Code Your Own Game: The Case of Children with Hearing Impairments

It is well known in the computer science community that is important to encourage children to acquire coding skills and become creators of their own experiences and not only mere game consumers. Different children have different needs when approaching coding and making activities. Specifically, Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) children, even when provided with accessible visual translations through sign language interpreters or real-time captions, need customized support. In our approach we have designed, implemented, and evaluated a workshop program of 12 children total, with the final goal of exploring and improving the design of appropriate workshops using the current learning environments. This paper presents an initial exploratory evaluation of a coding experience for children with hearing impairments and the development of a set of guidelines for improving the teaching of coding to children with DHH difficulties. An initial set of best practices was first developed through a focus group with experts; and afterwards, by employing content analysis, a revised set of guidelines was obtained. The results should be useful for special education teachers, curriculum designers and developers for K-12 education environments for DHH.