Read Captions Across America

Editor: For the second year the NAD is partnering with the National Education Association (NEA) to promote a Read Captions Across America campaign in conjunction with the NEA's Read Across America campaign. Here's the story from the NAD.

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The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) is launching its second nationwide Read Captions Across America campaign on March 2, 2007. This is being carried out as part of Read Across America , a larger national reading celebration undertaken by the National Education Association (NEA).

Read Captions Across America puts emphasis on the importance of captioned media (DVD, CD-ROM and Internet streaming) as a reading tool for deaf and hearing children alike.

The Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP), administered by the NAD and funded by the U.S. Department of Education, is organizing and promoting Read Captions Across America and loaning captioned media for the event as well. "We are pleased to be joining the NEA in celebrating the joy of reading," says Nancy J. Bloch, NAD Chief Executive Officer. "Teachers and parents of young children are fast discovering the benefits of captioned media in fostering literacy development."

NEA President Reg Weaver commended the Read Captions Across America partnership with NAD. "Just as the text jumps off the page in a good book for conventional readers, captioned reading makes words come to life on the screen," said Weaver. "We all need something to spark our interest in books, and captioned reading is an excellent tool to help young readers."

DCMP Project Director Bill Stark adds, "One of the most exciting potential applications of captioning is its use as an educational tool. Viewers can see words on the screen, hear them spoken and see them put into a visual context."

Captions are text forms of the spoken word and often convey sound effects. Captions and subtitles can be carried on DVD, videotape, broadcast TV and cable TV. Also, an increasing amount of content on the Internet has sound, with some of it being captioned. While captions were originally developed for deaf and hard of hearing persons, they are increasingly used by others to develop reading skills.

Read Captions Across America will be celebrated nationwide in schools, libraries and homes this year. While most of the scheduled events will occur on the week of March 2 and the week following, both Read Across America and Read Captions Across America are yearlong celebrations.

Photographs available from the DCMP include photographs from past Read Across America events, children reading books and watching captioned media and Read Captions Across America graphics.

About NAD
The National Association of the Deaf, founded in 1880, safeguards the civil rights of deaf and hard of hearing Americans. As a national federation of state associations, individual members, and organizational and corporate affiliates, the advocacy work of the NAD encompasses a broad spectrum of areas including, but not limited to, accessibility, education, employment, healthcare, mental health, rehabilitation, technology, telecommunications, and transportation. More information is available online at www.nad.org.

About DCMP
The Described and Captioned Media Program provides the nation's largest free-loan educational described and captioned media library. DCMP, which is a Read Across America Partner, acts as an accessible media information center, maintaining a database for use by those who are searching for accessible media, captioning and description agencies or wanting to learn to caption themselves. DCMP, administered by the National Association of the Deaf, is funded by the U.S. Department of Education. More information is available online at www.dcmp.org,