Speaking and listening with computers
In English, Attainment Target 1 of the National Curriculum is entitled 'speaking and listening', and calls for 'the development of pupils' understanding of the spoken word and the capacity to express themselves effectively in a variety of speaking and listening activities, matching style and response to audience and purpose'. This sounds quite ambitious, but of course (ア)children normally acquire communication skills in the first years of life. Expressive abilities include speaking, gesture and facial expression, all of which can be limited by motor impairment. Interactive abilities include eye contact and turn taking in conversations. Receptive abilities include listening and seeing, and can be limited by sensory impairment.
Where there is 'severe cognitive deficit' individuals cannot use the sensory data they receive, nor find ways to express themselves effectively.
Computer technology can stimulate development of sensory awareness, and can provide substitute ways of expression to non-speaking students (Paveley, 1990). As Stansfield (1989) suggests, for instance, synthesised speech can be very motivating for children with learning difficulties. Stylus, an easy wordprocessing program that can be used with either a Concept Keyboard or a standard one, speaks the children's text through a speech synthesiser. Its 'robot voice' amuses the children and they feel they can do better.
Although computers can help learners to speak via a synthesised voice, the machines can also help them to 'speak' via text. In Chapter 3 we discussed the problems autistic children and adults have in expressing their thinking, because many are non-speaking. From his Australian experience, Biklen (1990) reports how Rosemary Crossley used her methods during a first meeting, at which he was present with Louis, an Australian student.
I'M NOT RETARDED: LOUIS' STORY
Louis is twenty-four years old, with reddish-brown hair and gold metal-rimmed, rectangular-shaped glasses with thick lenses. He was wearing a black and white sweater, black jeans and white tennis wearing shoes when we met him. Louis had very little facial expression. He does not speak, except for a few phrases that seem involuntarily uttered and are out of context. As he entered the room where Crossley was to conduct the assessment, he said: 'Excuse me. Get mommy on the bus. Excuse me,' which didn't make sense to me. Attempts at answering his statements by saying. for example, 'There is no need to be excused, you are fine,' did not quiet him. He repeated the phrase.
(イ)Crossley introduced herself and me to Louis, who sat between us. She described her work to him as helping people who don't speak to find other ways to communicate. She apologised in advance for her assessment approach: 'Louis, I ask people a lot of really silly questions.' She commenced the session by asking him to press down on various pictures on a talking computer, a children's toy with a voice output that requests the person using it to press various pictures or letters and which announces the user's choice, for example: 'Right, that's the apple.'
As Crossley asked questions, tears began to roll down Louis's face. (ウ)He was crying silently. She reassured him, telling him that she would do it with him.
Crossley took Louis through a series of graded exercises, with her hand on top of his right arm. The last few consisted of word and letter recognition. He completed all of them successfully. Next, she showed him the Canon Communicator, a small laptop computer with text display and speech synthesis.
Crossley went through the alphabet and numbers with him. 'For starters,' she asked, 'can you type your name?' At this point her hand was stretched out flat, on top of, but not actually touching, his. He typed 'LOUIS'. As he finished, she asked it there was anything else he wanted to say. Louis started typing again.
First he typed an '0', then 'PC'. Crossley pulled his hand back from the keys, saying, 'I'm not sure I follow. Let's start over.' This time he typed 'Pocco'. She was confused. Then we realised what he was typing. Pocco is his last name. He was still responding to Crossley's first request, to type his name.
Crossley asked again if there was anything else Louis wanted to say. He typed, 'I'M NOT RETARDED', to which she remarked, 'No, I don't think you are. Keep going.' Louis continued, 'MY MOTHER FEELS IM STUPID BECAUSE IH [he back-spaced this and crossed out the h] CANT USE MY VOICE PROPERLY.' A tear rolled down his left cheek as he typed. And Crossley said to me and to Louis, 'A lot of people believe that what people say is what they're capable of.'
Louis was not done. He typed, 'HOW MUCH IS A CANON ?'
'They're dear,' Crossley answered.
'I SAVE A BIT BUT NOT ENOUGH' Louis typed.
Crossley explained that she would continue to work with Louis and that she would try to get him a Canon. Then she congratulated him on his work in the session and said to me, for Louis to hear, 'Anybody who starts off typing, I'm not retarded' isn't retarded. First rule!'
( Hawkridge, D. G. and Vincent, T. (1992) Learning Difficulties and Computers: Access to the Curriculum, pp. 90-91より抜粋，一部改変。)