Developmental Dyslexia is a learning difficulty and a disability, as defined by the Equality Act 2010. It has serious short- and long-term effects that impact a child from the start of his or her education. Dyslexia is a lifelong condition [1-4], estimated to affect around 700 million people worldwide [2,5]. Dyslexia is characterized by difficulties in language processing (reading, spelling, and writing) which do not correspond with the child’s general intellectual abilities [3,6]. In addition, dyslexia occurs across a wide spectrum, which makes it difficult to identify suitable customized interventions [4].

The neural basis of dyslexia is contested. Though there are likely many neurobiological factors contributing to dyslexia, several prominent theories identifying the main causal role have been proposed. The earliest theory was that dyslexia results from putative visual deficits, giving rise to difficulties with the processing of letters and words [7-9]. In the 1980s, dyslexia was reconceptualized as a weakness in phonemic awareness or letter-sound mapping, the foundation of reading for alphabetic systems [10-15]. This is by far the most popular theory and forms the basis for the majority of commercial assessment tools. It is, however, challenged on the premise that a more basic auditory deficit-impairment in the perception of short or rapidly varying sounds is the root cause [16,17]. Recent research suggests that visual-spatial attention skills are an excellent predictor of preschool children’s future reading abilities [18,19]. Neuroimaging research in non-dyslexic adults shows widespread cortical activation during natural reading tasks, which overlap heavily with the visual maps that encode the visual space, auditory maps that encode sound frequencies, and the frontal regions of the brain [20,21]. Evidence from the scientific literature suggests that reading and writing difficulties can be caused by varied factors and successful interventions must therefore be customized to the individual’s specific difficulty [22].

As mentioned previously, it is likely that varied neurobiological reasons manifest as dyslexia. It is therefore crucial to identify the individual’s relevant strengths and weaknesses to provide the individual with effective customized support. Success with basic reading and writing is critical to overall success in life. Hence it is important to identify tailored strategies needed to help manage early learning processes that will ensure the individual receives the necessary attention applicable to their strengths and opportunities.

DIMMAND brings together all the scientific advances made in the field to date to provide a widely-available and cost-effective digital tool for the public use. We recognize the merit in each one of the above-mentioned theories, and acknowledge the need to bring them together under one coherent framework to detect the many different reasons why a child might be experiencing difficulty with reading and writing. The major goal of the project discussed in this paper is to devise a digital solution that will (1) help identify at a relatively young age (4-8 years) the nature of the literacy difficulty or difficulties the child experiences, and (2) propose tailored interventions to guide parents and less-specialized teachers to provide better support before the child experiences repeated failures.

The digital tool will feature innovative games that systematically explore a child’s abilities in different aspects of reading and writing and their corresponding abilities in purely visual and auditory perception. Another important objective of DIMMAND is to help teachers or parents identify the most effective way to help a child as quickly as possible. Firstly, this is achieved by involving them in the testing process and secondly by providing customized intervention options which can be put into practice immediately. A key aspect of this app will be the inclusion of automated interventions, derived from existing research and educational strategies, to help identify which options, if any, will be beneficial to the child. Where an intervention is found to be helpful to the child, it will be incorporated into the presentation of rest of the app.

In the UK, dyslexia assessments are not available free of charge from the National Health Service (NHS). A professional assessment of dyslexia is expensive, costing upwards of £350. This assessment generally involves a session with a psychologist or dyslexia specialist who uses a combination of standardized tests to check the child’s intelligence quotient (eg, Weschler intelligence scale for children [23]), reading, spelling, and writing abilities (eg, comprehensive test of phonological processing [24], wide-range achievement test [25], test of word reading efficiency [26]). Such assessments are carried out by educational psychologists or specialist teachers. Since it is not easy to diagnose with certainty a young child as dyslexic at the start of his or her education, these formal assessments are normally performed much later, after the child has been in school for several years and has presented with severe literacy difficulties. This is not ideal for a developing child, as it can affect self-confidence and may result in failure to fulfil their potential [6]. A few screening tools for young children are available such as Dyslexia Early Screening Test [27], Lucid Cops [28], and Dyslexia Quest [29].

DIMMAND differs from the existing solutions in two important ways. Firstly, the tests are structured in a bottom-up format and exploit the latest neuro-scientific evidence on dyslexia. Reading and writing are complex skills which involve visual, auditory, visuo-auditory, memory, and motor cognition. Our tests will systematically assess the various cognitive skills required for successful reading and writing. Secondly, inclusion of automated interventions enables the app to be more than a mere detection tool, by delivering dyslexia management at an individual level.

The rest of this paper presents the protocol for the proposed first phase of the project. In this phase, we will assess the feasibility of developing a digital solution for early identification of dyslexia. The key elements of the digital solution are: (1) to systematically assess the nature of literacy difficulties experienced by the child and (2) to propose tailored interventions.

The first phase of the app development commenced in March 2017. The results of the first phase will be utilized for the full-scale development of the solution. Additional publication is expected in early 2019.

DIMMAND has the potential to provide a significant positive impact on health and education, and a positive economic impact. If each dyslexic child has access to a qualified, supportive, and attentive teacher, his or her potential to succeed in life is immense. However, unfortunately, that is often not the case. This makes the need for a widely available tool, such as the one proposed in this project even more urgent. This solution will assist a teacher or parent with no specialist knowledge of dyslexia to understand where the child is struggling (including whether it is a language-specific issue or related to general perception) and what kind of intervention will be most effective in helping the child. The games featured in the proposed app will be based on the range of scientific theories underpinning dyslexia. Overall, DIMMAND is expected to reduce intervention costs, improve dyslexia detection at an early age, and aid self-management.