Communications of the ACM
Software Helps Analyze Writing Disabilities
New software can analyze children's writing disabilities and their causes.
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Researchers in the Computer-Human Interaction in Learning and Instruction Laboratory of Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have developed a software program that can analyze children's writing disabilities and their causes.
The software, called Tegami, was developed from a database of writing samples from 300 children, around 25% of whom suffered from dysgraphia, or the inability to write coherently.
Tegami, which is run on a tablet, analyzes 53 different characteristics of a child's writing, including the angle of the pen, the amount of pressure the child applies to the tablet, how quickly the child writes, and whether the child's hand shakes, up to 200 times every second. The program was able to detect a learning disability with 98% accuracy.
Child psychiatrist Thomas Gargot says the data collected by the software will enable pediatricians to determine whether there a child has writing disabilities associated with autism, hyperactivity, or attention deficit disorder, as well as providing a better understanding of how teaching methods can be adapted accordingly.
From École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
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