I currently have a preschooler and like so many other preschoolers he enjoys watching preschool programing and he learns a lot from them. My thought pertains to preschoolers who are deaf or hard of hearing…the only widely used captioning system is closed captions (words at the bottom of the screen). How does this system benefit a preschooler who can’t read? Why not offer a sign window on preschool programming so those who have hearing impaired children can also see the benefit of the wide variety of programming out there without sitting next to their child being an interpreter?
Many years ago when my oldest was a preschooler he would try to watch shows geared toward preschoolers but he would get lost in the story and what was going on so he stopped watching the programs altogether. Every once in a while we would come across a show that was doing a segment on ASL so a part of the show would be signed and he LOVED that but for the most part he was out in the cold.
My thought is if this programming is out there to help youngsters learn things like a,b,c’s, counting and reading why not really make it accessible to ALL children, hearing or not. If networks are willing to spend money putting the programming on why can’t they spend a little more to truely make it enjoyable and understandabke for all preschoolers?
I can relate with losing interest quickly if I can’t understand what is going on in a video without captioning. This would be a genius idea to add a window or something to sign language!
It seems like an idea that someone should of already put in motion. I really believe that a lot of smaller deaf children are being put at a disadvantage because there isn’t as much mainstream support to make sure they succeed like having the signing windows.
I think it’s one of those situations where no one has really thought of that or knew how to put it into motion. It is frustrating that there are so many resources out there that can help deaf/hh (or anyone with a disability really) but either no one knows about it or knows how to implement it. It’s the worst when the disadvantage starts at such a young age because it snowballs into the rest of their life. I wonder… how could you put this in motion? Petition to YouTube? Contact a deaf/hh activist group?
I really have no idea how this would be put into motion but there has to be a way. Maybe contacting the stations that air chikdrens programs would be a start.