causes deaf children to not develop enough knowledge, reading skills, language, and cognitive skills. There is a need for materials that will support deaf children's development of Turkish Sign Language and Turkish language, support their creativity, and contribute to their further education and social life.

PROJECT GOALS

• The Story app will be made dynamic to add multiple stories.
• Five Papuduk children's books published by the Sabancı Foundation and the Angry Spider Rıza story will be interactively integrated into the application.
• For each story, a sample lesson plan will be prepared for teachers to use, informing children about the vocabulary and structure of sign languages, as well as activities that will improve children's creative skills.

PROJECT RESULTS

• The children’s storybook app, which is compatible with Android and iOS devices in Turkish Sign Language (TİD) and Turkish created within the first year of the project between 2019–2020 as part of the Sabancı Foundation Grant Program, was turned into “Bilingual Stories” in the second stage in a dynamic structure that allows new books to be included.
• In addition to the Keloğlan story formulated in the first year of the project, five children’s books from the Papuduk book series and the Rıza the Grouchy Spider story were also included in the application.
• The books were translated into the TİD, enriched with animations, and given additional support through subtitles, audio descriptions, and voice animations. The application contains a rich set of interactions including Turkish to TİD translation – that is, word to video – as well as vocalization for each word.
• The TİD-Turkish dictionary within the storybook application now features interactivity.
• Workshop programs were organized with children to test and share the application.

Testimonials

“I can now watch the story with sign language. I’m learning my ABCs to boot. I like it very much. I want more different stories like this.” A Child Using the Application – 6 Years Old

“I downloaded the app. All stories are translated into sign language. I showed it to my daughter, and she devoured the stories one by one. It is a lovely app.” A Parent Whose Child Uses the Application