Sign Language Mobile Assistive Technology
-Morocco
Mobile Learning Week
February 23-27, 2015
Sign Language Mobile Assistive Technology
A. Soudi1 and C. Vinopol2
1 Center for Languages and Communication/Ingénierie
Linguistique, Technologie et Handicap, ENMSR–
Morocco
[email protected]
2 Institute for Disabilities Research and Training, Inc.
United States
[email protected]
Mobile Learning Week
February 23-27, 2015
Deaf Education
in Morocco
Education of deaf children in Morocco is very dire:
• Approximately 85% do not attend school and there is no education beyond
6th grade.
• Most teachers who do work with this population have no training in special
education.
• Illiteracy within the deaf population (300,000) is rampant.
• Educational materials that incorporate Moroccan Sign Language (MSL) are
almost non-existent and only handmade.
US-Moroccan
Collaboration
Over the past several years, we have been collaborating with
the Institute for Disabilities Research and Training, Inc (IDRT),
a woman-owned small business in Maryland:
- PEER Science Project cycle 3: “Tools and resources to
improve deaf educational access to science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics”
-PEER Science Project Cycle 1: “Assistive Technologies for
improving Literacy among the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing”
_______________________
US-Moroccan
Collaboration
Moroccan Sign Language Instructional Materials Literacy
Literacy Innovations Round 2 Competition
All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development
Our Goal
To develop high quality, low-cost technology
ASSISTIVE solutions that:
• Enhance literacy by incorporating sign
language supports
• Help professionals and parents create
and share their own sign languagesupported instructional materials
• Provide sign language users with
instructional materials and tools to
improve their life-long learning and
communication
Accomplishments
To date, the collaboration between the US and Moroccan teams
has resulted in:
• Standard Written Arabic-to-Moroccan Sign Language (MSL)
translator
• Dictionary showing MSL graphic and video translations of
common vocabulary
• Storybooks
• Educational Games (crossword puzzles, etc.)
• Quizzes
This is the welcome page of our “Translation” application: “Text/Sign Translation”,
“Categorization”, “Dictionary”, “Keyboard”, etc.
This is the welcome page of the “Discover” application. Users can choose an item that
represents a category (e.g. Health, Animals, Time, Education etc. )
.
After choosing a category (in this case “TIME”) the user should watch the video of the
sign, and then click the appropriate word on the left. This tool is useful not only for the
Deaf but also for their parents and service providers.
This is the welcome page of the “Maths” tool, the user can choose among the four basic
arithmetic operations.
The “Text/Sign Translation” section allows the translation from a typed/scanned Arabic Standard
Text (AST) to Moroccan Sign Language (MSL). The output in MSL can be in the form of Graphic
Signs or videos.
This is the welcome page of the “Story”application; the window shows
four stories represented by the four clickable images.
•
After choosing a story, the user can navigate easily through the story by using the
right and left arrow; the user can read and at the same time view the story signed
in MSL (video) on the the left at the top. Also he/she can see the MSL translation
(in video) of some individual words that are colored and underlined in the text of
each scene.
Goal:
To secure further funding in order to:
• Perpetuate the collaboration between the
Moroccan and US R&D teams so as to develop more
technology and expand its dissemination.
• Modify the technology developed for the benefit of
deaf and hard of hearing children and youth in other
Arabic-speaking countries (initially) and later to other
countries in need of such technology.
Moroccan Team
USA partner team
Contact
Information
Morocco Team
Email: [email protected]
USA Team
[email protected]