Project Overview
I developed this course for the Atlanta Speech School and the Georgia Department of Education as a contractor for IDLance. This course was part of a series of four courses about literacy for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) children. I was the instructional designer for this course and worked directly with the client on it’s content. I also worked with a project manager and graphic designer from IDLance and coordinated with 3 other instructional designers who were working on the related courses (although those courses were for a different audience.)
This course is for caregivers and early intervention providers working with DHH children from birth to age 5 years. It includes simple, helpful ways to support the child’s early language, whether the family chooses to use ASL, spoken language, or both. Parents learn to build language into routines, make communication easier at home, and feel more confident as their child’s first teacher.
While this course is written for families, it also includes ideas and resources for early interventionists.
View the Full Course on Cox Learning
This entire course is publicly available on the Cox Campus website. Use the button below to navigate to the site and then choose Module 4: Language at Home for DHH Children Ages Birth to 5.
Working with Hearing and Deaf Stakeholders
My role with this project began by meeting with stakeholders and Subject Matter Experts to gather existing content and raw ideas. Since the content was for parents of DHH children, it was important that we gather feedback and insight from various professionals who both work with and are a part of the DHH community. This meant that stakeholder meetings involved working with both hearing and deaf subject matter experts, at least one of which relied on an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter during our calls.
Designing with Awareness of DHH Culture and Accessibility
As I developed the content of this course, I needed to consider cultural aspects of the DFF community as well as accessibility. This began during writing. The storyboard needed to be written with language that would feel inclusive to anyone taking the course, whether they were deaf, using a screen reader, navigating with the keyboard, or had a limited reading level. This went beyond remembering to use “select” instead of “click.” I learned a lot about the terms and phrases that users who were part of the DHH community would prefer or find offensive.
Image description: The screenshot of the course includes a brightly colored collection of DHH children and the text “Whether your family uses spoken language, sign language, or a bilingual approach, it’s important to give your child regular language experiences every day. That means using routines and making sure your home is set up so your child can see and/or hear language clearly.”
Designing the Course
After gathering materials and ideas from the stakeholders, I got to work on designing the course. This involved outlining the topics and then writing a detailed storyboard that included the learning objectives, lesson structure, course text, descriptions for the graphic designer, and alt text for all images that weren’t decorative. It also involved developing interactive activities such as the family compass activity pictured here.
Image description: The screenshot of the course includes an activity on a white square against a light green background. The activity walked the parents through creating a compass that included their family’s core values, long-term vision, daily practices, family strengths, and current questions.
Course Content
I really enjoyed working with the content of this course. I learned so much about how DHH children learn and experience the world. It was rewarding to put the content together, knowing that I would be helping parents learn to better support their child. The content included helping the family understand how to navigate the feelings that may come with a diagnosis of hearing loss. It also taught them about how language development works in young children and gave them practical strategies they could use with a DHH child.
The lessons in the course include:
- Rooted in Relationships
- Building Blocks of Language Development
- ASL Language Practices
- Spoken Language Practices
- Bilingual / Bimodal Language Practices
- Encouragement and Resources
Developing in Articulate Rise
After several review cycles, the storyboard was locked in and it was time to develop! I did most of the development work in Articulate Rise before passing it off to the graphic designer to add custom graphics. Although I’m capable of doing some light graphic work myself, it was nice to work with someone so talented to bring my ideas to life. Then, she handed the course back to me to add alt text on the graphics and make any final adjustments. The course was highly visually engaging while also being fully accessible. The client loved it and it now lives on Cox Campus as a free public resource for any parent, caregiver, or interventionist.
Image description: A screenshot of a course activity titled “Exploring How Language Begins.” The learner is instructed to select the icons on a stack of building blocks to learn more about how the foundation for language development is built in babies.
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