SafeReads: A productivity tool for learners with dyslexia

SafeReads – embedded, personalised reading strategies for learners with dyslexia

In school age groups alone 800,000 people are affected by dyslexia with persistent reading and spelling difficulties throughout their education. Supporting learners with dyslexia is increasingly challenging at a time when decentralisation through academy status is becoming more popular, funding for special education needs is being decreased, and lower grade staff are assuming specialist teaching responsibilities. This creates a greater demand for reliable teaching resources to address the needs of learners with dyslexia across the UK. The proposed project will design a productivity tool called SafeReads. SafeReads will be targeted to children with dyslexia transitioning from Key Stage 2 to 3 (ages 8-14), a crucial point in children’s education as they shift from learning to read to reading to learn. SafeReads will support children in recognising problems with reading; it will teach them to use strategies so that they cope with these problems; it will help them learn how to monitor their own progress. The outcome of this learning process will be the development of skills critical to children’s academic success and lifelong learning.

SafeReads will be available to install as a plugin that operates across different applications and devices (e.g. word processing tools, web browsers) covering the wide range of contexts involved in literacy. It will be designed for independent use as well as use with teaching assistants, teachers and parents who will have access to an interactive portal where they can share best practices with SafeReads, supporting them in their role to help children overcome their difficulties. Moreover, SafeReads will be usable and simple in order to accommodate the attention, organisation and memory problems that children with dyslexia often have. This simplicity will be in part achieved through the application of artificial intelligence approaches that will automatically diagnose a child’s weaknesses and strengths, and adapt the potentially vast content of the tool to match their profile. A final feature of SafeReads will be its collaborative nature. Alongside a pool of reading strategies provided by experts and made available through SafeReads, children will be encouraged and supported to develop their own. We hope this will foster a ‘can do’ attitude and improve children’s confidence in their abilities. A strong participatory ethos will drive the SafeReads design process. Our team will co-design the technology with children, teaching assistants, parents, special education needs coordinators, specialist teachers and IT administrators. This process will ensure the tool is grounded in a sound pedagogical foundation, addresses the needs of both primary and secondary users, supports best practice implementation, and is technically feasible.