RFID comes to the rescue of deaf students

Filed in archive Implementation on September 9, 2009

Life will certainly become easier if not normal for deaf children. Armed with a $390,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Robert Hancock and Becky Sue Parton, two assistant professors will be able to build upon their earlier research which brings together common objects and RFID technology to enable deaf children to learn American Sign Language in a seamless manner.

Initially five hundred objects with RFID tags are being developed which would set off computer to act with instructional content such as images of the object or videos of human interpreter signing the word.

The new RFID system for teaching is being touted as better in all respects to the traditional teaching methods. This would be completely different from traditional teaching methods where deaf children are taught sign language by combining objects with simple drawings to represent the corresponding signs and this teaching method has its own fallacy as it causes a child to lag five or six years in acquiring language skills.