Interactive learning technology for the deaf

This volume collects the proceedings of a NATO Advanced Research Workshop on interactive learning technology for deaf learners. The meeting took place from June 4 to 7, 1991, in Sint-Michielsgestel in the Netherlands. Frans Coninx directed the workshop, supported by a scientific committee made up of Ben Elsendoorn, Richard Foulds and Christopher Jones.

The organisers saw real promise in interactive learning tools for improving the schooling of deaf children, and they also felt that current methods for helping these children acquire language had room to improve. Research on sign language acquisition, deaf education, speech production and listening skills, and interactive technology existed, but it was spread across journals and conference proceedings. No earlier gathering had brought specialists from these separate fields together in one room.

The workshop aimed to create a multidisciplinary forum where experts in deaf education and in interactive learning technology could share ideas and findings from many angles, and where collaboration could grow afterwards. The organisers insisted on including specialists from the bilingual, oral and Total Communication (TC) approaches to deaf education, so that the discussions would reflect the full range of views in the field.