Tariq, R., & Latif, S. (2016).

A Mobile Application to Improve Learning Performance of Dyslexic Children with Writing

Difficulties. Educational Technology & Society, 19(4), 151–166.

A Mobile Application to Improve Learning Performance of Dyslexic

Children with Writing Difficulties
Rabbia Tariq* and Seemab Latif
Department of Computer Software Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST),
Islamabad, Pakistan // [email protected] // [email protected]
*
Corresponding author

(Submitted June 30, 2015; Revised February 23, 2016; Accepted March 25, 2016)

ABSTRACT
A neurological learning disability, termed as Dyslexia, is characterized by difficulties in various aspects of
writing skills making the individuals unable to develop age-appropriate and ability-appropriate functional
skills. In Pakistan, lack of dyslexia awareness and remedial education training restrains the remediation of
dyslexic children at early stages. There also exist noticeable affordance and accessibility issues concerning
the remedial help and assistive technology adoption. In this research, we have developed a mobile learning
application for android-powered devices that targets developmental progression and usability requirements
of dyslexic children with writing difficulties. Our center of interest was to improve introductory writing
skills of dyslexic children along with consistent evaluation of their learning performance to highlight the
weak areas of learning process. To achieve this objective, we have designed a Writers Learning Algorithm
(WLA) based on computational model of learning. We assessed the effectiveness and usability of the
developed application in collaboration with dyslexic students as well as remedial teachers at selected
dyslexia institutions in Pakistan. The preliminary assessment results concluded that application has justified
its role in terms of representation, evaluation and optimization of writing proficiency of young dyslexic
writers.

Keywords
Dyslexia, Writing difficulties, Assistive learning application, Technological usability concerns, Learning
performance measurement

Introduction
According to Pirani and Sasikumar (2012), learning disabilities are normally hidden disabilities that affect many
individuals with average or above average intelligence throughout their life. Edyburn (2006) stated that the
cognitive characteristics (intellectual ability, attention deficits, memory, and thinking skills) and academic
characteristics (reading, writing, language arts, and mathematics) of a person are associated with various types of
learning disabilities.

Importance of handwriting skill for Dyslexics

Lam et al. (2011) described that insufficient handwriting skill is considered as one of the functional deficits in
dyslexia. Martínez-Marrero and Estrada-Hernández (2008) indicated that dyslexic children often experience
difficulties in mechanical aspects (letter formation, capitalization, spelling and punctuation) as well as contextual
aspects (organization and consistency) of writing. Edyburn (2006) remarked that it is more fruitful to overcome
the writing difficulties of dyslexic individuals by adopting assistive technology at primary level as it will make
the learning tasks easier throughout their academic life. Evmenova and King-Sears (2013) also emphasized that
monitoring the impact of technology on individual’s writing progress is very much essential.

Dyslexia research in Pakistan

As a developing country, Pakistan faces several challenges in dealing with dyslexia as government help is not
enough to combat this on a country wide scale. Besides that, the adoption of specialized learning aids is still in
its infancy. Until now, no significant contribution has been made in the research area of the assistive technology
for dyslexia. In order to improve the current situation of dyslexia in Pakistan, this research endeavors to design
and implement an interactive technological learning aid specifically for dyslexic children with handwriting
difficulties. It also addresses the prominent awareness, affordance and accessibility issues regarding the remedial
educational help and assistive technology adoption.

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Literature study and discussion

A detailed background study about issues faced by dyslexic individuals has been conducted to find out the usage
of technological assistance in learning and improving writing skills in general, and associated usability issues in
particular.

Major barriers faced by Dyslexic children

According to Pirani and Sasikumar (2012), dyslexic individuals are characterized by slow conceptual
development, poor retention ability, short attention span and/or weak sense of spatial awareness. Ndombo et al.
(2013) emphasized reading and writing as the main barriers for dyslexics. Pareto (2012) added that the
difficulties in mathematical skills are even a bigger challenge than the influence of poor reading or writing skills.
Flora (2009) remarked that dyslexia is commonly accompanied by Dysgraphia, a specific learning disability
which causes the individuals to write words backwards, inconsistent letter formation and mix uppercase and
lowercase letters. Pirani and Sasikumar (2012) indicated that dyslexic children often feel frustrated or depressed
having a poor self-image which leads to failure in their academic life.

Multimedia approaches for Dyslexics

According to Ndombo et al. (2013), education of individuals with learning disabilities (dyslexia in particular) is
a time consuming job that demands proper attention and extra efforts from instructors. Nicolson and Fawcett
(2008) mentioned that good teaching practices for dyslexic individuals involve dividing the complex skills into
sub-skills. So that individuals master the sub-skills with multiple trails on daily basis before using them as
building blocks for the next skill. Mahidin et al. (2011) claimed that multimedia applications have a potential to
effectively teach dyslexics children allowing more than one sensory channel to acquire and process the
instructions. Wah (2007) noted that dyslexic children require repetitive instructions, thus, multimedia resources
can be used to gain mastery in various learning skills as it reinforces and motivates them without losing patience.
Ahmad, Jinon, and Rosmani (2013) concluded that use of multimedia applications can get individuals’ attention,
improve their understanding and boost their confidence.

Existing technological learning solutions

According to Feder and Majnemer (2007), various studies of handwriting intervention predicted that most
assistive tools improve the legibility of handwriting and writing problems can disappear with appropriate
intervention. On the other hand, Pirani and Sasikumar (2012) argued that assistive technology cannot be
generalized for individuals with learning disabilities as every learning disability has its own unique
requirements. Martinez-Marrero and Estrada-Hernández (2008) also mentioned that the instructional design of
the technology should be learner-centered with specific learning disability. In past, researches have been
conducted to develop assistive learning solutions specifically for individuals with dyslexia. These include
MyLexic (Devaraju et al., 2007), JollyMate (Khakhar&Madhvanath, 2010), E-Z Dislexia (Mahidin et al., 2011)
and MathLexic (Ahmad et al., 2013).

All these researches have issues/limitations of individual performance measurement, courseware structure,
technical implementation, usability and user acceptance.

Weaknesses in literature

Reviewing the relevant literature clarified that technological interventions can facilitate dyslexic children with
writing difficulties as there is no cure for dyslexia until now. It also highlighted some gaps in the area of research
related to dyslexia. The major concern is that the majority of existing assistive learning aids are designed to
address either the reading difficulties or the writing difficulties but not both in one system. In fact, little attention
has been given to solve the writing problems of dyslexic children though it is a skill required for survival of
primary school children. Many of them have completely neglected the importance of handwriting technique and
have provided alternative tools. In addition, the research on mathematical disabilities is very limited.

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Based on the literature surveys, one of the reasons behind the inadequate adoption of assistive technology is the
lack of teacher/parents understandings regarding the technology use as many of them are too difficult to operate.
A large range of available learning systems for dyslexics are not designed keeping in mind both the educational
goals and diverse individual’s needs making it difficult to choose the appropriate learning system for specific age
group, grade level or ability level. Also the available technological solutions do not offer any performance
measurement feature. In addition, there is a lack of explicit instructional design in the existing technological
learning aids as dyslexic children somehow require writing assistance while interacting with the system.

Research questions and scope

The literature survey we conducted highlighted some research gaps in the area of assistive technology for
dyslexia that motivated us to conduct this study. Keeping in mind the potential cost-effectiveness feature of
mobile applications, the primary goal of the research constitutes of two research questions: Whether an
application, designed specifically for dyslexic children, can foster learning and help to improve some of their
fundamental handwriting skills in English language and mathematics by performing the assessment of their
writing artifacts (Q1) and which design elements and courseware features of an application are important for
appropriateness and appeal to dyslexic children in order to potentially improve their learning experience and
decrease their learning differences (Q2). These factors are primarily measured as the “usability of the
application.”

Analysis of available literature highlighted that the application framework should be designed in accordance
with the age, ability and usability requirements of targeted dyslexic population. Therefore the users of proposed
system are preschool dyslexic children aged 5 and under with writing difficulties. The writing activities
incorporated are based on their educational goals. The environment can be both home and remedial educational
institutes. The technology used to implement the system is Android software platform, compatible with both
smartphones and tablets. The graphical user interface of application is entirely based on dyslexic users’ usability
requirements.

Dyslexics usability requirements for application

Research methodology

As the application is tailored to the needs of the preschool dyslexic children, the software engineering
methodology employed for the research is Usability Engineering Process Model (Perdrix et al., 2003). It
supports the usability considerations of the targeted population throughout the development to craft the
interaction designs through iterative cycles.

Figure 1. Usability engineering process model (Perdrix et al., 2003)

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As shown in Figure 1, each cycle comprises of four main processes:
 Analysis: It gathers as well as structures the user requirements with the help of literature survey and
interviews.
 Design: It devises the application architectural model, technological framework and proposed learning
algorithm concepts.
 Implementation:It transforms specifications into executable application using software.
 Launch & Evaluation: It evaluates the developed application within the learning environment to determine
its effectiveness in learning the handwriting skill.

The recurring analysis, design and evaluation cycles helped greatly to progress various elements of the
application during the implementation process.

Requirements elicitation

The design and development of the application occurred in collaboration with dyslexic children, their parents
and remedial education teachers specialized in the field of dyslexia from IDEAS (Institute of Dyslexia Education
& Attitudinal Studies), Islamabad, Pakistan and CARE (Center for Assessment and Remedial Education),
Karachi, Pakistan. Both face-to-face and phone interviews were conducted with ten remedial teachers who
shared a great deal of usability design elements appropriate for designing a handwriting learning application for
preschool dyslexics. We also surveyed five parents with dyslexic children to document their opinions and
supportive information for a better understanding of the everyday environment in which dyslexics perform and
the difficulties they encounter.

Interviewing the remedial education teachers revealed that majority of parents refer to specialized remedial
institutes in order to diagnose their child for any learning disability after they observe that their child’s struggle
continues regardless of changing the teaching strategy or teacher. It is difficult to tell effectively whether a
kindergarten or first grade child is experiencing a developmental delay or is dyslexic as every child start learning
at slightly different age. But when a child starts to learn, he/she accomplishes the developmental milestones in a
reasonable time. To establish a learning profile of child, remedial teachers evaluate age-appropriate subjective
(motivation, listening, comprehension, attention and oral communication) and objective (working memory,
reading fluency, decoding and word retrieval) observations using research-backed dyslexia screening tools in
order to determine a good starting place for a child that needs an intervention.

Requirements specification and analysis

One of the aims of the research was to individualize the application for each student’s learning level so that the
diverse needs of the dyslexic children are satisfied. A Usability Requirement Questionnaire was developed to
conduct a survey. It was targeted to specialized teachers of dyslexia and parents having dyslexic children aged 5
and under. The questionnaire was divided into three categories namely Interface, Content and Evaluation. It
consisted of carefully chosen questions; based on literature study, to gather the response data related to the
following areas: level of dyslexia severity, aspects of dyslexia the child struggled with, which tasks children have
difficulties with, how their confidence is stimulated, which factors engage the children’s attention, what are their
treatment methods, how their learning performance is measured and their preferences regarding mobile
technology features.

The analysis of survey results affirmed that the most significant part of any application is the user interface. It is
supposed to deliver the feeling of comfort and satisfaction to the users while using the application. Table 1 shows
the preferred user interface design guidelines to develop an application for dyslexic’s learning.

Table 1. User interface requirements

Sr. No. Questions User preference Application specification
1 Do you think there is any alternative that can Fingers as writing Use of fingers to trace and
help the children with dyslexia learn to tool free-hand writing the
write instead of pencil/pen? characters
2 Which font color do the children with Darker Shades Black
dyslexia prefer?

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 3 Which font style do the children with Sans serif font group Arial
dyslexia prefer?
4 Which font size do the children with dyslexia Neither too large nor 14/16
prefer? too small
5 What background colors do the children with Lighter Shades White, lighter shades of pink
dyslexia prefer? and green.
6 Which factors help in attracting the attention Use of multimedia Character sound association,
of the children with dyslexia? elements Character stroke formation
order, and appreciative
audio feedback.
7 Which factors distract the attention of the Use of too much No unnecessary images,
children with dyslexia? objects/text animation and text, Fewer
options to choose from.
8 Which age group has a better learning The younger, The Made for ages 5 and under.
factor? better
9 What kind of technological device dyslexic Tablets, Smartphones Based on android platform
children prefer most? that can be visualize on both
tablet and smartphone
devices.

Table 2. Learning content requirements

Sr. Questions User preference Application specification
No.
1 What are the prominent weakness Reading, Writing, Phonemic awareness→character-
areas of the children with Phonemic Awareness, sound knowledge.
dyslexia? Penmanship Reading→character stroke formation
order with associated character
sound.
Writing→character Tracing and
Copying worksheets.
Penmanship→stylus pen.
2 Which handwriting style do you Print writing Print writing.
prefer that improves their memory
and speed?
3 What are contents of syllabus Depends on age group Activities for learning basic building
involved for the children with & weaknesses blocks of writing.
dyslexia?
4 What kind of help/guidance is Depends on type of Multisensory writing instructions to
required by children with learner accommodate visual, auditory and
dyslexia? tactile learners.
5 What problems are faced by Time management, Time management→Total time taken
dyslexic children while writing? Memory pressure, for each activity.
Staying focus, Illegible Memory pressure→Fewer options
writing available to choose from.
Staying focus→Use of attractive
graphics.
Illegible writing→Rigorous revision.
6 Do you follow any particular Scaffolding, Orton- Learning method based on useful
treatment program for the Gillingham, Hickey, aspects of Scaffolding, Orton-
children with dyslexia? Fernald, Davis Gillingham and Davis method.

Investigating the gathered requirements revealed that the contents of the application must be in accordance with
the age and ability level of dyslexic children to prove to be beneficial. The suitable learning material design
guidelines and their availability in the developed application are given in Table 2.

Analysis of the surveyed requirements concluded that the ultimate goal of evaluation is to better understand the
strengths and weaknesses of dyslexic child’s performance during the learning process while acknowledging the
learning efforts to improve learning. Table 3 represents the desired learning evaluation design guidelines and
their availability in the developed application.
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 Table 3. Learning evaluation requirements
Sr. No. Questions User preference Application specification
1 Do the evaluation tasks given to the Yes Upper-Lower case letters,
children with dyslexia are Mathematical numbers &
predefined? symbols test activities for
2 What are the types of evaluation Based on individual’s revision.
tasks? weak areas
3 What is the frequency of evaluation? After 6 months Frequent assessments

4 In what way the results of evaluation Calculation of %score Display learning graph,
are computed? based on the answers success stars, %progress &
time tracker.
5 To whom the results of evaluation are To parents, To teachers History section to record
notified? evaluation results of
activities.
6 How do you represent the results of Score sheet Statistics tables and
evaluation? Observational notes.
7 What is the way of Any type of token of Token system→Display
appreciation/reward system appreciation and Success Stars.
followed? motivation Audio feedback in the form of
applause sound.

Application description
Both the literature survey as well as interviews with remedial education teachers and parents of dyslexic children
highlighted some learning barriers that dyslexic children generally struggle with. Hence such individuals require
a different approach in learning. They also mentioned that applications designed for mobile devices will have a
significant impact on learning process of children with writing differences. Thus this mobile application is
specifically developed based on the understanding of characteristics and preferences of dyslexic children aged 5
and under and its effects on learning.

Architectural model

The architectural model of the application is comprised of various lesson plans and tests activities as depicted in
Figure 2. The particular content structure is selected based on the existing remedial education methods tied with
the diverse needs of dyslexic children to remediate their learning barriers. Also, specific content representation
techniques based on literature survey and input from the instructors/parents of dyslexic children are implemented
to provide assistance in their learning process. The application is structured around three basic modules where
each module is designed with specific user interface to achieve a specific learning goal:
 Learn Module: This module is designed to strengthen dyslexic children’s reading and writing skill while
fortifying their time management skill. Also, this module is believed to improve their phonological
processing through character-sound association. In addition, the representation of character stroke formation
order eases dyslexic child’s difficulty in following the writing instructions. Each category (upper case
letters, lower case letters, mathematical numbers and symbols) within the module comprised of different
lesson plans, based on multisensory approach, to offers each child the facility to attempt and proceed to the
next lesson plan based on the needs and learning performance.

 Test Module: Aimed at improving dyslexic child’s visual memory. Test activities require dyslexic child to
recognize, memorize and identify visual character shapes in order to rewrite them. This helps the child to
remember and recall the gained knowledge in an easier and quicker way.

 Evaluation Module: A unique element designed to perform the assessment of the writing worksheets. The
scoring system implemented is very moderate, in order to boost dyslexic children’s confidence to enhance
their learning performance. Also, it motivates them to increase their involvement with the application by
appreciating their learning efforts.

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Two styles of writing activities i.e., trace mode and copy mode are incorporated in each module. Within Learn
module, the child is provided with writing assistance in form of simple instructions. In order to toughen the
writing activities, this feature is not available in Test module. Besides this application comprises of additional
modules for example documenting the data related to improvements in child’s learning outcomes:
 History module: Intended to function in collaboration with evaluation module demonstrating the structured
records of child’s learning growth in the form of progress tables.
 Workbook module: Designed to record the observation notes related to child’s learning behavior providing a
way for teachers/parents to view the improvements in child’s learning attitude.

Figure 2. Architectural model of application

Technological framework

The technological framework of the application as shown in Figure 3 is designed to eliminate the following
learning barriers in one system simultaneously.

Phonological barriers:The application used the audiovisual elements to make a child familiar with units of
character sound called phonemes. Once the learner gained the skill of phonological awareness, he/she will
naturally understand how to read.

Reading barriers: The application used the visualization concepts to help a child memorize the character
effortlessly. Therefore, after acquiring the skills of phonological awareness and reading, the learner will be able
to write.

Writing barriers: The application implemented the custom designed learning algorithm to evaluate the child’s
writing performance and to notify the learning memory aptitude.

The activities incorporated in application are designed to impart the knowledge of phonology, reading and
writing. The application is expected to progress the writing skills of dyslexic children by implementing proposed

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learning algorithm to make dyslexic child aware of his learning growth by identifying the weak writing areas
where further improvements are required.

Figure 3. Technological framework of application

Prototype demonstration

As the application manages multi user profiles, therefore each user account possess a unique login ID and
password. This allows secure sharing of one device among many users while keeping the separate records of
individual’s learning performance data. Figure 4 demonstrates the screenshots of the representations related to
various modules of developed application.

Proposed learning algorithm concepts

Research study and interview sessions highlighted some learning concerns relevant to dyslexic students learning
process that are mainly associated with illustration of courseware contents, determining the learning progress and
testing knowledge set hence requiring a custom designed algorithm, based on computational model of learning.
The concepts incorporated in the Writers Learning Algorithm (WLA) are believed to solve all these learning
differences by providing dyslexia friendly learning environment. Figure 5 shows the devised WLA which

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consists of following three components to remediate the prominent learning barriers. More specifically, the detail
of each component is presented below:

Representation

This component is aimed at improving dyslexic child’s comprehension and recognition skills by implementing
the re-learning mechanism that intends to repeat the same character set until it is learnt properly. The reason
behind re-learning is that these individuals are regarded as slow learners and they can take a week or even
months to learn single character. The WLA presents dyslexic child with single character set at a time that
requires him/her to recognize, memorize, recall and write the character without any confusion. The alphabets,
numbers and symbols are divided into enumerated character sets (n = 1, 2, 3…) where number of elements
within each character set varies from section to section. The WLA selects a character set from specific section
for purpose of representing it to learner based on individual’s needs and learning capacity. It then evaluates each
element of selected character set (n) within both writing modes to decide whether to transit to next mode or to
repeat the current mode of selected character set (n). Also it decides whether to move to the next character set or
not depending on the evaluation result. As there is finite number of pre-defined character sets, the WLA ensures
that activities keep flowing in a recurring manner without getting stuck.

Figure 4. Prototype demonstration

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 Figure 5. Writers Learning Algorithm (WLA)

Evaluation

Although it is quite cumbersome to observe day to day learning progress of dyslexic child, the goal of this
component is to accomplish the frequent assessments on the writing worksheets in order to judge the learning
memory. Also it is designed to motivate the child to increase the learning efforts by displaying the learning
growth while simultaneously increase the possibilities of achieving the optimal learning performance result. The
WLA measures and records the child’s writing performance for each module to determine how well he has
performed. An Evaluation function is used by the WLA to evaluate each element of a character set (n) within
both modes based on the performance criteria:
Character %score = (Obtained points/Total points) * 100

The WLA uses a Scoring function to compute the learning performance against a character set (n) within both
modes:
Average % Score = (Sum of character %score / Total no. of Set Elements) * 100

The WLA also exhibit the learning rate of dyslexic child by tracking the time taken to accomplish learning a
character set (n). It determines the learning growth of a child with the help of graphical representation of
evaluation results showing a character as a function of time (no. of attempts) and learning proficiency in each
mode (average %score).

Optimization

This component aims at providing the rigorous practice experience to test dyslexic child’s knowledge set because
they have significant difficulty in retaining information in memory. It is designed to revise what has been learnt

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yesterday or before in a suitable way to over learn the skills already mastered. Thus it is expected to greatly help
dyslexic child with remembering and recalling the gained knowledge without any memory pressure. The WLA is
intended to optimize the knowledge set of dyslexic children by implementing reinforcement learning
mechanism. Each writing activity is based on the principle that the more one does something, the better one gets
at it. This develops self-confidence in dyslexic child to accomplish writing tasks which he has learnt before. In
addition, it allows the self-motivated learning by frequently appreciating his learning efforts.

Evaluation and result discussion

After the design and implementation process, we collaborated with the IDEAS (Institute of Dyslexia Education
& Attitudinal Studies), Islamabad, Pakistan and CARE (Center for Assessment and Remedial Education),
Karachi, Pakistan to evaluate the developed application. The research used the quantitative evaluation approach
by conducting the usability and user acceptance testing in order to appraise the effectiveness and usage of the
application. The main purpose for evaluating the application was to identify the important learning, design,
conceptual and technological issues during the supervised interaction of dyslexic children with the application.

Participants

Twenty dyslexic students aged 5 and under were recruited from selected remedial education institutions using
convenient sampling. They used English language as their secondary means of verbal and written
communication and were right hand dominant. The following information was obtained from the remedial
education teachers regarding the participants: 30% participants (age 3-4 years + 06 months) were having
problems in reading where more than half were diagnosed with phonemic difficulties too. 70% participants (age
4-5 years + 06 months) were receiving assistance in handwriting with larger part registered as having significant
problems in penmanship. Children with cognitive deficits or developmental delay were excluded from this study
as such conditions might interfere with other abilities. The parents of all participants gave their informed
consent.

Evaluation criteria

During the evaluation process, a User Acceptance Test Questionnaire was developed which comprises of
structured sets of questions, carefully chosen from literature survey, to reveal the improvements in the writing
skills of dyslexic children. Questionnaire was divided into four categories i.e., Interface, Content, Evaluation and
Appreciation. The questionnaire was based on Likert Scale with numbered responses marked from 1 (strongly
disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) measuring the compliance of the various key factors of usability and user
acceptance in the application.

Measuring system/user performance experience

As the application design was believed to be learner-centered, so it was essential to find out whether the features
integrated in application do actually support dyslexic child’s learning process and assist in enhancing the
handwriting skill. To do so, we evaluated the usability of the application within the learning environment by
employing the well-researched usability attributes of System Acceptability Framework by Nielsen (Nielsen,
1994) that are described below:
 Supportability: System’s ability to provide helpful information to resolve the issues.
 Reliability: System’s ability to perform the intended functions over time.
 Compatibility: System’s ability to perform the consistent actions based on what people do.
 Learnability: User’s ability to learn to use the system.
 Efficiency: User’s level of productivity after having learned to use the system.
 Memorability: User’s ability to reestablish proficiency of the system after a period of not using it.
 Errors: System’s ability to make as few errors as possible or easily recover from them.
 User Satisfaction: System’s ability to provide a pleasant user experience.
 Intention to use: User’s perceptions about using the system in future.
 Utility: System’s relevance to achieve the desired outcomes.

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Measuring system acceptability level

Having good usability does not assure that the application is eventually received and used by its targeted
population, therefore it was also needed to analyze a number of factors that could influence the decision of
dyslexic child about How and When to use the application. To assess the issues affecting dyslexic child’s level of
acceptance of technical solution, we applied the well-grounded aspects of Technology Acceptance Model by
Davis (Chuttur, 2009) that is defined as:
 Ease of Use: Easy to understand and use.
 Usefulness: Fitness for purpose.
 Intention to Use: Users’ plan to adopt in future.
 Attitude: Users’ expression of favor or disfavor.
 Motivation: Users’ desire for an action.
 Appearance: Users’ preference about visual looks.

Evaluation procedure

All participants were equipped with real application installed on Galaxy SIII tablet for trial purpose in the
presence of their teachers who encouraged them to use the application. They were allowed a period of two weeks
to explore all features of the application. The teaching staff elicited the responses of dyslexic children through
observation while they were interacting with the application. This provided us with considerable evaluation
outcomes which helped modify our application. Some questionnaires to participate in the research were also sent
by email to the distant remedial education institutions.

Formative evaluation results

The participants used the application to demonstrate their knowledge of English language and mathematics by
performing writing activities. The feedback reported here was a monitored formative evaluation collected
through observations by remedial education teachers to analyze the learning effectiveness of application.
Collectively, they found that evaluation module was able to give a clear picture of to what extent a dyslexic
student has learnt a certain concept by measuring and sharing the learning graph of his/her performance for each
lesson activity. Almost 92% of participants were able to complete a lesson activity correctly after attempting it
four times. The feedback also revealed the efficiency of history module to demonstrate the advancements in
dyslexic student’s writing skills by highlighting the most effective lesson plans and taking a closer look at those
that are not measuring up. 89% of participants showed fine improvements in their performance score and
achieved their targeted learning objectives after five learning sessions. Others required more time due to their
carelessness or difficulty to stay focused during learning activities. Furthermore remedial education teachers
interpreted that presenting writing concepts through audiovisual elements enhanced the learning outcomes of
participants. They mentioned that one of the application areas to be improved was level of interactivity as the
learning effectiveness of application had greatly depended on it. Also verbal prompts were required to teach the
dyslexic children to interact with the application.

Analysis of system/user performance results

By evaluating the application with a group of dyslexic students under the supervision of their teachers, the
questionnaire helped to provide their valuable feedback relevant to design choices of the application in
enhancing their handwriting skill. The feedback data was computed through Excel Spreadsheet for the analysis
purpose. Figure 6 depicts the statistical analysis of questions included in User Interface section having the
overall mean score of 4.37 which indicates that 87% of participants agreed that design choices of application
interface are appropriate for learning the handwriting skill. Although the evaluation result data is preliminary,
analysis revealed that dyslexic students got familiar with features of application in a short usage period as they
were able to operate the application effortlessly. The electronic version of the writing tasks delivered a pleasant
experience to students which intrigued them to use the application. They also showed increased preference in
learning as well as practicing the writing skill on the application rather than on paper. Both the graphical and
textual attributes of application helped dyslexic students to concentrate, avoid distractions and target their
attention on the application’s screen. Moreover, they easily recognized and utilized all the features of the
application independently.

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 Figure 6. Result analysis-user interface section

Analyzing the feedback results of experimental evaluation uncovered the student’s progress relevant to learning
or improving the handwriting skill. The statistical analysis of questions belonging to Learning Content section of
questionnaire is shown in Figure 7 where overall mean score is 4.34. This depicts that almost 87% of dyslexic
students clearly favored the structure of the learning content implemented in the application. They showed
significant progress, not only in learning the writing and reading skill but also in phonological skill over a short
period of time. The students also showed great interest in completing the writing tasks with stylus pen on
application rather than on paper with pencil. The syllabus design directed to conventional educational content
and dyslexia friendly text layout helped dyslexic students to recognize, identify, memorize and write the
characters in an effortless way. The instructional help provided was supportive and easy to comprehend thus they
did not ask for any writing assistance.

Figure 7. Result analysis-learning content section

The quantitative feedback of evaluation process also highlighted the promising prospects of application
regarding assessment and reporting of dyslexic’s learning performance. Figure 8 demonstrates the statistical
analysis of questions related to Learning Assessment section with overall mean score of 4.42 which evidently
states that 88% of participants are in agreement with the efficient usage of application to provide practical
experience. Most of the students showed lower frustration level and were found involved with practicing and
completing the writing tasks on application as compared to writing on paper. They were also comfortable with
interpreting their achieved scores. The representation of learning graph motivated the students to enhance their
results in each next attempt. The revision activities provided by application stimulated the ability of dyslexic

163
students to remember and recall the information without putting excessive pressure on their memory. In addition,
the prominent appreciation of the learning efforts provided by application resulted in an increased sense of self
confidence.

Figure 8. Result analysis-learning evaluation section

Analysis of system acceptability results

Evaluation of developed application from dyslexic children within the learning setting helped to reveal the
degree of application’s significance in terms of design choices, usage as well as adoption in the future. The
feedback data of questionnaire that was carefully developed, based on research survey, measured the compliance
of the specific parameters of employed technology acceptance model. The mean score for various criterion of
preferred model is shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9. System acceptability results

Dyslexic students gained much experience in a short period of time and got comfortable moving around the
application. This is indicated in the mean score for Ease of Use which is 4.35 clearly showing that 87% of them
found it convenient to navigate and distinguish the appropriate icons within the application for desired action.
The effectiveness of application in dyslexic’s leaning process is demonstrated in mean score for Usefulness
164
which is 4.46 stating that 89% of dyslexic students found the application as a pragmatic assistive tool to enhance
their understanding and productivity of handwriting skill. The mean score for Intention to Use is 4.42. This
means that using the application boosted the interest and confidence of almost 88% of dyslexic children towards
learning and practicing the handwriting skill. For Attitude, the mean score is 4.40 showing that 88% of them are
in favor of using the applicationin view of the fact that its interface design and educational content structure
potentially helped dyslexic students to improve the foundational skills of handwriting. A prominent increase was
noticed in overall performance scores and involvement of dyslexic students with application over brief period of
time which also reflected in mean score for Motivation which is 4.31. This result shows that 86% of the students
with dyslexia found the learning activities incorporated in application engaging and appreciative. This reflected
in the mean score for Appearance which is 4.34 depicting that 87% of dyslexic students found the application to
be attractive and consistent in terms of the implemented graphical and textual attributes.

Conclusion

By utilizing the modern mobile technology features, we have developed an application addressing the diverse
needs of dyslexic children with learning differences focused on improving their introductory skills of
handwriting. It was designed and evaluated with the collaboration of dyslexic children, their parents and
remedial teachers having hands on experience in field of dyslexia, to ease the learning difficulties of dyslexic
children as well as to measure progress in their handwriting skill over a brief period of application usage. The
preliminary results of application evaluation showed the promising effectiveness of developed application in
advancing the handwriting skills related to English language and mathematics as significant progress was
reported by WLA in the overall learning performance of dyslexic children which otherwise was hard to observe.

The initial evaluation yielded that both the user interface design and learning content structure of application
fulfills the elicited requirements of dyslexic children aged 5 and under. Examining the impact of developed
application on children with writing differences highlighted that the usage of devised WLA served its purpose
within the research scope by improving learning performance of dyslexic child, motivating them to enhance the
learning growth over period of practice and eliminating the need of any writing assistance to large extent. Thus
the design of WLA focused on measuring the learning progress of children with learning differences is believed
to be a great addition to the existing literature as there still is a lack of reliable and valid performance
measurement tool to accomplish this job. Since the application implements a great deal of learning material
design based on educational aspects of Pakistan’s special education sector, therefore it expected to prove as an
efficient and cost-effective technology-based educational resource solving the issues of educational technology
awareness, affordability and accessibility in Pakistan.

Limitation and future work

The application was developed on android platform, following the industry standards and guidelines, to provide
a cost-effective technological learning solution for dyslexic children. But to accomplish so, we abandoned a
large user population currently operating the mobile technology based on other platforms. Therefore, the
educational system developers should focus on expanding the audience by developing the application build on
other platforms e.g., iOS and Windows. Also they should consider integrating the application into other mobile
devices rather than tablet, after the careful evaluation of specific mobile device.

One of the essential extensions worth of research would be to include the writing assessment of two and three
lettered sight words in the application to remediate the dyslexic issues related to spelling concepts. Furthermore
we intend to perform the summative evaluation of application over time period of six to twelve months providing
substantial evidence relevant to its effectiveness in learning and/or improving handwriting skill. We will
accommodate dyslexic students enrolled at other remedial education institutes to get more consistent results.
After improving the application based on evaluation results, we plan to disseminate it through the online android
market. This will enable android users to acquire the application for individual incentive such as by parents who
want to get it for their dyslexic child to use outside the classroom setting or for shared incentive such as by
remedial educators and dyslexia educational institutes to use within the mainstream classrooms.

165
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