PRODUCT INFORMATION 

Volume 1 - About Me; Time; Feelings; Holidays; and Family

Volume 2 - Animals; Colors; Science and Weather; Shapes; Numbers; Feedback; and High Frequency Words

Volume 3 - Food and Nutrition; Human Body; Connector Words; more Shapes; and Numbers; and High Frequency Words

Volume 4 - Math; Occupations; Clothing; Plants; School; Health and Safety; Sports; Transportation and Vehicles; and High Frequency Words

Now available in Volumes 1 - 4. Use all 4 Volumes for more than 930 signs representing more than 1600 English words.

FEATURES: Animated GIF (graphical interchange format) Animated MOV (movie) format Compatible with Mac and Windows computers Use within many different programs, such as Clicker 4 and 5; IntelliTools Classroom Suite; My Own Bookshelf; Test Me Score Me; Task Builder; Kurzweil 3000 for Windows; PowerPoint; Web pages; and more Choose from single-cycle or multi-looped animations Six, young, ethnically diverse SigningAvatar® characters

WHY USE ANIMATIONS?

There is a great deal of evidence that visual supports benefit students of all ages, especially students with learning disabilities, language delay, and non-native English speakers. Images can benefit English language acquisition for students needing some additional support.

Students who are deaf/hard of hearing benefit from sign representations associated with text. Using animations for representing signs has an important advantage over still images since movement plays an important role in sign language. An animated image more accurately represents signs thereby providing students greater understanding of the concept and increased access to the curriculum.

Images and movies can be used in picture adapted digital storybooks, vocabulary study activities, adapted curriculum activities and more.

Suggested activities to use with ASL Animations, Volume 1 - 4:

• Develop an activity in which students must put the signed words in the correct order (e.g. calendar items – months, weekdays, seasons, etc.)
  
• Match the signed animation to the appropriate English word
  
• Associate a concept to related images or words
  
• Fill in the correct words in context of an English sentence
  
• Introduce words within specific categories (feelings)
  
• Identify English synonyms for the displayed signed animation
  
• Identify English antonyms for the displayed signed animation
  
• Practice recognition of multiple meaning English words. Display the English word and the variations of sign animations (can, can1). Ask students to write or demonstrate in sign or orally sentences using the signs in context
  
• Provide sentences that contain multiple meaning words. Ask students to identify the correct signed animation to match the context of the sentence
  
• Adapted Digital Books, support vocabulary items within a digital book (PowerPoint or IntelliPics Studio) with signed animations.
  

What Some Of Our Customers Have To Say:

"As a middle school teacher, I look for resources that will help my deaf and hard of hearing students excel in all areas and will be easily integrated into my teaching. ASL Animations provides so many options - I can use them for testing, vocabulary practice, instructional use and create my own presentations for each curriculum unit. The animations are clearly understandable; the size is large enough for clarity, still small enough for an easy download; the signs are accurate; and the transitions clearly show the beginning and end of each sign. By offering single cycle animations, 3-loop and infinite loop animations, the uses are endless. I will use the single cycle animations for independent reading projects and for testing. The looping animations will be extremely useful for my slower learners and writers, and good for the initial teaching of a sign. Let me know when the next volume is ready!"

Evelyn Holmberg, Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Marie H. Katzenbach School for the Deaf, Trenton, New Jersey

"ASL Animations has such huge potential! It is so nice to finally have a sign language resource that I do not have to make myself! The quality of the animations is very clear and the students love the characters because ‘they look cool’. One of my students said he wanted to look at the ‘video game people again’. This is a big compliment considering how much he loves to play video games! Many of my students have special needs. The size, speed, and transitions made it easy for my students to view the animations and understand the meaning. The animations were easy to download and the accuracy of the signs was excellent! Using the sample lessons provided by Vcom3D gave me some great ideas on how I can incorporate the animations into the IntelliTools^® Classroom Suite."

Teresa Smith, Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, St. Augustine, Florida

"Many students who are deaf or hard of hearing arrive at school far behind their hearing peers in early literacy development. There is always a need for resources that teachers can easily integrate into their curriculum to help students when they must learn to read AND read to learn. ASL Animations are a resource that teachers can easily implement in their classroom. I see many potential uses for sign language animation libraries for developing language learners. I plan to use the animations in the software we already use at school – Clicker^TM 4, IntelliPics^® Studio and Kidspiration. I have already provided a list of words I want to see next!."

Rosemary Stifter, Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Kendall Demonstration Elementary School, Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C.

“ASL Animations gives my students an outstanding technology tool to gain greater access to the curriculum. ASL Animations lets my students add animated sign language to their work. The animations use the SigningAvatar characters to which my students really relate, and the characters help them personalize their work and gain in self-esteem. One of the most important things in creating meaningful tasks and continuing to develop skills in language and communication is the student's ability to relate to the material, be excited about the learning process, and subsequently publish his/her work or project. ASL Animations lends itself specifically to these tasks.

Because ASL Animations can be integrated into so many software packages, students at many different levels can enjoy creating and sharing multimedia projects. As an example, my students enjoy using Clicker and PowerPoint to create everything from their own autobiographies to signing dictionaries which other students and their parents enjoy using.

ASL Animations not only makes learning fun, it helps my students develop language and skills across the curriculum while producing exciting technology projects. Because ASL Animations is so easy-to-use, students of all ages can easily access its learning and technology power. I envy the power of the technology tools to which my students have access to today!”

Janet Calvert, Coordinator
Bruce Street School for the Deaf, Newark, New Jersey

“As a consultant for the Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resources System (FDLRS), it is my job to recommend and train educators on software programs that will ultimately support teachers of deaf and hard-of-hearing students. I am thrilled to introduce ASL Animations, a new resource that teachers and students can start using right away, and requires little to no training. ASL Animations allows teachers to continue using the multimedia tools they are comfortable using and easily integrate the sign language animations. ASL Animations provides that perfect combination of easy-to-use and easy-to-integrate. The best part is that the student can now see the English text along with the sign by using one simple tool. It is what we have been waiting for!”

Kay Ezell, Technology Resource Specialist
Florida Diagnostic & Learning Resources System, St. Augustine, Florida

“Clicker supports children of all abilities as they learn to write. Adding ASL Animations to our offerings made sense to us. Using Clicker and ASL Animations together gives Deaf and Hard of Hearing students the ability to make the connection between English and American Sign Language. ASL Animations is the only animated sign language library available that brings the student's writing to life in the language they know best! At Crick, we want to provide the tools necessary for all students to succeed. ASL Animations gives us the opportunity to help even more students learn to read and write.”

Valerie Laird, CEO
Crick Software Inc., Redmond, Washington

"I have always said - 'I look at each child and I don't see the difficulties, but rather a challenge; a puzzle for me to solve.’ In my 30 years of teaching, I have encountered many types of learning difficulties. It is not the fault of the child, rather the lack of resources available to the child. ASL Animations fills that gap for the student who is Deaf or Hard of Hearing. The movies fit into our programs beautifully and allow the child to see their native language paired with the English language they are struggling to learn to read and write. At SoftTouch, we strive to provide products that will allow students to learn creatively. Adding ASL Animations to our list of products lets us do that with even more students."