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.

More information

Propose your innovation

See our selection of innovations

Banc d’innovacions

Barnahus, care service for child victims of sexual abuse

Barnahus is an integrated unit formed by a specialized multidisciplinary team, whose objective is to prevent the re-victimization of children and adolescents who are victims of sexual abuse.

Access4you, accessibility certification for people with disabilities

Access4You is an Innovative initiative based on the certification of accessibility of the built environment for people with special needs

Help to care, support for people who care for others

Help to Care is an innovative mobile application created to support people who care for others in Kent and Medway, England.

Audivers 360º, immersive reality speech therapy for individuals with hearing impairment

Audivers 360º is a pioneering speech therapy project with immersive reality, aimed at children and adults with hearing loss.

Gavius, a virtual assistant for the processing of social assistance applications

Toni Codina on 29 November 2022

Intelligent assistant that provides information to citizens about the social assistances available to them, and at the same time facilitates its processing in a convenient, fast and simple way. It is based on a user-friendly application, which allows digital identification through biometric recognition, and automates the process of applying for aid and subsequent collection.

The Gavius project aims to contribute to moving towards more proactive and innovative social services, adapting technologies to the needs of individuals and social professionals. The assistant is accessible both to potential beneficiaries who identify themselves in the application, as well as to social services and citizen care professionals, for whom it provides support when granting and processing social assistance.

Gavius is an example of joint work between companies, citizens, administration and research centers. Thanks to a model based on machine learning, the application is able to adapt to the casuistry of each person and simplify and streamline the bureaucratic processes of the social services of local administrations.