What is the name of your organization?
CEPE Di Tella
What is the name of your solution?
DECILE
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
DECILE is an equitable, research-driven platform transforming how Spanish-speaking children's communication skills are identified and supported.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Buenos Aires, Cdad. Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
Argentina
What type of organization is your solution team?
Nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHoH) children face significant barriers to language development, especially in low- and middle-income countries where early intervention is limited. In Argentina, nearly one million people experience permanent hearing loss, including 65,000 children aged 0 to 14. While hearing aids and cochlear implants (CI) can support spoken language acquisition, access is often delayed due to healthcare inequities and lack of awareness. Most DHoH children (95%) are born to hearing families who do not use sign language, further delaying oral language exposure.
This delay impacts their linguistic, cognitive, and socioemotional development. Spanish-speaking DHoH children using oral language often struggle with morphology, syntax, and complex sentence processing. Yet, research in this population is scarce and mainly derived from high-income countries, making it less relevant for local contexts.
Moreover, wide variability in outcomes among DHoH children—shaped by factors like socio-economic status, linguistic input, and health history—is often overlooked. Educational programs assume group homogeneity, resulting in generalized interventions that miss individual needs.
Our solution addresses these evidence and equity gaps by providing a data-driven, context-sensitive tool to assess and understand diverse language development profiles in Spanish-speaking DHoH children, informing tailored support strategies in both health and education systems.
What is your solution?
DECILE is a research-based, child-friendly digital tool designed to assess and support language development in Spanish-speaking children. It transforms school-based psycholinguistic tasks into engaging, game-like activities that take 15–20 minutes and are easy for teachers, therapists, and families to use. Guided by Popi, an animated child character, users complete tasks that evaluate comprehension, vocabulary, and morphosyntactic skills.
DECILE collects rich, session-by-session data—including accuracy, response times, and production samples—linked to each child’s profile. Educators input demographic and etiological data, select tasks, and customize parameters like timing and feedback. Results help identify specific language difficulties and monitor progress over time, informing tailored interventions. Built with accessibility and inclusivity in mind, DECILE features a user-friendly interface, customizable content, and secure data storage. Its design allows for local adaptation, including regional pronunciation, making it suitable across diverse Spanish-speaking contexts.
Currently in the pilot phase, DECILE is being co-developed with schools that serve DHoH children. Our goal is to transition into the growth phase by developing a fully autonomous, scalable version of the platform that can be used independently by educators and health professionals—bridging the gap between research and everyday practice. Here is a demo: https://www.youtube.com/@DECILEAPP.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
DECILE serves Spanish-speaking children who face language development challenges, particularly Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHoH) children. This population is highly diverse—children differ in hearing loss etiology, age at diagnosis, access to cochlear implants, and linguistic input at home. These factors, often shaped by unequal access to healthcare and information, lead to wide disparities in language acquisition and educational outcomes.
In Argentina and similar contexts, nearly 95% of deaf children are born into hearing families, many of whom lack access to timely information and support. These families often delay decisions around sign language or oral education, contributing to gaps in early language exposure. Children may arrive at school underprepared, facing systemic barriers to inclusion and learning.
DECILE addresses this inequity by offering an accessible, scalable tool to assess core linguistic abilities early in development. It enables teachers and clinicians to detect individual language profiles, adapt interventions, and monitor progress over time. By capturing data on performance alongside demographic and etiological variables, DECILE also lays the groundwork for future machine learning models that can predict learning trajectories and optimize support.
Ultimately, DECILE empowers educators, families, and policymakers to provide timely, personalized, and equitable language support for underserved children.
