ŠIPK 4

Developing a computer system to identify dyslexia and help people diagnosed with dyslexia

Dyslexia is a developmental, neurological disorder of reading and writing; reading is a reduced ability to understand the text read, while writing is most often a confusion of sequences of characters [1]. The disorder is not related to intelligence level. People with dyslexia are often gifted beyond average, but they think in a different way than non-dyslexics. Some estimates put the proportion of dyslexics at around 15% of the population.

Dyslexia is usually found in primary school children who make slow progress in reading and writing. This is often reflected in lower educational achievement. It is important to recognise it early and treat it appropriately. This helps to prevent the stigmatisation of dyslexics, facilitates social inclusion and reduces problems in adulthood.

Dyslexia varies greatly from person to person, so identifying associated disorders is a lengthy process of discovering a wide range of characteristics from which to draw conclusions. At the same time, it makes sense to think about ways to help the individual who is identified as having dyslexia.

The aim of the project is to develop a computerised system to assist in the early detection of dyslexia in primary school children and to carry out sample testing in collaboration with the Dyslexia Institute. The system will be tailored to the children so that it monitors the child’s eye movements through play and detects features that would indicate dyslexia.