This study by an Italian team from the University of Padua suggests that "playing video games may help children with dyslexia improve their reading skills." They also stated that "Dyslexic children learned to orient and focus their attention more efficiently to extract the relevant information of a written word more rapidly."
We also found from this site that children with dyslexia may read below the expected level for their age and have difficulty forming sentences and finding the right words, lowering their self-confidence. They have a much higher chance of suffering from mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression later in life if their visual/oral/auditory skills are not strengthened.
Intrigued, we researched a bit more into what dyslexia entailed, and we quickly identified that the disorder was largely individualized and that there were different kinds. We focused on helping dyslexic individuals who have trouble forming words and phrases (phonological/visual dyslexia) by applying the findings from our research into our application.
Our app, DyslexiSLASH works much like the classic Fruit Ninja mobile app. Once the user hits play, letters in all orientations are randomly dropped at the top of the screen. The user, using their finger or stylus, will try to slash the dropped letters with the correct orientation in order to earn as many points as possible within a given time frame. The user will attempt to achieve personal records and share their scores with friends and family.
Our goal is for the user to increase their self-confidence in identifying letters in the correct orientation.
- Akanksha used Flutter for the functionality and UI of the app
- Adriana used Figma to conceptualize the app. She made it accessible for individuals with dyslexia by replacing text with icons/images whenever possible!
- Muskan used Microsoft Azure to authenticate using the Cloud
We were separated by large time differences, so we found it hard to communicate updates while others were sleeping. We decided to implement text updates and assigned individual tasks accordingly to help us keep us organized!
We're proud of creating an app that solves a real-world problem!
Our main learning was how to use the Microsoft Azure authentication and implement it in a mobile app scenario, as it was a first for all of us.
- Add more games! We want to implement a memory game with cards or a spelling bee game to tap into more kinds of dyslexia.
- We would like to conduct user testing on dyslexic children, our target market, to improve the app according to their needs.
- Research more extensively about those with dyslexia to empathize with our app users.
Disclaimer: None of our team members have this condition; all of our research comes from secondary sources. We understand that this app does not encompass all dyslexic types. If you came across this project and you have/know someone with dyslexia, feel free to reach out and we can iterate on our idea based on your needs :)