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The alphabet in colourThe alphabet in colour
A window on the worldA window on the world
Kassandra Soares – Student
Rachel Leclair – School Principal
Louise Bonneau – Teacher
Denis Joncas – Teacher
Éric Roussel – Teacher
Daniel Tourigny – School board IT
Jocelyn Hamelin – Microsoft Canada
Donald Belcham – Edmonton .Net user
group
She wants to read novels and go on the Internet like the other children in her class.
The technology developed does not allow such high volume and such great versatility.
The CSMV calls on Microsoft...
Project team
Centre suprarégional
en déficience visuelle
Commission scolaire Marie-Victorin
Longueuil
Kassandra arrives at our school in 2001-2002.
She is placed in a group of 7 pupils with multiple handicaps.
Like her classmates, she wants to learn to read and write.
An optical atrophy limits her vision to perception of patches of colour.
Kassandra
A severe motor and sensory insufficiency prevents her from learning Braille.
•Use of voice synthesis as a learning method.
• Use of communication boards with coloured pictures.
• Use of a colour communication mode.
Possibilities considered
Creation of the colour Creation of the colour alphabetalphabet
2- Insertion of 10 colours in rectangles. Creation of the first 10 letters.
1- Identification of 10 easily perceived colours
3- Insertion of a white strip under the 10 coloured rectangles. Creation of 10 new letters.
•The colour alphabet is created. All you have to do is experiment with it.
4- Insertion of a black strip under the 10 coloured rectangles. Creation of 10 new letters.
Unforeseen disadvantages
The alphabet takes a long time to colour.The letters are difficult for Kassandra to pick up.Kassandra can’t colour or cut out her letters without assistance.The pupils can’t read Kassandra’s messages. Kassandra learns quickly and needs a lot of letters.
Anticipated advantages
The alphabet will be easy to create. It will be used easily. It will favour Kassandra’s participation. It will be inexpensive. It will evolve as she learns.
Choosing a colour communication mode.
Experimentation phasesExperimentation phases
1
2
3
4
Letters, paper, scissors, glue...
Everything it takes to learn to read and write.
Kassandra learns to read
The letters are computer generated, printed and cut out. They are then glued to form words, sentences, exercises and books. The work is long and difficult but Kassandra perseveres and learns.
Éric the computer teacher replaces the letters on our standard keyboards with Kassandra’s letters, using the automatic correction option.
Progress for teachers…
We can print texts with the colour alphabet and thus create learning material faster. However, Kassandra doesn’t have enough visual acuity and fine motor skills to use a regular computer keyboard.We are still adapting all her school material.
Adaptation of school material… a daily chore.
The arrival of computer technology lets us introduce punctuation, accents and numbers…
While offering Kassandra a wider variety of learning material.
Discovery of the flat keyboardThe flat keyboard (Intellikeys) can be programmed with Overlay Maker. Just remove the existing interface and replace it with the one produced with Kassandra’s coloured letters.
2
4
1
3
The flat keyboard lets Kassandra write on the computer like her friends.She can thus continue to learn more independently.
Kassandra’s demands are growing.
She wants to read novels and go on the Internet like the other children in her class.
The technology developed does not allow such high volume and such great versatility.
The CSMV calls on Microsoft...
Problem at this point…
Use existing software
Create a font
Develop a translation application
Possibilities
Donald BelchamIndependent ConsultantPresident of Edmonton .Net User GroupMS MVP C#www.igloocoder.comdonald.belcham@igloocoder.com
Dave WoodsIndependent ConsultantMS MVP Securitywww.haveyougotwoods.comdave@solidhouse.com
John Bristowe – MS Developer Evangelist
Email contact with Jocelyn Hamelin
Direct contact with Daniel Tourigny
Agile methodology - www.agilemanifesto.orgSoftware requirements are driven by the usersSoliciting constant feedbackProviding users with many opportunities to see progressEnd product should not be a surprise
All communication is via email
Feature requests and defects via website
Microsoft .NET 2.0C#Office 2003
Test Driven Design (TDD)Iterative Development
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008NUnitRhinoMocks
Driven by the users and communityWe have some ideas though
More input formatsMore output formatsUser defined image sets
Results obtained:
Thanks to her determination and perseverance, Kassandra has learned how to read, write and count, despite her handicaps.
« Élever un enfant c’est lui apprendre à se passer de nous.»
Ernest Legouré
Thank you...
To Kassandra’s family, to our trainees, coaches, educators and other staff, thank you for accompanying us in this process.
To our colleagues, pedagogical counsellor, principal and school board, a big thank you for your support throughout this adventure.
Louise, Denis and Éric,
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