This project will develop and evaluate an interactive multimedia program to enhance awareness of uses of assistive technology. The information will be presented in a storybook format using CD-ROM technology. The target audience will be students with disabilities; their teachers, therapists, parents, and non-disabled peers. The program will feature a child with disabilities; a children's book will be written that will involve him, other peers with disabilities, and their use of technology. A computer- based interactive multimedia program will be developed using video, animation, music digitized speech, other sounds, still photography, text, and graphics. Each page of the book will be presented as a computer screen and will feature various uses of assistive technology in relevant functional areas. {Provisions will be made for alternate methods of selection, captioning of video, and audio description of animations. An instructional guide will be developed to provide information to teachers, therapists, and parents. A print book version of the illustrated story will also be created. All materials will be field tested nationally. This CD-ROM package is intended to be marketed by distributors of educational software and assistive technology products for use in classrooms and homes across the United States. The introduction of assistive technology in an interactive electronic storybook format should prove to have wide commercial value for home and school use.
The CD-ROM,Instructional Guide package will be marketed through distributors of educational media and materials and assistive technology products. The base of CD-ROM players should support use in homes, schools and clinics and low cost of production should insure its availability to persons who can benefit from its use.
