Last week we talked about Dyseggxia, a game-like application for mobile devices that has been designed to treat the errors of reading and writing of children with dyslexia.
Luz Rello is the one behind Dyseggxia, although she has developed it in collaboration with two of her friends. You may know her because last year she was awarded the European Young Researcher's Award (prize for the best young researcher in Europe), for his work in applying technology to measure the problems generated by dyslexia.
She has a degree in Linguistics and a founding partner of Cookie Cloud team. His research has generated applications such as IDEAL eBook reader and Dyseggxia (Lollipops) for children with dyslexia, which have tens of thousands of downloads in more than 70 countries. He is currently researching at Pompeu Fabra University. The reason for his research on dyslexia is his own stage as a student at school. He is a dyslexic person and the first fruits of the study effort he did not begin to see until age 12. It was a teacher who noticed, and helped her in the form of reinforcement classes to overcome difficulties. He knows how a child whose worth is questioned feels even though he studies, and he also knows what it is to suspend despite working.
And now I leave you with the interview:
Peques and More.- From what age should dyslexia be detected?
Rello light.- As soon as reading and writing begin to be acquired. The sooner it is detected the better. It is difficult to detect it because a person with dyslexia is not aware of whether he is reading right or wrong.
PyM.- Briefly explain to us what this learning disorder consists of
L.R.- Depending on who studies it, dyslexia is defined differently. From the point of view of education it is a learning difficulty that affects reading and writing. The origin is neurological although the causes are discussed. It is characterized by difficulties in decoding texts, recognizing words accurately, and having bad spelling. These difficulties are unexpected because they are not usually linked to other cognitive difficulties.
It is difficult to detect this disorder because a person with dyslexia is not aware of whether they are reading right or wrong.
PyM.- If a dyslexia is suspected in any child / student, what steps should the center follow?
L.R.- Notify parents as soon as possible so they can go to a specialized center to see if that suspicion is true. Then a diagnosis can be made. When before it is better detected, then before you can put solution.
PyM.- And if the school does not get involved, what indicators warn parents that they should look for someone to help them in the diagnosis?
L.R.- The main indicator is that your child works, strives, and yet does not go well in school.
PyM.- What are the main problems presented by dyslexic students in school?
L.R.- Difficulties and errors in reading, slow reading, difficulties in writing and too many spelling mistakes. Difficult to learn the letters and their sounds, difficulties in spelling and organizing spoken and written language.
In our society, in the digital age, no child with dyslexia has to stay on the road
PyM.- What percentage of them have an easy solution with early detection?
L.R.- As far as my knowledge goes there are no studies that present statistics with these data.
PyM.- I see you with a person with a great desire to improve, but what makes you help children who suffer the same problem you had?
L.R.- Help is something human. Seeing how children get better and overcoming their difficulties drives me to continue. Knowing that you can have a solution makes me continue. It is not fair that a working person is left behind. In our society, In the digital age, no child with dyslexia has to stay on the road.
The solution to facilitate school adaptation of dyslexic children, goes through early detection. This way a lot of school failure would be avoided and schools would save resources
PyM.- It gives the impression that much more educational innovation is needed to address this problem. The application you have developed covers part of this gap, but what other tools do you think should be mandatory in schools and homes?
L.R.- It doesn't take as much innovation as fighting to use what is already done. For example, many schools provide books in the digital format, if they did the majority could change things, (same as the publishers that supply the books to the schools). In this way, we can use readers and other tools that allow you to read the text or modify it according to the needs of people with dyslexia. Also, the option of being able to use computers and spell checkers at school would help. The use of computers for children with dyslexia in schools is already done in other countries such as the United Kingdom.
PyM.- What solutions should be adopted to facilitate both the adaptation of children to learning and the avoidance of failure?
L.R.- It should start with early detection. With the first day of class a teacher will perform tests to detect children at risk of having dyslexia much school failure would be avoided and schools would save resources, as is done in Finland. These pedagogues and counselors are already in schools, that is, resources already exist, you just have to put the solutions into practice.
Recently the game Dyseggxia has won the first prize of Vodafone Mobile for Good Europe Awards 2013
To finish I would like Congratulate Luz for the successes achieved; and thanks for the time he has given us, offering to collaborate in this interview. I hope you liked it as much as I did.
