Practical question about using Reflective Captioning

teri

DIS Veteran
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Aug 22, 1999
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To set the scene... Our almost-10-yr-old autistic son scores very high (above grade level) on word attack and oral reading, at grade level for spelling, but below 1st percentile on overall comprehension and following written directions. His language therapist suggested that we start using Closed Captioning to help boost his skills and provide visual support to compensate for his auditory processing and language processing disorders. We started doing this at home and he loves it.

While we were at Disneyland this week, we used Closed Captioning at a couple of pre-shows, and Reflective Captioning inside the theaters. The CMs were WONDERFUL about helping us with this. They had us sit directly in front of the Reflective Captioning light, near the middle rows of the theater one time and in the very front the other time. My question is, does it really matter where you sit in the theater? Is it really proper to have it directly behind you? It seemed like my son kept having to move his head out of the way of the words, but he is kind of wiggly anyway. I am hoping the experts here can help us out.

(BTW...He starts his intensive summer language processing/reading/math program for autistic kids on Monday... 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, 10 weeks, one-on-one, $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.... wish us luck!)
 
Can't help with the captioning question except to say that I have noticed the word screen at the back of some of the shows. I thought it looked like there would be a pretty large area where the words would be visible, but probably not the whole theater. Good thing we have some experts here to answer this.

Good luck on the summer school program. Sounds exciting (even if costly).
 
Yes it does matter where you sit in the theatre. The front rows are best. But it can be set up at the end of the rows and work as well, just not the back row where the wheelchairs are normally seated. If you move too much though you will get out of the field of vision, also if the person behind you stands forget it. You have lost your captioning. (had that happen at Fantasmic) Of course all you have to do is reajust the screen and things are fine. Castmembers have really gone the last mile to make sure I have both RC and don't have to transfer from my wheelchair at shows.
 
Is is really best to be seated right in front of the lights, or would it be better to be off to the side a bit?
 

Hi teri :wave:

I've just reflective captioning on both of our trips to WDW, it's a great system isn't it?

I have always been seated in the centre of the front row when using the captions and have found that once I am seated I do have to wriggle the stand around a bit to get the captions exactly in the right place. If your DS is finding his head is in the way, obviously the stand must have needed to be moved slightly, I can say I've never had this problem myself, though it would be impossible for you to know whether he can see them or not as only the person sat in front of the screen will know this - I can't think of a solution to that problem really, sorry.

The only place I had problems getting the captions to show clearly was at Fantasmic - however I positioned the screen I just couldn't get all the worlds in ie the sentence was too long for the plastic to put it simply - so I was missing the beginning and end of each line. I was seated by a CM in the reserved disabled seating at the back of the theatre but from my experience it seems too close to the back, hence the problem with the words 'fitting' onto the screen.

Sorry if the above is confusing - hope you understand what I'm trying to say!

I'm not too sure what you mean by the 'lights' - am I being incredibly thick? I don't remember any lights, or maybe that 'ol Disney magic totally brainwashed me so I didn't notice? LOL!!!

Sorry I've not been much help, but pleased your son is progressing well :D
 












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