Dybuster

Dybuster is a multi-sensory, computer based therapy system for people with dyslexia. It was developed at ETH Zurich and marketed by Dybuster International. It has been successfully evaluated in scientific user studies together with neuropsychologists from University of Zurich.

Scientific background

Mechanics

The Dybuster Therapy Concept hence consist of addressing new channels for learning orthography. A word is not just represented as black letters on a white sheet of paper; rather it is translated to a sequence of colors, shapes and MusicAL notes. Additionally, the syllabication is displayed graphically. This allows for a segmented perception of a word. The entire word is presented in three dimensions (3D), which stimulates spatial processing. These alternative representations of words support the learning process and facilitate orientation while working. They also circumvent the inherently weak cognitive cues of people with dyslexia and reroute information through undistorted perceptual pathways.

This multisensory learning is considered the most efficient form of learning in Neuropsychology. It is implemented in Dybuster with the modern, multimedia possibilities of computers. Dybuster thus offers dyslexics to use their particular strengths and resources to acquire written language skills.

Using information theory, one of the most important theories in Computer Science, the learning behavior of each user is modeled and exactly analyzed, allowing for an optimal guidance of the learner. Furthermore, Dybuster provides immediate feedback. A correct key stroke is met with the sound belonging to the letter, where as an error sound is played upon an incorrect key stroke. This allows a user to instantly correct mistakes. The feedback therefore reduces the number of wrong word shapes that a user memorizes.

Effectiveness

The effectiveness of Dybuster training was explored in several user studies. The others concluded that the children with developmental dyslexia and controls substantially improved their writing by practicing 15–30 minutes a day for about 3 months. This improvement was even evident for non-learned words that they did not practice in the Dybuster training.

The studies report an improvement of up to 35% in writing performance on average over all developmental dyslexics which participated in the studies. In contrary, carefully matched dyslexics that were not allowed to use Dybuster and only attended their regular dyslexia training, only improved by 5 to 6% on average.

The precise impact on the underlying neurological and psychological mechanism is still not fully understood. Latest studies showed that the phoneme-grapheme correspondence is strengthened through the Dybuster training.

Usage

Three different games are included in Dybuster. Dybuster provides a learning overview for intrinsic motivation and a rewards shop for extrinsic motivation.

In the first game, namely the color game, the users have to learn the association between a letter and a color. In the second game, namely the graph game, the users have to segment the word into its syllables and letters graphically. In the third game, the actual learning game, Dybuster presents all alternative representations of a word before the users enter the word itself using the keyboard: the graph appears on screen, and the colors and the shapes (spheres for small letters, cylinders for capital letters, and pyramids for umlauts or accents) are displayed for all letters. A voice dictates the word and the users hear a melody computed from the involved letters and the lengths of the syllables.

In the studies conducted, the training was organized as follows, which is also the suggested usage for home use:

  • The children should work fifteen to twenty minutes per day. The units are short, motivating and are played in a game form.
  • The training should take place on a regular basis, at least three to four times a week.
  • One should train with Dybuster intensively for a minimum of three to four months, so that the associations from the multi-sensory learning are sufficiently strengthened.

Many users keep training continually with Dybuster for further support throughout their school years.

See also

  • Serious game
  • Management of dyslexia

See Also

Dyslexia Tanzania

Dyslexia Tanzania is a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Tanzania whose mission is to...