Project Name: Learning games for dyslexic young adults, DYS2GO.
Short Description:
This project is co-funded by Erasmus+ programme of European Union. DYS2GO aims to provide a range of mobile highly motivating and stimulating learning games, for a carefully selected range of skills known to be important for young dyslexic adults, relevant also for language learning.
Implementation Period:
2018-2021.
Objectives:
- Providing young adults aged 16+ with an opportunity to develop skills that are very relevant in their efforts to overcome the difficulties caused by dyslexia, and to find a better realisation of their potential in all aspects of life.
- Help trainers and teachers who regularly work with dyslexic learners, as well as teachers with less experience with dyslexic students looking for additional resources for their work, with the aim of promoting inclusion at mainstream schools.
Target:
This practice supports or benefits different groups:
- Young adults aged 16+
- SEN teachers, tutors and trainers working with dyslexic young adults
- Teachers at schools
Involved Countries:
Latvia, Bulgaria, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Lithuania.
Description of Practice
A dyslexic person needs to train their perception skills on a regular base, otherwise all-inclusive education measures, for example, in VET, higher education or adult continuing training, may fail. Such training is a prerequisite for phonological and orthographic processing.
It is proved that interactive exercises can help a dyslexic person to train specific skills, but the issue is that the majority of available exercises are focused on children and dot not usually address specific problems. In short, although the benefits of this practice are well known, there is no tool designed for adults, and the existing ones are irrelevant for them due to their child-focused nature.
The DYS2GO project considers the preferences of young dyslexic adults from the age of 16 onwards. Furthermore, this training takes place in the afternoon or evening (outside of formal education institutions) and is provided by teachers/trainers with a specialism in dyslexia.
To facilitate the need of adults of learning “everywhere and anytime”, technology has been the basis of this project. Mobile devices have indeed become immensely powerful and popular especially with young adults, and offer huge opportunities for learning in a flexible way, especially for youngsters.
Developed Actions and Materials
The following actions were carried out in order to achieve the project goals:
- Development of a pedagogical framework. Collecting information from partner countries to use as a basis to develop the project.
- Production of media file package. The second step was the creation and collection of content for the game app (images, texts, etc.).
- Development of game specifications.
- Creation of learning game apps for: IOS, Android, Widows desktop and tablets. See Suggested resources for further reading section to download the game.
- Production of a teachers’ guide for all those teachers or trainers who want to use the app in classroom. See Suggested resources for further reading section to access the guide.
Impact and Obtained Results
The most tangible output is a set of 206 free learning games available in six languages (English, German, Bulgarian, Czech, Lithuanian and Latvian). These interactive games are focused on the following seven areas:
- Auditory discrimination (18 games)
- Auditory memory (18 games)
- Auditory sequence (52 games)
- Visual discrimination (34 games)
- Visual memory (29 games)
- Visual sequence (18 games)
- Spatial position (37 games)
The seven areas have been chosen based on research which suggests they will stimulate parts of the brain that are active in many activities including reading.
This tool offers the option of playing single games to train specific skills or playing storylines including all pedagogical types. The second option is composed by five short stories which make learning more challenging and attractive:
- Lost in the pyramid
- Good or bad luck
- When dream comes true
- Surprising trip
- The family secret
The feedback obtained after testing shows that overall assessment of games is positive. Users are pleased and teachers express a desire for more similar games to be developed and, if possible, to link the topics of the games with the educational material in different school subjects.
However, it’s important to highlight that these games are not an entertainment tool and should be presented to learners as learning activities.
Why is it Good Practice?
DYS2GO project has been selected as a good practice because it offers a technological tool to solve an existing problem/need.
Interactive exercises help dyslexic people practice specific skills but there are few exercises focused on adults needs. This project offers an alternative to support adults on their learning process. Three key principles can be highlighted on this case study that support learners with LD: game-based learning, inclusive education and self-learning.
