The school work that became a successful app for people with dyslexia

The creators of the LectO application. LectO Team

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Everything arose in the subject of projects of the ORT technical college in Buenos Aires.

With the idea of ​​helping some classmates who had learning difficulties, a group of students created LectO.

Thus was born the free application designed for people with dyslexia, which has different functions aimed at facilitating reading and writing.

Lisandro Elías Acuña, Fausto Fang, Gonzalo Díaz de Vivar and Ulises López Pacholczak are the four friends and classmates who began to evaluate their ideas and compare them with specialists.

At that time, they were barely 16 years old and were driven by a passion for science and technology, as well as a desire to help.

Today, LectO is used by more than 10,000 users of different languages ​​and has become a useful and reference tool among people with dyslexia, a learning disorder that involves difficulty identifying sounds and relating them to letters.

“In the matter of the school, we could choose to develop an application, a website or a game.

We went for the application and decided to address the issue of dyslexia, with the help of teachers and specialists who guided us to shape the ideas and analyze how we could help”, said Díaz Vivar, co-founder and developer of LectO.

“The greatest difficulties are in reading and writing texts.

Therefore, we decided to make an editor.

We started in 2019, with an early version and, of course, full of errors that we later corrected”.

With versions for mobile phone and desktop, LectO allows you to write and read texts like any editor.

However, it is accompanied by different functions that make it friendlier for the people affected, through the use of colors, auditory resources and pictograms.

“Each letter can be marked with a specific color.

For example, 'b' and 'd', which are mirrored to the naked eye.

Setting it up that way makes reading more visual and easy.

Reading aloud, with different speed possibilities, is also very useful.

In addition, we incorporated

, a font created by specialists to be more readable for them.

You can also opt for other classical sources”.

Another useful feature is called picture-by-word, which allows you to differentiate confusing terms from images by simply hovering over them with your mouse.

Currently, LectO has a database of about 20,000 words, each with its respective pictogram.

"Thanks to the specialists we consulted, we were able to do the tests with users," explains Díaz Vivar.

According to the Ibero-American Dyslexia and Family Association (DISFAM), one in ten children worldwide suffers from this disorder and is responsible for 40% of school failures.

María Arabetti, president of DISFAM Argentina, highlighted the importance of the initiative and pointed out the shortcomings in addressing the issue in education and health.

“We advise students on the tools that would be best.

Technology provides a great contribution because it is paving the way.

These applications make them in better or equal conditions than the rest”.

Arabetti, who has a son with dyslexia, says that people with dyslexia use three to five times more time and brain energy than a skilled reader.

“If you allow him to use a reader in the classroom, you are creating a level playing field.

Technology allows that adaptation.

One of the most important points is early diagnosis;

The worst thing that can happen to you as a mom is the wait.

Precious years are lost for the boy.

Today it is known that the greatest period of brain plasticity is between the ages of four and seven”.

DISFAM Argentina was one of the institutions that promoted the creation of Law 27,306, which establishes the objective of guaranteeing a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to subjects with specific learning difficulties.

Almost eight years after the publication of the so-called Dyslexia Law (voted unanimously), Arabetti pointed out that, despite the regulation, there is no clear line of work of the ministries.

“The lack of containment and training within the school system is constant.

Regarding the law, there was no specific training either, except for those that are requested of us as an institution or those that are given in congresses.

Not all social works have suitable professionals”.

Early detection of dyslexia risk indicators is key.

“Teachers should not be afraid to make the relevant referral so that they can later make the adjustments.

Sometimes, they wait until the end of the second grade (seven years) to intervene and it can be late.

It is important to see the previous indicators.

For example, language difficulties, letter recognition, dyslalia (pronunciation problem that implies an inappropriate articulation or diction of certain phonemes), errors when writing the name... If they persist after finishing first grade, there is a greater propensity to learning disorders”, said María Belén Carrasco, a psychologist specializing in the treatment of these children.

A tool like this app, according to the specialist, not only makes life easier during the school years but also in the rest of development.

“One patient, for example, is a fan of Harry Potter.

Listening to the texts of that book gives her a lot of freedom because her mother can read her a fragment of it but perhaps not all seven books.

People like her achieve independence beyond school and the application fosters a love for reading and the written word”.

LectO started as a school project and has been scaling, thanks to the help of professionals and permanent feedback from users in 35 countries.

It is financed through donations on its page www.lecto.app.

Díaz Vivar, along with his friends and DISFAM, were not satisfied with its release.

They moved forward with the creation of a digital passport for people with dyslexia and software for uploading medical reports.

“At my school I knew several affected classmates who found it difficult to take the written exams and always had to take them orally.

We saw that difficulty.

And we wanted to help them”, concluded Díaz Vivar, with the simplicity and lightness of good deeds.