Dyslexia is a lifelong condition and it affects 1 in 10 persons in Europe. Most people reduce dyslexia to just a reading and writing difficulty. But dyslexia is a multi-faceted problem that effects not only literacy acquisition. A dyslexic person needs to train his or her perception skills on a regular base, otherwise all inclusive education measures, for example, in VET, higher education or adult continuing training may fail. Such training is a prerequisite for phonological and orthographic processing. Inclusive learning requires accessibility of individual learning resources (for example, digital learning tools tailored to general or specific learning needs) to learn in a variety of ways that compensates deficiencies. Interactive exercises can help dyslexic persons to train specific skills. Such exercises are available, but the majority of them are focused on children and do not usually address specific problems. Not surprisingly, young dyslexic adults do not like these exercises due to their childish nature or because they are seen as irrelevant. Therefore, there is a need for training tools that consider and address the preferences of young dyslexic adults from the age of 16 onwards. And usually such training has to take place in the afternoon or evening (outside of formal education institutions) and has to be provided by teachers/trainers specialised on dyslexia. The successful GRUNDTVIG projects EDYSGATE (2008) and DYS 2 (2011) tackeld this challenge by providing learning games for dyslexic youngsters on the Window platform). These learning games won 2009 the Austrian Multimedia Prix /category social service and the World Summit Award 2009/ category E-Learning/Education. However, there is a growing request for a mobile version of the games. Mobile devices have indeed become immensely powerful (not only from a technical point of view) and popular especially with young adults and offer huge opportunities for learning "anywhere and anytime" especially for our target group. The current games are provided online via internet browsers and were designed to work on a desktop computer with keyboard and mouse and a relatively large screen. Therefore, it is necessary to transfer the learning games in such a way that 1. once the app is downloaded, an internet connection is not required anymore (learning "anywhere and anytime") 2. the user interface is adapted to smaller screens 3. touch screen features are supported 4. the app design becomes really intuitive (no questions asked) DYS2GO will meet this need and addresses both teachers/trainers as well as dyslexic young adults The main objective of DYS2GO is the provision of a range of mobile highly motivating and stimulating learning games for a carefully selected range of skills known to be important for young dyslexic adults. The focus will be on the following 7 areas: 1. Visual discrimination, 2. Visual memory, 3. Visual sequence, 4. Auditory discrimination, 5. Auditory memory, 6. Auditory sequence , 7. Spatial position (e.g. top, bottom, behind, ahead, left, right). The games will be available for mobile devices (Android, Apple IOS) as well as for Windows desktop (also planned Windows tablets). The DYS2GO games will be mini-learning games based on perception training approaches for Special Education Needs (SEN). Research showed that these concepts contribute to the improvements of auditive and visual abilities, which are the pre-conditions for the development of basic skills like reading and writing. The learning game apps will be accompanied by a teacher's guide on how to use the apps in the classroom. Apps and teacher's guide will be available for free in English, German, Latvian, Czech, Lithuanian, and Bulgarian language. Dyslexia as a European challenge requires a broad approach from many perspectives. Therefore, the project partnership consists of six partner institutions from five countries that are experts in their fields and in creating learning materials for students with special needs. Transferring the successful learning game approach of EDYSGATE and DYS 2 for dyslexic learners to mobile devices will greatly enhance usage and range of learning opportunities for dyslexic students. DYS2GO will provide a highly motivating and stimulating learning environment for a carefully selected range of skills known to be important for the development of vocational skills. In this respect, DYS2GO will help dyslexic people to enhance their professional skills, thus improving their their chance not only to have appropriate jobs, but also a choice of where they like to work.
The implementation of the project DYS2GO- „Learning games for dyslexic young adults”( reg.nr. 2018-1-LV01-KA204-046970) followed the tasks, producing of intellectual outcomes for dyslexic young adults , their teachers, parents . The integrative approach (disabilities, inclusion, adult education , ICT technologies ) was used to implement the project. The main objective of DYS2GO was the provision of a range of mobile highly motivating and stimulating learning games for a carefully selected skills known to be important for young dyslexic adults such as : visual and auditory discrimination,memory and sequence as well as spatial position to be trained . The project was carried out by a European partnership consisting of partners that not only work in the field of SEN, but were either involved in the EDYSGATE or DYS 2 project or had experience in developing mobile apps for learners with special needs. Due to that the project enriched and widened the successful experience of GRUNDTVIG projects EDYSGATE (2008) and DYS 2 (2011) that tackled the problems of dyslexia by providing learning games for dyslexic youngsters on the Window platform. DYS2Go went further. Following the development of technologies and satisfying the growing needs of dyslexic youngsters about 16 and their teachers, the games were created to be available for mobile devices (Android, IOS) , Windows desktop and Windows tablets . According to the project proposal DYS2GO games were planned as mini-learning games based for training above mentioned skills.Besides 80 mini games (indexed games) , 5 story games such as „Lost in the pyramid”, “When dreams come true”, “Surprising trip”, “Good or bad luck”, “ Family secret” , on three levels difficulty were created as added value to the project . These games are available in all partnership languages: the German, Bulgarian, Czech, Latvian, Lithuanian and English. Avatar Robbie guides the youngsters and speaks in all above mentioned languages .It took additional time for creating story line games, testing and evaluating, but these story based games together with indexed games were highly evaluated by youngsters and teachers as giving flexibility to teaching and learning. Output 4 – learning games - indexed games and story based games are available in iOS Apple store and Android PlayStore for mobile devices and on the project’s web site for Windows based devices. The learning game apps are accompanied by a Teacher's guide (output 5 ) in 6 languages that is delivered in pdf file and published in DYS2GO website under the section the „download“ http://www.dys2go.eu/en/download TheTeacher' s Guide explains how to operate the games . To reach this final output (learning games )the partnership went through several stages. Output 1 reached the common understanding and served as the methodological basis for the implementation of the whole project. ( see on Website http://www.dys2go.eu/ Output 2 - the Media File Package contains all media files that are being produced based on the specifications of Output 1 and Output 3 (game specifications). These files (images, sound, text, animations, video) were provided with and used in the learning game apps. The Media File Package was prepared in all partner languages and English. Output 2 and output 3 are very closely linked leading to learning games. Evaluation process (ouput 6 )gave the project implementators the feedback about usability, attractiveness,quality and sustainability of created learning games. The General Evaluation report was prepared on the basis of the National Evaluation reports according to unified evaluation procedure. The project logo and Web page http://www.dys2go.eu/ were prepared in all partner languages. Slack platform, e-mailing , Facebook , Linkediln, Zoom ,Google docs, HiDrive, Doodle were used for mutual communication. 3 partner meetings were carried out in Vienna ,Bremen, Ruse (face to face ), 1 meeting according to project proposal was carried out virtually from Kaunas (May 2020) . As the project was prolonged to March 31st,2021 , 6 partner meetings were virtually organized by University of Latvia Multiplier events, evaluation and dissemination process, individual discussions demonstrated that youngsters,teachers, parents are interested in created games. For ex.the majority of participants ( 224) from evaluation process expressed the view that they will use the games and suggest colleagues as well. Interest in these games were demonstrated also by final conference with more than 260 participants.About 30000 people have attended project web page and web pages of partner organizations,participated in multiplier events,conferences and in other project activities. As the games are freely available , they benefit for youngsters, practical work of Dyslexia and speech therapists Associations , university curriculums , ensuring the sustainability of the project.