Evaluating Readability of Stories for Deaf Children with a Drawing Program

This paper describes a pilot test on the use of a drawing software program as an evaluation method for experiments with deaf children. As deaf children are visual learners, evaluation methods based on drawings seem to be a good alternative to traditional ones. We tested the effectiveness of such a method with a group of deaf children, all raised orally apparently without any knowledge of sign language, and a few hearing children, from eight to fourteen years old. As a testbed, we evaluated the readability of a set of stories, part of a literacy software tool for deaf children. All participants were relaxed and collaborative during the test. The results are promising.