In this paper we present a method which aims to improve the spelling of children with dyslexia through playful and targeted exercises. In contrast to previous approaches, our method does not use correct words or positive examples to follow, but presents the child a misspelled word as an exercise to solve. We created these training exercises on the basis of the linguistic knowledge extracted from the errors found in texts written by children with dyslexia. To test the effectiveness of this method in Spanish, we integrated the exercises in a game for iPad, DysEggxia (Piruletras in Spanish), and carried out a within-subject experiment. During eight weeks, 48 children played either DysEggxia or Word Search, which is another word game. We conducted tests and questionnaires at the beginning of the study, after four weeks when the games were switched, and at the end of the study. The children who played DysEggxia for four weeks in a row had significantly less writing errors in the tests that after playing Word Search for the same time. This provides evidence that error-based exercises presented in a tablet help children with dyslexia improve their spelling skills.

Abstract. In this work-in-progress we present a computer-based method to design German reinforcement exercises for children with dyslexia. From different schools, we collected more than 1,000 errors written by children with dyslexia. Then, we created a classification of dyslexic errors in German and annotated the errors with different language specific features, such as phonetic and visual features. For the creation of the exercises we took into account the linguistic knowledge extracted from the analyses and designed more than 2,500 word exercises in German that have been integrated in a game available for iOS. The game and the resource of dyslexic errors are available online 1 and they are, to the best of our knowledge, the first contributions of this kind for German.

We present DysWebxia, an eBook reader for iOS which mod ifies the form and the content of the text. This tool is specifi cally designed for people with dyslexia according to previous research with this target group. The settings are customiz able depending on the reading preferences.

Even if dyslexia is neurological in origin, certain text mod ifications could make texts more accessible for people with dyslexia. We introduce DysWebxia 2.0, a model that inte grates our findings from research conducted with this target group. It alters content and presentation of the text to make it more readable. We also present the current integrations of DysWebxia in different reading software applications.

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