 PowerPoint. And you can read through the background in terms of the importance or the relevance of the assessment tool. I will close through it in detail. What I'd like to do is demonstrate the three different tests and how they work with ASL language acquisition in terms of the assessment. So you will hear of the three different tests that I will be referring to. One is the ASL chronological awareness test. The second one is the ASL receptive skills test. And the third one being the ASL expressive skills test. So you can see the slide on your screen. I'm hoping that you're following along here. I will expand on each of those tests. But the important piece for me is to share that all three of these tests are done on a conflict. And all of the tests are done on experienced researchers, teachers, teachers of the deaf ASL specialists or ASL experts. All three are done on an individual basis with one person at a time and take approximately 15 minutes of protest. And again, the children access these testing materials through the computer. For the three tests, these were developed to fill in the gaps for teaching strategies for bilingual programming. When we look at ASL language acquisition and literacy development, these three tests will provide the necessary information for teachers. We have standardized tests out there and have for years and years that are revised and updated on a regular basis. However, we've never had anything sufficient or equal for ASL language assessments. So this is where we're coming to the field. This is the first of its kind in the world. These three tests that we are bringing forward, they are standardized norm reference assessment tools. And I will explain each of them individually. When we look at a delay in first language acquisition, we know that it has a detrimental impact on learning. Both in later years and following years in addition to literacy development. So these assessment tools will measure, report, and support teachers in their methodology when working with them. And it will also assist in developing appropriate programming to meet the needs of the children that teachers are working with. We look at age appropriateness for ASL acquisition within our testing assessment tools. And so again, these tests will support teachers in the classroom. The participants that we've had in this testing design, the students were between ages of 4 to 13. And often the questions that they were asked that are asked is, can we use these assessment tools after the age of 13? The answer is yes. So we look at using these tools for immigrants or students who are delayed language users. So again, these tools can be used for children that are about the age of 13. We collected data from various schools, large programs with high numbers of participating students within Canada and the United States. So it is a North America assessment tool and we have established the norms based on each of these. So I'll first focus on the phonological awareness test for ASL, which was the first one I spoke of. The ASL-PHE focuses on the child's ability to identify phonological features or similarities between sounds and what phonological relationships are there. So we look at these parameters being catching, movement or location. The test is broken down into five parts. So initially, for the person who is administering the test, they would log in on the computer and download from the database in a live session. So we're putting the names, the age of the student, the school, the student has parents who are deaf and so forth. Then we'll work into a vocabulary check. And so initially what the administrator is doing is checking if the child knows these particular signs. And we're not testing the signs that they know. If they don't know these vocabulary items for the vocabulary check, then you don't move forward with the test because this child would not be ready for the phonological awareness test. So we give them a few signs and if they don't know those signs, then we can try to work through that in that moment. The third piece of the process then, because everything is available to the administrator on the computer, we then go to the educational area which provides instructions on how to proceed with the test. And then you move to the actual test. And there are 24 items, a test block of 24 items. And I'll provide you with an example of what that will work with. So this is what you will see on the screen. And the very first bit that you note there, the person signing, that is actually the third of full screen. Sorry, but you'll see on your computer. So you see three examples right now on my PowerPoint slide. The top one is what I'm looking at right now. So the person is there, the child watches the sign that they're seeing on the screen. And so this is the sign cue would be soon for this particular piece, this element. And then the child would need to identify which word has all three parameters that matches that particular cue sign. So if you look at the first diagram, you'll see a picture of eggs. So that has the same handshake as the sign for soon, but the movement is different. And it's also located in the same area. So we could say that there are two parameters that match. But then if you look at the next picture, that being of the spoon. And often children will sign that to themselves. So they will sign this to themselves as they're working through the picture. So spoon does have the same handshake, different movement again, but then the same location. So it meets two out of the three parameters. And then the third picture is of the train, which actually meets all three parameters. It meets the handshake being that of soon very, very same handshake. The same movement of both hands and the location is the same. So then the child would choose the train as being the best match. And the kids can actually answer themselves on the computer. The next picture again is looking at two parameters. So we're looking at a handshake and movement together or a location and movement together or handshake and location together. And so you would work through these as they're laid out. So you get the idea of what this looks like in the first portion of the phonological process. So the signer then looks at the cute sign for this next one being light. The sign for light. The first picture is a picture of cheese. It doesn't match any of the parameters of handshake movement or location. The second picture is a pumpkin. So it's got the same movement, different location, but the same handshake. And then the third picture is, sorry, then you move down to the bottom under cute speech being money. And this is the sign for money. And that matches the same for the first picture being flower, the same handshake. So I'm sure you get the idea of what this test looks like and how you would progress through. Truly, it's amazing how a four-year-old, if they're born deaf, exposed to the language, have deaf parents, their phonological awareness is amazing. And it is wonderful to watch a child with those skills work through the test as such. I'm going to move to the second part of the test that is the ASL with subject test, and this has been developed for several years now, and many schools are using that test. So it has been released quite some time ago. I'll share a little bit of information about that specific. The same group of children in terms of ages were used to work through this test, from the ages of four to 13. And in this test, we're looking for eight grammatical categories that children are able to identify. A sign that they can identify a picture that matches that sign for grammatical groups. So they could be looking at phrases, sentences, and so forth. The test was based on a British sign language, an assessment test used in Britain, that's based on the PP, the team of children familiar with the Peabody picture vocabulary test. Standardized tests, so the design and the format is very similar to that specific assessment tool. And again, that test was designed by people at the University of Winnipeg, the one that I just showed you, the phonological awareness was designed for five people at the University of Alberta. I'm sorry, I said Winnipeg at the University of Manitoba, my apologies. So again, the receptor skills test looks at eight grammatical categories. So they're looking at negation, number distribution, noun and verb distinction, spatial verbs, size and shape specifiers, kind of like classifiers, role shifting and conditional. So looking at whether the child can identify those specific features of the grammar and I will try to provide them. So similarly to the PPVT assessment, you often open with a diagram of something. Well, it's the cat, right? You're looking at the cat and then you're looking at the text below and matching the print to the picture. So using that as a foundation or an idea, the child will look at this and see the signer on the screen. So the screen will be comprised of the signer. He will sign ball and then where it's placed. And then that particular screen fades out and the next screen that comes in is the one of the four pictures where the child has to then discern which picture matches what they just saw from the signer. So for this example, it would be the first picture of the ball on top of the table. It was not a doll, it was not a chair, it was not footwork and so on. The entire test package can be purchased for $230. If you check on the website, you will find all of the relative information there. It is being sold through Northman Science Research. And that one is there. And so you will receive in this package of 42 items that will capillary check the manual that is on DVD. It was now also provided on USB. So once you buy the set, you can use it as often as you wish for one-on-one settings. Administrators would typically then again provide this test and those administrators would be ASL creators, ASL experts, the staff and so forth. The third test is connected to the first one. The second one I just spoke about is the receptive test. Now this one has not been yet released. It was the ASL Expressive Skills Test. This is measuring the child's grammar, the ability of their grammar level, their narrative skills, and content analysis. So we are now looking for norms for age-appropriate expressive narrative skills. I'm taking my slide with the next slide over here. So you'll see the three pictures on the screen. That set has three videos for the expressive. And there's a lot of potential for this particular test to be used in any other language. Again, each video is only three minutes. There is no spoken language or signed language on these videos. They're fully either done in mind, gesture, or facial expressions. And so you would have the child watch one of the videos and then they could sit with a person who's giving them the test or somebody else and they would retell the story that they just watched and be videotaped while they were retelling. So if it's children that are using French Sign Language or Spanish Sign Language, this tool can be used for any language user. And then the assessor can watch and look to see whether or not the child is at an appropriate level of expression in their language use. We're looking at the grammar assessment. We're looking for spatial expressions. We're looking for aspect, manners, role-shifting. All of that is being assessed. And can the child identify those features? So there are two people involved in the conversation and the dialogue at the board. Again, through role-shifting, can the child discern all of those features? We have just concluded the pilot test. It's past November, November of 2017. So the ASL PAT and the ASL EST are now going through their roles. And they're looking to hopefully to release this kind of form as we have all of that information ready to go. So those are the three tests that are available now for standardized assessment tools. And I'd like to now speak a little bit about other resources that have been developed by the team at the Alberta University of Alberta under the Western Center for Studies and in-depth studies. And there are different resources that are available that I would like to share with you. So you'll see on your screen here. Well, let me speak first in English. We know that we have families of words. And when we look at ASL, we also have families of handshakes. So we've decided to work with these 10 groups of handshakes in this particular game or activity. These are also available in poster size, whether that be small poster size 8x10 or really large poster size they are published and they are available. So children will identify various handshakes. And again, it's the first phonological unit of American Sign Language is the handshake. So this is how they will work through this and everything is kind of grouped by similar handshakes. So whether we've got a full O, a flat O, the handshake of one. So I will show you a little bit more later. But this particular diagram that you're seeing is ready for distribution. So the poster aside, our team at the University of Alberta included young deaf children to design various apps that we are developing. These apps are interactive and they promote children to develop their phones. Again, through these apps which are all games, they're fun, they're motivating and we are very excited about the project. So we have a set of five right now that you can work through English and ASL in both languages. So it's all individually based. All of the games are set up so that a child can work through them at their own. Most of the games work with matching handshakes on the apps. Essentially, we believe that ASL phonology is a facilitative gateway into early reading in English for bilingual deaf learners. I'm looking at this on the screen with my glasses now. So we know that it's the foundation for literacy development in English. I'll show you some of the apps that we've developed and the options, the gameplay options that are now ready. So you look at the handshake, you match it with a picture. There could be an English word, English text, then you would match it with the handshake. So again, it works through both languages. Hopefully that I can share a demonstration with you on my iPad right now. And so you'll see on your PowerPoint it says my world world. And again, this is designed for deaf children to develop their own personal dictionary. We know that at school, kids will start to develop their own personal dictionary each time they learn a word. They start to note those in their own little dictionary and it's typically done in alphabetical order. So A for Apple, and once they've learned that, they'll put it in their little dictionary under A. We've developed something very similar. It's a different kind of word wall and it's a picture dictionary based on handshakes. But it works in the very same way. So do they know the sign for Apple? Apple's not under A, Apple is under X to handshake X because of the parameter Apple sign. So let's see if I can show you a little demo here on my iPad. I'm hoping you can see. So you would click on the word wall and then the child screen would flip to this. Very similar to what's on the PowerPoint right now. So I'm going to create the handshake one. And it's also color coded to match with the family of handshakes that I showed you on the poster earlier. So I'll click the handshake one. And then there are a list of words that are put into this particular page that show the diagram, the printed word that will match with this handshake. So all of these words are done with this particular handshake in ASAP. And then later the child has the option of adding in their own words. So they can go in so I'll get back to where I was. There again they can add a word. So if there's a new word that they learned that meets this particular handshake, so board for example, they can put that in there. So they can add the text. They can add a picture, maybe something that they downloaded from the internet or some type of diagram that fits the word board. So it's a very interactive tool and the child can participate by incorporating the words that they learned in the business. That's one of the apps that we have. So from the same word wall we developed this drag and draw. And it's a game. So it's right here, drag and draw. This is the handshake in the middle. So it's W on my screen. You know yours is such a different handshake maybe for the PowerPoints, but so you can drag and draw the actual words that are correct that meet the handshake with the parameters. So if I put wood in there it doesn't work, it'll go back because it doesn't meet the parameters. So once the kids get all of the correct pictures and they drag them and draw them to the right handshake it changes the handshake. So we have five different games and we've had a lot of help from young deaf children to work through these games for the speed. Is it user friendly? Is it fun? Is it engaging? And we've been manipulating and changing the apps as we've moved through these processes. So some kids felt that some things were too fast because they moved through these screens. So now we've added more incorporated levels of difficulty. So again, younger children can start at the lowest level and then build themselves up. You can know that older children like to just move through things really quickly. Again, it's a scoring system so the kids can work through these apps on their own. It's a very self-paced type of activity that they can engage themselves in. This is another app. It's called the Hungry Penguin. And as an example, there are three different handshakes located in the top in the penguin's belly. As the fish are going by, you're trying to find the pictures that fit the handshake. And as you feed the penguins these pictures, they will change to different handshakes. And sometimes the fish start to move a little bit faster, the more that you start to engage with it. So let's see what else fits with this handshake. Yeah. And then we just slide them on driving them through to feed the penguins. Again, all five different things relate to the handshakes that the kids are learning, the parameters that the kids are learning. You can go back here to... Let's see if I get to... This one's called the Endless Wall. So again, the handshake is there, and you can bring the penguin up to specific signs and go through the various handshakes and words. And so each little piece that makes this bigger has words and signs, and you make sure that you bring your penguin right through. And again, it gets forced for each of those. I hope this gives you an idea of what we've been doing. The apps are ready to be released, hopefully this summer. It's just going through the licensing process. Can we speak? This particular book, this activity book is ready to be released. It's got 24 pages of activities and it's really beneficial for young children. Parents can use these if their children at home for storytime or playtime. It's very similar to the I spy with my little I, something that is new. However, this has now been adopted for ASL users. So children will say, I spy with my little I something that is signed with the handshake apps. And then they need to look for pictures like apple, onion, and electric. So those types of things. This is ready in the University of Alberta to go to the store or sale. I hope that you've appreciated some of this information. It's new resources and materials that support ASL development in deaf and hard of hearing children. And for further information, please feel free to contact Linda Macquarie at the University of Alberta. She will provide much information to you and that information is also here for you as well. I do look forward to hearing from you. Thank you so much for your time today. So. Thank you, Linda. I'm going to do there has been one question and you had already mentioned that that these have not been released. The apps haven't been released yet. Do you have a timeline or you're just waiting for the approval process or the release date? Yeah, I think it would be hard for us to determine exact timelines because things are always changing. So every time we say something, you know, maybe spring 2018 and then it doesn't happen. Fall 2018 and it might not happen. What I want people to know is that we're ready to release it. It's the process that we're going through right now. So the licensing, the sign-offs and all of that. But the activity book is ready. You have a bookstore? Only? Oh, sorry. No, not through the University of Alberta bookstore. We haven't decided where it will be available but it will be out in the summertime ready to go. I will let you know when it's ready to access it, I guess. Can you give us an idea of what the cost of these apps and the activity book might be? Just the range. I know that it won't be exact. Unfortunately, I don't know that I could go into details as such. We're trying to get the apps connected with Apple, so people would kind of pay as they play or they would download a license of some sort. That really isn't a question that I can answer but when or you might be the best person to pose that question to. I have to look at the computer a little bit closer. I have vision issues as well. Are there any resources you would suggest that pair with these that would support a child learning ASL? For example, chronological suggestions for teaching handshakes? Yes. There is one specific app called Find My Handshape and it has various levels where children should be able to identify their first handshakes in ASL. The first basic handshakes. All of those diagrams would be included in the activity. Children would identify A, B, C, 1, S, O, 5, those are the first seven handshakes that deaf infants would learn. They go to that level first and then they would move up to the next complexity level as they progress. Age relevant depends on your acquisition and your exposure. Some kids are depending on their age and when they require ASL as their language. Thank you. Another question, quite a few questions here. Would you recommend that the ASL test, the first part of your presentation, be administered by a deaf ASL user or could a teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing with intermediate sign be able to administer it? Okay. For the second test I'm going to say it would be really easy a teacher of the deaf could administer that test. For the ASL phonological test I would say teacher of the deaf as well would administer that test. All of the information is built within the computer so it's just a matter of recording the child's choices whether it's correct response or incorrect response. So teacher of the deaf would certainly administer that test. However, for the third one the expressive test through the piloting experience I recognize that it's really important to have an ASL user administer that type of test and the reason why is when the child expresses the story there may be things that will absolutely show higher levels of chromatic and those types of skills may not be identified on native signer. So I would ask for caution for that particular test who's maybe rating the expressive test. Certainly you can administer it and videotape it but to get it to a different team to actually do the because there are native users that are trained to rate these parts of the exam. So this is going back to the question about other resources for students who are learning sign and learning sign shapes. You mentioned something but the listener missed your reference. It was the name of the resource for learning sign shapes that isn't in here. Sorry, I made you confused. So I asked the question would you recommend do you have any resources that would suggest pairing with these that would support a child learning ASL and you gave an example of chronological learning? Yeah, okay certainly. I mean there's also I think there's 30 years of research that's out there for ASL acquisition and the research that we've been doing has been based on the realistic information about ASL as a language. I mean there is stuff out there for sure and again the smallest unit of phonological awareness for English is letter by letter, right? So when we look at ASL we've researched this as being hand shapes as being the smallest unit not sign shapes but hand shapes and that being the smallest unit of ASL phonology. So that information is out there and now when we have children or babies who are learning the language they start with these basic hand shapes hand shape one or five for mom but as we get further into the complexity of the hand shapes x and so forth are much more complex. So yes we have the stuff that we're doing now that you're seeing come out now is parallel to what's already been out there based on the research. So you've talked about the app set the University of Alberta is preparing and the individual was asking about teaching hand shapes in a chronological order and you had mentioned an app right away and they're looking for the name of that app or resource. I'm sorry I don't remember myself either. I think I'm thinking about two different things the family of hand shapes that I showed you on the poster there's find my hand shapes was that it? I'm sorry Carl. Find my hand shapes right so find my hand shapes is based on the family of signs or hand shapes for me and then themselves they will identify the basic hand shapes that young children have so that's already out there Is that the one you're talking about? Is it an app, a game, or a book? Well all of the resources they're all University of Alberta resources I spy hand shapes, a poster all of that stuff is all Alberta University of Alberta resources So find my hand shapes as part of the U of A product Yes. That's where we were confused. Okay great. I have a question personally about the the ASL assessment tools the three of them are they all and I might have missed it because we were dealing with the technology are they all available at this time or are some of them not available? No. Only the second one is available. Okay that one was released seven years ago and schools are using that standardized test the first one the ASL PAT and the third one the ASL expressive test hoping to have released this all. Thank you. So I'm just going to check and see if there's any more questions and if not then I want that's it. Thank you Linda so much this was very interesting and I think it feels to a number of different people and we'll have to have you back when everything is complete and ready for purchase. Thank you so much for doing this.