Symbolic keyboard for computer aided instruction of deaf children

We describe a computer-based method for the special education of deaf children in their stage of expanding an initial vocabulary; the method uses a symbolic keyboard to facilitate real-time communication between the deaf child and the machine. The lack of auditory feedback is partially compensated by using visual and proprioceptive sensorial modalities as alternative representations of words and concepts. To illustrate the use of the computer with display and symbolic keyboard we comment on a program for the teaching of spatial relationships. The same method is used in teaching the structure of sentences and other conventional educational material such as Geography and Physics.