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iPadOS App: Batca (Sobat Baca)

Batca is a native iOS App that helps 1st to 3rd-grade Indonesian students with Dyslexia to practice their reading skills.

“Bermain bersama Huruf”

Translation: “Playing with Letters”

This app gives users a series of lessons with pictures and texts to visualize both the object and the shape of the word and audio to help them know how to pronounce the word correctly. There are quizzes to test their skills and know their learning progress.

Synthesis

Despite having trouble learning to read, dyslexic children are expected to learn at the same pace as normal children in schools, making them feel frustrated and inferior. Most teachers and parents aren’t aware of their condition unless they are required to learn how to read in 1st grade. As a result, these dyslexic children didn’t receive the help they needed to prepare and will find reading painfully hard. They often find reading tiring and frustrating and don’t have the motivation to learn because of this disorder. On the other hand, we all know that reading is an important basic skill and the foundation of education. We found that most dyslexic children have normal or even higher IQ than normal children and need a different approach to learning how to read. From our research, we have found that many parents in Indonesia are unfamiliar with dyslexia and don’t know how to teach their dyslexic children how to read effectively. There is a need for these dyslexic children to learn how to read in a creative and fun way to make reading more enjoyable.

To achieve that, parents with medium to high economic status bring their children to therapists who can help them read and be treated. During the sessions, therapists use the remedial teaching method, where children are trained to read repetitively until they can read those words properly. But this method tends to make children feel bored as they have to repeat certain words several times although they need it. In recent years, technology has evolved, and several techs can help dyslexic children to grow, such as text-to-speech and dictionaries and games specifically made for dyslexic children, which we believe is the beginning of a new and bright solution to help dyslexic children learn repetitively.

Based on the findings from the interviews we conducted with our users and experts, we can conclude that most children with dyslexia can learn how to read if they are taught in a different method that suits their style of learning and needs. We found that children can concentrate if teachers can catch their interest and teach creatively using sound and illustration, such as games. Therefore, our final refined challenge will be focusing on helping elementary school children with dyslexia to be able to read fluently.