Empowering young people with dyslexia and other learning difficulties with a playful ICT-platform

Blink Foundation in India developed DLearners, aiding 2,120 dyslexic students by 2024. Using AI and game-based tools, it improves reading and writing skills in vernacular languages.

The Blink Foundation, headquartered in Chennai, is dedicated to supporting students with dyslexia or related disabilities through its ICT-platform, DLearners, which employs game-based assistive technology and Artificial Intelligence to develop personalized learning plans and involve specialized educators. Additionally, DLearners operates in non-standardized (vernacular) languages and is distributed via licensing agreements. By 2024, 2,120 students had utilized DLearners to enhance their reading, listening, and writing skills.

Problems Targeted

Students with dyslexia and related disabilities often struggle with reading and learning, and support is typically not affordable or accessible.

Solution, Innovation and Impact

The Blink Foundation, established in Chennai by an individual with dyslexia, collaborates with DLearners to support students with dyslexia and specific learning disabilities. Launched in late 2022, the DLearners programme initially aided over 400 students in Chhattisgarh, focusing on marginalized communities. It provided essential infrastructure and teacher training, fostering academic and socio-emotional growth. Success led to expansion into Bilaspur and Durg, reaching 700 students across 16 schools. DLearners emphasizes early screening and continuous online remediation, significantly enhancing students’ reading, writing, and confidence. It employs game-based assistive technology and multi-sensory methods, such as cartoons and multiple-choice tests, to address literacy and numeracy challenges. AI and machine learning personalize the learning process, offering such tools as text-to-speech and multilingual content. By mid-2024, DLearners had improved the skills of 2,120 students and screened over 15,000 children, identifying 5,000 at risk of learning disabilities. The ICT-platform expanded to government schools in nine Indian states, partnering with Microsoft and the Indian Government, and collaborating with government agencies.

Funding, Outlook and Transferability

DLearners is funded through subscription fees from schools, parents, and institutions, along with training fees for certification programmes. Partnerships with the government, NGOs, and multinational companies such as Microsoft further support the platform’s expansion. The project has scaled up across nine Indian states and formed strategic partnerships with Microsoft, Capgemini, and the Department of Disabilities, among others. (Zero Project Awardee 2025)

Pictures

DLearners employs game-based assistive technology to develop personalized learning plans.

DLearners employs game-based assistive technology to develop personalized learning plans.

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