La Mesita, a virtual desk for the reading development of children with disabilities

Toni Codina on 20 December 2022

Free application that, through play and exploration, facilitates the process of learning to read and write in children with disabilities through technologies based on inclusive education.

The way in which the exploration is proposed, autonomous and without order, is a way of learning that helps in the construction of learning to read, facilitates an enrichment of vocabulary and familiarization with elements of reading awareness.

The virtual desk is designed with different activity paths, which are chosen and adapted to the needs of each child. At first, an understanding of the initial level of the different dimensions to be worked on is made, in order to select the most appropriate games and design a personalized program that helps and encourages reading. The activities can be modified according to the child’s evolution.

It is a flexible virtual tool with four dimensions. First, the development of oral comprehension is done through the viewing of videos, reading texts, and activities such as sorting stories as they are narrated. Phonological awareness is worked on through the fragmentation and creation of words, with the support of drawings, the identification of sounds and phonics activities with the microphone. At the semantic level, words of the same categories are grouped and questions are asked about the reason for these differentiations. Finally, vocabulary acquisition is done through description games with adjectives to learn their meaning and their use in other contexts.

Characteristics of innovation

Lab, Bank of innovations, Childhood, Disability, Independent living, New technological tool, User empowerment

Localization

Chile

Partners / Funders

Universidad Católica de Chile

Genesis

The La Mesita model was born from a study with children with Down Syndrome, and has worked for an understanding of the necessary skills to be acquired by these children to achieve a successful development in reading and writing.

Level of implementation

To develop the application, a study was conducted with 32 children with Down Syndrome who were testing La Mesita for 5 months. From there, CEDETi designed this inclusive tool that has a positive impact on the learning process of children with intellectual disabilities.

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Espai Obert, an alternative service to institutionalization for people with severe psychosocial disabilities.

Toni Codina on 14 December 2022

Alternative resource to institutionalization for people with severe psychosocial disabilities, which offers them social and health support based on the pact and their free will to use the services of the facility.

It is aimed at people who are in a situation of social exclusion and even homelessness, due to mental and behavioral disorders or substance abuse problems, and who have no family or social support or financial resources,

Espai Obert aims to reduce the stigma of these people and overcome the barriers that stand in the way of their social and community inclusion. The intervention methodology is based on low demand and free use.

As a first phase of intervention, the aim is to cover the basic needs of hygiene and food. Therefore, the service is equipped with a kitchen, living and dining room, washing machines, patio and shower and hygiene areas, and the users participate in the routines of the center (preparing meals, laundry, taking care of the garden…). Once this first phase has been achieved, a bond of trust is built, in order to work on the development, skills and well-being of each person, as well as socialization with other people in the space and other resources in the area.

This pioneering intervention model is one of the tools to be deployed in Catalonia in the process of reconversion and transformation of long-stay psychiatric hospitalization with functional recovery and life project units based on the successful experience of the counties of Girona, where in 2004 the long-stay psychiatric hospital in the former Salt Psychiatric Hospital was closed, generating a network of community mental health and addiction services, with alternative resources.