Educational CDs for special kids

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The special children always deserve something really special. National Institute of Speech and Hearing (NISH), Akkulam, will soon bring out a special series of CDs meant exclusively for the mentally retarded children. The package, titled ‘Ambily’, will have five CDs which will be interactive and educational in nature. The CDs are designed and composed to step up the cognition levels of the mentally retarded children.The series of CDs are being brought out with the grant allotted by the Social Welfare Department. The project comes under the computer-aided teaching and learning material programme carried out with the assistance of the Directorate of Public Instruction (DPI).All the CDs will have a welcome menu equipped with voice narration in Malayalam. The first part of the CD will deal mainly with living beings like birds, animals and insects. In the second part, the children will be introduced to the world of fruits, vegetables, vehicles and domestic gadgets. The third part of the CD will be all about the concepts of colour, size and shape of various objects. Body parts and different daily routines and ablutions right from brushing the teeth to bathing will be narrated in the fourth CD. The final CD will have separate lessons on arithmetic figures, time, coins and calendar."The whole concept of the project is to stimulate the faculty of comprehension  of these children. That is why we have decided to make the CDs interactive in nature. Although there is a limit to which these children can actually repsond, we emphasise on leaving a strong imprint on their minds with the help of pictures and visuals,’’ says Samuel Mathew, Director, NISH. The lessons will be imparted with the help of short videos, animation clips, still images and concise vocal descriptions which would detail and explain the facets of each subject in the most interesting manner. Already, two CDs have been pulled out in the series. All the CDs in the series will go through the processes of evaluation and assessment by experts in the field before they will be officially launched.‘’There will be trained teachers to take the children through this series. Unlike other kids, these children need more time to comprehend their lessons, even if they are shown plenty of videos and pictures. All the CDs have been designed in such a manner that the attention of the children will be sustained for long time, which is very important. Our aim is to make these children as independent as possible,’’ says Samuel Mathew.  The CDs will then be distributed to all the special schools in the State. The complete package of the CDs will be fully developed by the end of September and will be released in October.