Assistive Tech for Learning & Skilling of Special Children

Problem Statement: As per Census of 2011 (updated on 2016), India has the 23.86 Million Differently abled Persons. Education plays an important role in making them self-dependent so that they can  take care of themselves.

The problem has to be addressed at the root cause and  at an early age. Knowledge plays an important role in human development and process of imparting knowledge can be defined as Education. We have observed that present method of teaching Special Children is antiquated and uses "Flash Cards" where in teachers will show to the class "image on the Flash Card" and verbally describe the object. This process is slow, monotonous and repetitive hence teachers and students both get tired and student stops learning.  As the children stop learning they become burden to the society. Unfortunately, the fund allocated in this domain are disproportionate to the scale of problem.  There is a dearth of Technology driven Solution in Indian Regional Languages to impart education to these children. This is our focus area. Please see the image below and you will know the reason. 

Our founding Director with his son.

Please note:  Divyang means Differently abled Person. 

Design Consideration : Our focus is to ensure that children are learning. Hence besides teaching Assessment is critical to judge whether children are learning or not. It is like pouring the water from the Jug in to the glasses. Teacher will say "I have taught everything" The question is to ensure how much water has gone in the glasses and how much on the floor. Especially for special children with Low I.Q. level. Pen and Paper is not the best option for Assessment since it is not interactive and there is no provision for sound and/or colors and animation which plays an important role for these children in order to learn. 

We have created an Alternate Key Board with the combination of RFID reader and Tags. Wherein each tag has an image associated with it. Each set of Learning/Assessment Session consists of 5 questions/answers. There are 2 modes. In learning mode,  if the child wants to learn about "Dog", Child would pick  RFID TAG with image of Dog and put it on the Reader and Siddh Divyang Application system running on "Cloud" or on Laptop will describe about the animal "Dog" in Multimedia format in Indian Regional languages. 

Focus is on Assessment. In this mode "Siddh Divyang" Application will ask a question say sound of a CAT being played out. The child is expected to pick up the correct tag associated with the picture and place it on RFID reader. If answer is correct, it moves to next question, if wrong, correct answer is explained and child has to answer that question again. Application Monitors time taken to respond as well as error committed by the child for future improvement. Report is generated after set of 5 questions in graphical format indicating the time taken to respond and error committed. 

We also have an interactive Mobile App. "Siddh Divyang" which can be  downloaded for FREE from Google Playstore. At home student learn from the App. and for Assessment  they will go online to the "Siddh Divyang Platform' thru the App. and take an assignment.  Besides RFID Tag there is also an image based touch screen interface which enables child to interact with the Application in order to respond to the question asked. 

There are different levels of assessment questions. For ex. In level 1 we show the images and possible sound, in Level 2 we just play the sound and no images, in level they there will be broken images. In Assessment Focus is on 

System generates the reports. We analyze the reports and seen definite improvements which demonstrate that they are learning. 

Please see video as below for types of Assessment questions 

Types of Assessment questions 

Our Platform caters to all different types  of disabilities including Visual Impairment since on the RFID tag we emboss Braille characters for VI person which they comprehend by touching Tags. 

Currently, we are focusing on the children with Intellectual Disability or slow learners. As mentioned learning is the first step towards being independent. Many of the schools in which we have implemented our platform have children who are Orphans.  Their objective is to first try and make these children independent so that they can do their daily chores independently and also skill them in particular activity say "How to make Paper Bag from News Paper". If the child learns and make Paper Bags which can be sold which will generate revenue. This way child is not a burden for his/her own upkeeping as well as generate some revenue for the Institution. 

Video describe our journey and How children are enjoying and learning

Assessment thru image interface from Mobile App.

Our Team leader Mr. Uday Mehta was father of 34 years old son named "Siddh". So from last 34 years he has been associated with this domain and closely observed the need for such solution. This is version 2.0 of our Application. We went with version 1.0 in several special schools and from the feedback we realized the need for more Sound/Music/Colors and content to be in Regional Languages. Since we are giving everything for free, in version 2.0 we have also reduced the variable cost of delivery. 

Currently Ver. 2.0 + Interactive Mobile App. is being implemented in several Special Schools. Also Parents of Special children who could  not go to school during "Covid" have downloaded the Mobile App.  These children learn from the App. and thru the App. they go online on "Siddh Divyang Platform" for Assessment purpose. For them to take assignment, instead of RFID Reader/Tag combination we have given an interface wherein child would touch an image on the screen. During Pandemic as children were home  we decided to give guidance for doing physical exercises also since they could not go out. Also we conducted several Zoom training sessions Online with the assistance of Paralympic trainers for them to do simple exercise at home. 

In a period of over 15 months we have reached to around 2,000 children, in 3 states of India, and are getting excellent feedback from the parents as well as teachers hence we feel confident of delivery. Also Assessment reports convince us that our Intervention is working.

Importance of Presentation : One of the Major reason Steven Jobs succeeded in his second innings with a good product can be attributed to his ability to make presentations. In the first innings, though Apple was a good computer but expensive and his presentation was not so convincing as to why users should buy. 

P.S. I had bought Apple II in late Seventies/early Eighties and it was really Good. 

We would like to learn from 'Solve Team" about making proper presentation, preparation of different types of Multi Media content in terms color combination, Music, Sound etc. Though bulk of the content will be in Indian regional languages but language does not make a difference.

We feel "MIT SOLVE" can guide us in reaching out to certain target audience such as the foundations, connecting with Domain experts and Organizations which are working with Special children in USA. We would like to interact with them with a view to exchange ideas and learn from each others. 

I intend to complete your course it is really well structured. 

How our Technology can be used for Visually Impaired.

We have Patent on RFID interface with computer to have an alternate key board. For children touch plays very important role. Tactile or the touch is the first sensory organ developed when the child is in mother's womb and last one to go. We have done the survey and found between touching image and RFID interface, children prefer RFID interface. Tactile aspect plays an important role. We are also using this for Visually impaired persons. 

Having worked with The World Bank I know there are 2 most important parameters for success of the Project. 

1) Intervention should make an Impact and the target recipient should benefit. Which we have been able to demonstrate. We have data supporting the fact that children are  learning. As they say "Proof of the Pudding is eating it". If using this technology children are learning which is the main goal of any kind of intervention. (please see image as below)

2) Per User Cost of Implementation. It should be Scalable and Replicable. In Ver 2.0 of Application we reduced the variable cost of implementation. For ex. we do not have to travel for installation. We could remotely install, update and retrieve their database. As Smooth Internet access to cloud is not possible in all parts of India. We conduct train the Trainer Programmer On Line and combine multiple participants. 

Overall you could see we have been able to reach out to the large numbers of beneficiaries with limited cost in relatively short period of time.

Enabling factors : 1) During "Covid" Most of the country got covered with relatively low Cost Wi FI connectivity. 

2) Most of the Lower middle class segment of the society have now low cost 4G Mobile Phones and also they are familiar with Virtual Meeting applications like Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams. Of course most of India communicates on Whats UP these days.  

India is a huge country almost like a continent. We want to scale up stepwise. This is what we are planning to do.

Step a) Prepare more Interactive Multi Media content for the existing user base. Our current user base is children who are slow learners or called "Muti Mand" Currently we have content in 4 different languages. 

1) Hindi, 2)Marathi 3) Gujarati 3) English. We need to prepare more Multi Media content for existing user base. 

Currently we have implemented in 3 States 1) Maharashtra 2) Gujarat 3) Telangana.

In first place want to remain in these 3 states and implement in more locations and also give additional multi media content to existing user base. 

Step b) Our Platform can be used for Visually Impaired children. With existing Multimedia content we would want to reach to VI schools in Maharashtra and Gujarat. 

Step c) Since we do have content in Hindi Language we would want to go to "Hindi Specking States of India' such as M.P., U.P, Rajasthan. Which in itself is huge task. 

Currently we are using only Goal No. 4 Quality Education. Details of which has been furnished earlier. 

This is one of the advantage of participating in MIT Solve. We should also consider 

Goal NO. 3 Good Health and Well being  Very relevant for us.

Goal No. 10  Reduced Inequalities. Some what relevant for our target beneficiaries 

Knowledge plays a very important role in everyone's life. Problems are created due to lack of knowledge and/or skills. As a result Pedagogy plays very important role for the Child to learn. It importance gets magnified in case of Special children. 

In "Siddh Divyang Platform" we

 1) Make the Learning Process Interactive and  Enjoyable for the child to learn.

2) With the use of Assistive Technology integrated with Multi Media content we make it enjoyable for them at the same we monitor that they are learning and also identify their weak points which need to be strengthen. 

3) The Technology and Process remains the same we change the Multimedia content to teach different subjects as well as impart different skills. 

4) By acquiring these Skills children become smart and skillful which enables them to sustain themselves and not become burden to the society. 

How does Siddh Divyang Platform work ?

Please watch this video which will describe our technology in detail. As we all know Technology is enabler most important part is the Impact on the recipient. What gives us confidence that not only these children are learning at the same time it is fun and game for them.

Our founder being a Father of Differently abled son Siddh for 34 years is very particular about bringing persons with disabilities in work force or empower them to improve their learning and skilling. Support them wherever possible by skilling them or by employing them. Please watch the video to this effect.

Differently abled persons working in office of our parent company

We believe inclusion is very important which should not be limited to gender, race, caste etc. It should also include Mental and Physical inequality. Person who has Mental or Physical disability should not be left behind. We as a society have the responsibility to lift them from their disadvantageous position to a better Position by Imparting Education and Skills. So that they can financially be on their own as much as possible. 

Currently activities are primarily funded by the Founding Director who was a father of Special son "Siddh"  +  small support from family and friends in terms of Donations. He did not want to collect bigger donations until he knew the technology works now we know it works. We are looking for donations from like minded persons or organizations.

At the same time we are exploring the possibilities of becoming Social Impact company wherein we could generate revenue from the same technology which can support the Philanthropic part. 

We are exploring 2 options

1) Collecting Donation in USA and in India from Foundations and Individuals. 

2) Use this technology and design and product which can be sold in the market. 

We are exploring different possibilities. This is one of the reason we would like to associate with MIT Solve team to advice/guide us. Also share some possibilities since you all are connected with several organizations globally over the years.