(Describer) Streams of light collide to create a globe filled with water. Title: Science Nation. A boy puts on gloves – one red and one purple.
(male narrator)
Gloves, camera, action.
Thomas Nelson
is playing CopyCat,
a unique, fun way
to learn sign language.
(male)
Let's see what the tutor
says to say.
(Describer) A man signs in the game.
"The cat is under the chair."
(narrator)
Thomas was two when doctors
diagnosed profound deafness.
My first thought when
I discovered he was deaf,
I would never hear my son
tell me he loved me.
(Describer) Signing, Cheryl Nelson reads to him.
...and added a dozen eggs.
(narrator)
Cheryl immediately started
to learn sign language.
But it's not easy.
(Describer) He wears a hearing aid.
Studies show
that nearly 75 percent
of hearing parents
of deaf children
never become
fluent signers.
(male)
Only 25 percent of kids
are getting good
sign language at home.
(Describer) Thad Sterner:
They're so behind
learning language,
they're missing
school lessons.
(narrator)
With support from the
National Science Foundation,
computer scientist
Thad Starner and his team
at the Georgia Institute
of Technology
are developing
interactive tools
like CopyCat
to make sign language
easier to learn for the deaf
and the hearing communities.
This cell phone app
called SMARTSign
helps hearing people
who get stuck on a word.
Careless.
(female)
It gives you the sign.
Having it on your cell phone
is a huge help.
(Describer) Video plays a person signing.
More.
(narrator)
Though his son can hear...
Do you want more?
(narrator)
Jeff Wilson taught Wyatt
simple signs
months
before he could talk.
Whenever we gave Wyatt
a bottle of milk,
we'd do this sign, American
Sign Language sign for milk.
(Describer) A hand squeezing.
Eventually, he started doing it
without any prompting.
(narrator)
So instead of crying
for his bottle, he signs.
Good job.
(narrator)
CopyCat is primarily
being developed for classrooms.
Thomas wears gloves
with motion sensors.
A camera tracks
his movements.
When he signs correctly,
he earns points
and moves on.
(Starner)
Children must help
Iris the Cat find
where these evil monsters
have stolen things.
(narrator)
Starner's team is putting
(Describer) He watches smartphone video.
captions on cartoons,
so the deaf community
can finally get in
on the nuances and the jokes.
(Describer) The globe turns.
For Science Nation,
I'm Miles O' Brien.
