Title: Designing games for deaf children: first guidelines

Authors: Tania Di Mascio; Rosella Gennari; Alessandra Melonio; Pierpaolo Vittorini

Addresses: DISIM, University of L'Aquila, Via G. Gronchi, 18 - I-67100 L'Aquila, Italy ' CS Faculty, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Piazza Domenicani, 3 - I-39100 Bolzano, Italy ' CS Faculty, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Piazza Domenicani, 3 - I-39100 Bolzano, Italy ' MeSVA, University of L'Aquila, Via S. Salvatore, I-67100 Coppito (AQ), Italy

Abstract: According to the most recent deaf literature, playing with digital games shows positive effects on deaf children's specific skills. The goal of this paper is to present the first guidelines for the design of games for deaf children. Our review of deaf literature, briefly sketched in the paper, considers such abilities as well as deaf children's preferences most relevant for the design of digital games for them. Literature findings are then used to compile the guidelines, with accompanying usage examples. Guidelines and literature findings are correlated at the end of this paper.

Keywords: deaf children; deaf literature; special needs; guidelines; heuristics; game design; evaluation; digital games; educational games.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTEL.2013.059493

International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning, 2013 Vol.5 No.3/4, pp.223 - 239

Received: 23 Aug 2013
Accepted: 05 Dec 2013
Published online: 23 Sep 2014 *

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