The Federal Government launched the much anticipated National Curriculum yesterday, and the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) has opened a Consultation Portal on its website to welcome public feedback.
The question arises – how accessible will the new curriculum be? Students with sensory impairments require curriculum support materials that are delivered in an electronic form to be accessible to ensure their full inclusion in the teaching and learning process. Captioning is the appropriate format for students who are Deaf or hearing impaired, and audio description (AD) for those who are blind or vision impaired.
Audio described DVD titles on new release shelves during the month of February 2010 stand at 28% of all titles.
The article looks at how using captions in a family setting from a young age promotes positive attitudes towards captions. Ensuring that all content viewed in the family home and at school is captioned helps normalise a child’s experience. Griswold also encourages the hearing impaired child to take ownership and become the ‘technology expert’ for switching captions on.
