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Does anyone have experience with a software package for learning American Sign Language? (The person asking has lost his hearing, & has an chip-implant, so that he can hear a bit, but not well.)

I never heard of any. But this is by far the easiest language to find a local class in and a local community to practice with who is welcoming of outsiders.

Neto wrote:Does anyone have experience with a software package for learning American Sign Language? (The person asking has lost his hearing, & has an chip-implant, so that he can hear a bit, but not well.)

What I have is ancient, there are better packages now. There are definitely good packages these days.

What level is he at? Who does he want to communicate with? If he is communicating with hearing people, have you considered cued speech? Can he speak intelligibility? Can he read lips more or less?

Bootstrap wrote:

Neto wrote:Does anyone have experience with a software package for learning American Sign Language? (The person asking has lost his hearing, & has an chip-implant, so that he can hear a bit, but not well.)

What I have is ancient, there are better packages now. There are definitely good packages these days.

What level is he at? Who does he want to communicate with? If he is communicating with hearing people, have you considered cued speech? Can he speak intelligibility? Can he read lips more or less?

I'd guess that he in his mid to upper 50's. He told me that he has an immune deficiency disease, and only recently lost his hearing, so he speaks well, both English & PA German. He has an implanted chip which at least for now allows him to hear people who are close to him, and with little back-ground noise. I think he is more or less just getting started with signing. I don't think he can read lips more than most people, but he seems to be learning, or at least it helps him. I got the impression that his family are all learning to sign. I don't know how many others (from his church district, for instance) will learn as well.

I had to look up cued speech, because I'd never heard of it. How widely is it used? Are the symbols used to distinguish the confusing vowels & consonants logical? That is, do they relate to physical points of articulation, etc. in some way, or are they purely symbolic in an somewhat arbitrary way?

Cued speech is a lot easier to learn than sign language, it is basically a set of hand gestures that help with lip reading, and he and the people around him can learn it much faster than sign language - especially American Sign Language, which really is a distinct language.

Cued speech is not used much in the deaf community because it is based on English and lip reading, not sign language. It is used in some schools, but it violates some "religious" tenets of both oralism and sign language enthusiasts. But it's very practical, and has its own community.

You can probably learn cued speech in a weekend. You can learn sign language in a year or two, like other languages.

Neto wrote: I'd guess that he in his mid to upper 50's. He told me that he has an immune deficiency disease, and only recently lost his hearing, so he speaks well, both English & PA German. He has an implanted chip which at least for now allows him to hear people who are close to him, and with little back-ground noise. I think he is more or less just getting started with signing. I don't think he can read lips more than most people, but he seems to be learning, or at least it helps him. I got the impression that his family are all learning to sign. I don't know how many others (from his church district, for instance) will learn as well.

I had to look up cued speech, because I'd never heard of it. How widely is it used? Are the symbols used to distinguish the confusing vowels & consonants logical? That is, do they relate to physical points of articulation, etc. in some way, or are they purely symbolic in an somewhat arbitrary way?

My wife taught special education including the hearing impaired. She said your friend's needs (who once possessed normal hearing and language skills) will be different from the needs of those born with a hearing impairment.

He has an understanding of language already with a late onset loss: those with this profile are most successful receiving instruction in lip reading and basic signing.

Signing is all right for those settings in which the individuals all know the system. However lip-reading will help your friend in settings where others don't know signing; and for those difficult communiques, the hearing impaired are now carrying mini-iPads/tablets so that the lip reading can be supplemented with typed text. Even a smart phone has a "notes" mode and multitasks.

Cued speech has a mixed success rate and is still debated whether it's effective. The tablets/iPads are quickly replacing cued speech so the debate may no longer continue as cued speech may become obsolete.

To sum up: According to my wife who has many years experience with special needs, lip-reading, basic signing, and a small iPhone/tablet will serve your friend's needs most effectively.

A free source for signing vocabulary is http://www.aslpro.cc. My wife likes this site because it provides dictionaries for specialized vocabulary.
Hope that helps.

MaxPC wrote:My wife taught special education including the hearing impaired. She said your friend's needs (who once possessed normal hearing and language skills) will be different from the needs of those born with a hearing impairment.

Cool! My first degree was in audiology and speech, I volunteered at a school for the deaf, and there was a time that I knew sign language well enough to interpret for church events. I have a daughter who has a degree as an interpreter for the deaf, and is more up to date - my sign language has pretty much died over the last 30 years.

I agree with most of what your wife says.

MaxPC wrote:He has an understanding of language already with a late onset loss: those with this profile are most successful receiving instruction in lip reading and basic signing.

What kind of basic signing? Who would he be signing with?

MaxPC wrote:Signing is all right for those settings in which the individuals all know the system. However lip-reading will help your friend in settings where others don't know signing; and for those difficult communiques, the hearing impaired are now carrying mini-iPads/tablets so that the lip reading can be supplemented with typed text. Even a smart phone has a "notes" mode and multitasks.

I think you're suggesting that he use voice-to-speech features on a smart phone. That makes a lot of sense - it's a new generation.

MaxPC wrote:Cued speech has a mixed success rate and is still debated whether it's effective. The tablets/iPads are quickly replacing cued speech so the debate may no longer continue as cued speech may become obsolete.

Effective for what? It works best for people who already know English, and is easy to learn. It works.

But smart phones and voice-to-speech may be easier. My guess is that he can speak fine, it's mostly a question of hearing, and for now, at least, he seems to hear well enough to communicate? Are there people with whom it would be easiest for him to communicate with basic sign language? If not, it may be a distraction.

Bootstrap wrote:But smart phones and voice-to-speech may be easier.

Reading between the lines of Neto's posts, I get the impression the man in question is Amish. Since OO acceptance of smart phones is all over the map (literally; by district), this may or may not be an obviously feasible solution. However, the Amish are quite inventive both technically and legally, so if a creative workaround is needed, it's likely to be found.

Now the next question may be about Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch voice-to-text software.

ohio jones wrote:

Bootstrap wrote:But smart phones and voice-to-speech may be easier.

Reading between the lines of Neto's posts, I get the impression the man in question is Amish. Since OO acceptance of smart phones is all over the map (literally; by district), this may or may not be an obviously feasible solution. However, the Amish are quite inventive both technically and legally, so if a creative workaround is needed, it's likely to be found.

Now the next question may be about Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch voice-to-text software.

First we'd have to agree on how to even spell Pennsylvania German; there are still three competing orthographies, and every native speaker I know prefers to just read and write English.

Yes, he is Amish (Old Order). I lived with a deaf couple (in their basement, with 7 other guys) for one semester during college, due to the dorm being full. If I recall correctly, they had a telephone that converted voice to text on a small screen. (There was a light that would flash when the telephone rang.) Telephone conversation is one of the biggest challenges, because he has started a home business, because he can no longer do what he was doing before (timber buyer). He didn't really ask for something down that line, but it might be that he didn't think it would be possible.

He asked for software that would help him learn sign language. I have done some searching, and found some on-line (free) services that would possibly help him, IF he was able to be on-line, which is out of the question. He wants one that will play short videos of a person signing, then perhaps have a text pop up that would tell what was being said. I think that an interactive one could pretty easily have the learner choose out of a list of options, or even type out what they think it being signed.

Thanks you all for the responses.