Dyslexia Simulator

Project Background:

This brief was created by the Multicultural Advertising Intern Program (MAIP) to determine who would be apart of their 2020 fellowship. This project helped me to become a finalist in their program.

Brief:

Brainstorm and mock-up how virtual reality could be used to educate the public on the effects of dyslexia in a person’s life. Designs a promotional campaign using the appropriate media to reach your target audience. Consider all types of media. Think about different ways to appeal to the target audience that you included in your campaign.

Target:

Teachers of elementary and middle school students with dyslexia.

Insight/ Problem:

A lot of teachers do not understand what it is like to have dyslexia and what people with a learning disability really have to go through. Because of this, the teachers can accidentally make the student feel embarrassed/isolated from the rest of their peers. According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine “The school drop-out rate of dyslexics can be a high as 35%, twice as the national average school drop-out rate of many countries; in the United States, 27% of the high school drop-outs have learning disabilities. It has been estimated that barely 2% of dyslexics enrolled in undergraduate programs in the USA complete the requisite 4 years of study.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/

Concept/ Solution:

Creating a virtual reality simulation that mimics the experience of reading aloud in class with dyslexia. This can be one of the most nerve-racking experiences for someone with dyslexia. By showcasing the anxiety a person with dyslexia can feel in these situations as well as how they perceive the words on the page, teachers can begin empathizing with students and aid in student success instead of creating traumatic experiences centered around reading, which can make them want to not come to school or believe they are stupid.

Read-a-loud Simulator Application:

First, the participant will enter their first name, this information will be used to better immerse them in the experience of what the student goes through. The participant will be in a room full of students. The person sitting at the desk in front of them will begin reading out loud pretty well and expressively. The teacher will then call on the participant. They will then have to stand up and read the “book” that is in their hand by moving their controllers.

The participant will then be asked to read the passage. The book in front of them will look normal at first and then the print will get smaller and the passage will look longer. The text will then be normal for a while but eventually, it will be broken into syllables in some places so that it forces the reader to “sound it out”. The sounding out process will be accurate for some places and incorrect in others. It will make them say the wrong word and they will be immediately corrected and asked to reread the sentence. The teacher will then say to read what they see or exactly the words that are there. The text will change back to the correct text. The text will also occasionally skip a line and they will be immediately corrected again and asked why they skipped a sentence and asked to go back and continue reading. While these things are happening, the participant will occasionally hear giggles, whispers that will be audible {“how did you make it to this grade and you can't read” “well this is gonna take forever” “why can't we just skip over them” “sighs”} from their classmates and sometimes even be corrected by them.

Ways to help and Educate yourself:

After the simulation, it will show the participant two alternative way to help

Get the student access to the Wilson reading program.

Provide the student with a highlighter reading tool, go over the harder words ahead of time, correct other students who are being discouraged, let them know what they will be reading ahead of time so that they may practice.

Ad mockup and Placement ideas:

Placing ads for the simulator in places that active teachers would see and trust resources from.

Teachers websites where they are already looking for ways to get student active. Teachers on these websites trust them for academic ideas as well as the latest academic information. Putting ads here would reach teachers that already care about going above and beyond and want to do the most for their student.

Pinterest ads would have a similar effect as the teacher's website would. Because this website also a place that attracts a lot of active teachers it is a great place to promote the simulator.

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