Under SBIR Phase I and Phase II NIDA contracts our group has developed a curriculum, âThe Brain and Addictionâ on CDROM for deaf high school students in grades 9-12. This curriculum is delivered in American Sign Language with English captions (audio is also available). The curriculum covers the following topics:: 1) basic information about the anatomy of the brain with an emphasis on the Reward System and its functioning. 2) The function of neurotransmitters in the normal brain and the impact of drugs of abuse on neurotransmitters. The social, psychological and legal consequences of drug use and addiction are presented. 3) Three Deaf persons tell their real life stories of initiation into drug use, consequences of addiction and the difficult process of recovery. This curriculum uses and includes graphics and other visuals to Deaf-specific learning strategies are utilized throughout the curriculum. These include: Use of enhanced explanatory visuals, use of considerate text (which highlights new vocabulary, uses simple rather than complex sentences and carefully defines new terms and concepts), and use of story telling as a device to communicate complex social and neurobiology concepts. In addition the curriculum has user-friendly features to navigate and return to specific areas, self-test questions for students, and a visually-linked glossa
