How might we screen dyslexia in Pakistan digitally and provide support to those who need it?
Dyslexia in Pakistan is an interactive web platform that offers screening and rehabilitation features for dyslexic children in the local languages of Pakistan to improve reading skills.
MY ROLE
User Researcher
Designer
Developer
METHODS & TOOLS
User Interviews
Usability Testing
Adobe XD
Adobe Illustrator
HTML5
Javascript
MEAN Stack
DURATION
8 months
TEAM
Dr. Suleman Shahid (Supervisor)
Dr. Sana Haidry
Tashfeen Ahmed
Problem
Dyslexia is a widely prevalent ailment throughout the world. According to research, around 40 million people in the US are dyslexic, and only 2 million are aware of it. In Pakistan, due to high illiteracy rates, it is remarkably challenging to identify dyslexia. Some students make it to universities undiagnosed. In an epidemiological study carried on 8-10 years school children the prevalence of specific reading difficulties is 3.9%, specific arithmetic difficulties is 1.3% and specific arithmetic and reading difficulties is 2.3%. the prevalence among boys is 8% and girls is 6%.
Once these children come into the mainstream, it is absolutely essential for them to know how to read Urdu because it is the most widely read language throughout Pakistan. Communication is an essential part of the integration. Inability to read Urdu leads to academic and social challenges.
Solution
As part of this project, we focused on expanding on dyslexia assessment methods for Urdu and other local languages of Pakistan and worked on existing assessment tools such as the Dyslexia Assessment Battery for Urdu. We built digital methods on top of existing manual ways to assess dyslexia and developed an online screening checklist where users can screen dyslexic tendencies. Past work on dyslexia in similar languages, such as Arabic and Persian, gave us insights and helped us tackle some key challenges along the way.
In this project, we worked with high functioning dyslexic children in Pakistan who have underdeveloped reading skills. To help solve reading difficulties, we developed a web application platform for children, parents, and teachers. The interactive web application platform provides screening and rehabilitation activities, which are geared towards screening dyslexia in the local languages of Pakistan and improving the reading skills of dyslexic children. The application provides tools to create customizable e-books for dyslexic children along with the ability to add relevant examples and pictures.
The solution is designed to improve the Urdu reading skills of dyslexic children. Currently, no platform exists to acquaint children with Urdu or any other local language. We have designed an intelligent platform that adapts according to the level and type of dyslexia that the concerned child is facing. There’s no official list of dyslexia types. But there are some widely mentioned “types” of dyslexia such as phonological dyslexia, surface dyslexia, rapid name deficit, double deficit dyslexia, visual dyslexia, etc.
Features
We built a platform with online screening and support tools for dyslexia in Urdu and other local languages in Pakistan.
Screening Checklist
The screening checklist, available in Urdu and English languages, helps find strengths and weaknesses of children and overall prevalence rates.
Urdu eBooks Composer
Contributors can compose eBooks in Urdu which can be downloaded or added to the website’s reading collection.
Guess the Word
Users are shown some action words and have to select an image that best depicts the action word.
Spelling Aid
When a word is typed or pasted in the text area, the spelling aid tool breaks it into separate letters.
Living with Dyslexia
This feature helps people without dyslexia understand what it is like to have dyslexia. No signup is required here.
Resources
There are some external resources available for help. There are readings available for children with dyslexia. Readers can customize the font size and colour of the readings.