Remedial
Windows Software
for Deaf Students
Norm Crozer
Los Angeles Pierce College
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30 years ago...
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I was frustrated because my
students were not learning.
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My students and I were
equally to blame…
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My students were:
not used to thinking
couch-potato learners
not able to apply things they learn
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Not only that…
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My teaching:
was not effective
did not allow for differences
in learning abilities
did not give students the oneon-one attention they needed
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At the end of each semester,
the results were the same…
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My students had learned things.
They could pass my tests.
But their writing did not improve.
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What to do??
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Then I had an idea!!
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Personal Computers were
just becoming available.
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Why couldn’t I have computers
help with my teaching?
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Great idea, but there was no
software written specifically for
postsecondary deaf students.
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I had some experience
programming, so I decided to
write my own software for my
deaf students.
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I began with one program and
gradually added more until...
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I had written
one vocabulary program and
six writing programs.
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Initially the programs served
to supplement my instruction.
But, over time, the programs
became the basis for 80% of
my instruction.
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The programs turned
everything around.
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Students:
became active learners
started to think, reason and
analyze things
started to apply the things
they learned in their writing
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My Instruction:
became more effective
allowed for differences in
learning abilities.
gave students the one-on-one
attention they needed
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Of the deaf students who have
completed all the programs,
75% have gone on to
mainstream English.
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While we use the programs at
Pierce College in special
classes, other schools use
them to supplement
mainstream instruction.
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Vocabulary Enrichment
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Vocabulary Enrichment (VE) is a
self-contained program that
provides 100% of the instruction,
practice, review, and testing
needed by students.
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VE does this without the need for an
instructor or classroom.
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VE is able to conduct a
hybrid distance education class
or serve as a supplement to
mainstream instruction.
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At Pierce, the VE program
conducts a one-unit vocabulary
class every semester with 200+
deaf and hearing students
including ESL students.
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My only involvement is to give
an orientation at the beginning
of the semester and
monitor student progress.
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VE Program Organization
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The VE program is divided into
two levels so students from all ages
and vocabulary levels can use it.
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Level ‘A’ contains 1,125 words from
the 4th grade to the 8th grade.
Level ‘B’ contains 1,125 words from
the 9th grade to college.
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All students start with a pretest.
The pretest shows the student
one word at a time with four
choices for the definition and one
‘Don’t Know’ choice.
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Students choose the correct
meaning for each word. The
program ignores the words a
student gets right and saves the
words he/she gets wrong.
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This means that students will
not have to waste time studying
words they already know.
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The pretest starts each student in
level ‘B’. If the student makes too
many mistakes in the first 25
questions, the program moves the
student to the level ‘A’ pretest.
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When the number of saved words
reaches 180, the pretest stops
and the 180 words become a
personalized word set for the
student.
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The program breaks each student’s
set of 180 words into 12 groups of 15
words each and prints a hard copy
for study at home.
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To help students learn, practice
and review their words, the
program presents four lessons
for each group.
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Group 1
Lessons
1.
2.
3.
Group 5
Lessons
1.
2.
3.
4.
Group 9
Lessons
1.
2.
3.
4.
Group 2
Lessons
1.
2.
3.
4.
Group 6
Lessons
1.
2.
3.
4.
Group 3
Lessons
1.
2.
3.
4.
Group 7
Lessons
1.
2.
3.
4.
Group 4
Lessons
1.
2.
3.
4.
Group 8
Lessons
1.
2.
3.
4.
Group 10
Group 11
Group 12
Lessons
1.
2.
3.
4.
Lessons
1.
2.
3.
4.
Lessons
1.
2.
3.
4.
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The lessons for each group are:
•
•
•
•
Learning the Definitions
Reverse (definition to word)
Practice Quiz
Random Review
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Students must complete each set of
lessons before the program gives
them the option to take each test.
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Students must pass each group test
before the program allows them to
begin their next group.
Each group test is cumulative
which forces students to review all
their previously learned words.
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Students study and take a test on at
least one word group per week.
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Students can complete up to three
sets (540 words) during a semester.
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The program can also administer
a final exam. It covers all sets
attempted by each student.
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To help in class management, the
VE program has 22 Staff Options.
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Some Of These Options Include:
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View student test scores
View dates and times (work and tests)
Place students on hold
Reprint vocabulary lists
Delete students
Print Student Progress Reports
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Here is a sample page from the
Student Progress Reports.
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The VE program also has audio
output for hearing students.
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The design of the program is the
reason that students using the
program over the last 30 years have
averaged 96% on their final exams.
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A quick word on funding.
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If your college is funded by
student count in classes, and if
you want to take the time to
create a special vocabulary
class at your college, VE can
earn money for your program.
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At Pierce, our special class run
by the VE program brought in
approximately $26,000 last year
which we used to augment the
funding for our DSP.
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Writing Programs
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The Six Writing Programs are:
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Text Builder I
Text Builder II
Text Builder VS
Text Builder VC
Proof Reading
Paragraphs
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The Writing Programs Are Like
Icebergs. What You See Is Just the
Surface of the Program.
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The Writing Programs are
also like Disneyland.
Neither will ever be completed.
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The Writing Programs Provide:
•
•
•
•
•
Immediate Corrective Feedback
Active, not Passive Learning
Mastery Learning
Individualized Instruction
On-Demand Course Content
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Immediate Corrective Feedback:
Notifies students of a mistake the
instant they make it
Explains the reason for the mistake
Requires the student to fix the
mistake.
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Immediate Corrective Feedback:
Is critical to learning and retention
Fixes correct writing responses
Fosters good writing habits
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Without Immediate Corrective
Feedback, students will continue
making the same writing mistakes until
those mistakes become habitual and
very difficult to unlearn.
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Immediate Corrective Feedback
of mistakes is the cornerstone of
the six Writing Programs.
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Active Learning
Active Learning means writing,
thinking, asking questions, trial and
error, and experiencing success
after struggling with a concept.
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The six Writing Programs deliver
in all aspects of Active Learning.
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Mastery Learning
Mastery Learning means working on
a unit until the student demonstrates
mastery of the unit.
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Mastery Learning
The four sentence writing programs
will require students to repeat a
group if a student makes more than
10 mistakes.
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Mastery Learning
The four sentence writing programs
will require students to do at least
one more group if a student makes
between 4 and10 mistakes.
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Mastery Learning
The four sentence writing programs
will allow a student to take the test
on a unit if the student makes 3 or
less mistakes in a group.
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Mastery Learning
The four sentence writing programs
will assume mastery of a unit if the
student makes 6 or less mistakes in
a programmed administered test
with 30 sentences.
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While the Programs are designed
to keep students working on a unit
until mastery is achieved, the
instructor can override the mastery
criteria in the programs and use
any pace desired.
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Individualized Instruction Means:
No pre-determined pace
Instruction based on a student’s
needs
Allowing students to progress
independently of other students.
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By their very nature, the Writing
Programs offer all the elements of
Individualized Instruction.
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On-Demand Course Content
This means students can easily and
readily get rules and other reference
information from within the program
without asking the instructor.
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On-Demand Course Content
• Pull-Down Glossary and Dictionary
• Pull-Down Word Lists
• Pull-Down Grammar and Spelling
rules
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All the Writing Programs:
• Support and reinforce each other
• Generate random and work-related
homework
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The writing programs are only
about 80% self-contained and
therefore have some reliance
on a staff person.
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Before students begin any new
unit, a staff person needs to
explain the main concepts and
rules of that unit.
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On a day-to-day basis, a staff
person needs to be available to
clarify concepts and answer
specific questions.
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All the Writing Programs involve
the concepts of
Transitive Verb (Vt) and
Intransitive Verb (Vi).
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Vt Verbs Require Objects:
The man has a car.
My friend likes his classes.
We need more time.
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Vi Verbs Use Places:
The teacher goes to class.
His dog sleeps in a bed.
The girl walks to the store.
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Many Verbs Are Both:
My uncle reads the book
My uncle reads in the class.
The student studies math.
The student studies in the library.
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Use of Vt and Vi helps prevent
students from writing sentences
like the following:
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The man sleeps the bed.
My sister attends to the school.
He agrees the man.
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Overview of the Four
Text Builder Programs
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The Text Builder Programs:
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Text Builder I
Text Builder II
Text Builder VS
Text Builder VC
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The four Text Builder
programs focus on writing
sentences in groups of 15.
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The Programs Allow Students to:
• Learn at different rates
• Work outside the class (network)
• Get unlimited opportunities for practice
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The Programs Allow Staff to:
• Add and Remove Students
• See Dates Any Student Has Worked
• See Cumulative Hours Worked
• See Current Unit For Each Student
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Text Builder I
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The Text Builder I Program
is appropriate for most
low-verbal students.
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Text Builder I Program Involves:
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Eight verb forms
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Three sentence patterns
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Verb Forms:
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Present tense
Negative
Past
Negative past
Modal
Negative modal
Continuous
Negative continuous
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Sentence Patterns:
• Subject + Vt + Object
• Subject + Vi + Adverb
• Subject + (be) +
adjective
person
place
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In Text Builder I, students focus on
each verb form, one at a time, and
practice the verb randomly using
the three sentence patterns.
They spend as much time as they
need to complete each verb form.
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Students “build” sentences in
a two-step process.
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In the first step, the program
randomly chooses a subject
and a verb and asks the student
to type a “Related Word”
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It is the “Related Word” that
determines if the sentence makes
sense.
Choosing an appropriate
“Related Word” is therefore
critical and sometimes difficult.
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In the second step, the program
asks the student to type a
sentence using the subject, verb,
and “Related Word” in the
current verb form.
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Here a sample using a screen
capture of the program.
We start with the first step.
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Students next write a sentence
using the three words from the
first screen.
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Text Builder II
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In the Text Builder I program, students
focused on the eight verb forms.
In Text Builder II, students focus on seven
advanced sentence patterns (4-10).
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The Text Builder II
Patterns Include:
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(4) Subject + Vt + verbal + related word
(The old man wants to buy a car.)
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(5) Subject + Vt + I.O. + D.O.
(His friend gave me a present.)
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(6) Subject + Vt + verbal + I.O. + D.O.
(The girl likes to give us candy.)
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(7) Subject + Vt + D.O. + verb + related word
(He helps the boy do his homework.)
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(8) Subject + Vt + D.O. + verbal + related word
(My brother wants us to go to school.)
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(9) Subject + Vt + THAT + (Patterns 1-3)
(The man knows that I have the money.)
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(10) Subject + Vt + D.O. + WHO + verb + related word
(They like the man who brings the food.)
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The Text Builder II program
uses the same two-step
process to build sentences
as Text Builder I.
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Text Builder VS
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The Text Builder VS
(Vocabulary Sentences)
program is based on the Text
Builder I program.
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In the VS program, students
practice writing sentences with
unfamiliar words.
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For each sentence, students must
first decide where to place
each new word, then decide
words for the other two positions.
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Students next write a sentence
using the three words from the
first screen.
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As before, the program checks
for mistakes as the students type
each sentence.
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The VS Program Has Two Levels:
The first level contains 14
data sets that will generate 15
sentences each.
The second level contains 13
data sets that will generate 15
sentences each.
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The Text Builder VS program
also uses the same two-step
process to build sentences
as Text Builder I.
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Text Builder VC
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The Text Builder VC
(Vocabulary Comparison)
program is also based on the
Text Builder I program.
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In Text Builder VC, students
practice writing sentences with
“Word Families”. Unlike the VS
program, however, students will
know the meanings of the words.
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“Word Families” will include word
sets such as:
Success, Succeed, Successful
Decide, Decision, Decisive
Death, Die, Dead
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As with the VS program, students
using the VC program must first
decide where to place each
new word, then then decide words
for the other two positions.
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The VC Program Has Two Levels:
The first level contains 18
data sets that will generate 15
sentences each.
The second level contains 14
data sets that will generate 15
sentences each.
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The Text Builder VC program
also uses the same two-step
process to build sentences
as Text Builder I.
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Proof Reading
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The Proof Reading program
helps ensure that the material
in the Text Builder I program
is being internalized.
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In the Proof Reading program,
students are presented with
sentences containing errors.
Students must find the errors
and correct them.
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Paragraphs
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In the Paragraphs program,
students practice writing
paragraphs using the same
kind of word prompts found in
the Text Builder programs.
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The emphasis here is on
articles. Students learn that
they type ‘a’ or ‘an’ with a
noun used for the first time,
and type ‘the’ each time the
noun is repeated.
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Paragraphs Has Two Levels:
The first level contains 50
paragraphs and corresponds to
the work students do in the Text
Builder I program.
The second level contains 35
paragraphs and corresponds to
the work students do in the Text
Builder II program.
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Documentation
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All seven Programs come with
Staff Instructions.
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Each of the six Writing Programs
comes with a Student Handbook.
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Each of the six Writing
Programs comes with two
PowerPoint Presentations.
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The Text Builder programs have
been used extensively by deaf
students at Pierce and other
colleges including NTID.
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The input of these students over
the past 30 years has been and
is the driving force behind the
evolution of the programs.
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OK, now a brief review
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There are seven PC computer
programs that were written
specifically for postsecondary
deaf students.
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






Vocabulary Enrichment
Text Builder I
Text Builder II
Text Builder VS
Text Builder VC
Proof Reading
Paragraphs
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These can be used in special
classes or as a supplement to
regular instruction.
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Prices are as follows:
Vocabulary
Text Builder I
Text Builder II
Text Builder VS
Text Builder VC
Proof Reading
Paragraphs
$100
$50
$50
$35
$25
$25
$75
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If You Need to Contact Me for
Questions or Explanations My
Email Address Is:
crozernp@piercecollege.edu
My Phone Number Is:
(818) 710-4226
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The End
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