PhonoBlocks: A Tangible System for Supporting Dyslexic Children Learning to Read

Dyslexia is defined as severe difficulty learning to read. It affects about 10% of the population in English speaking countries. Severe difficulty learning to read is correlated with tremendous emotional, social and economic costs. In this paper, we describe PhonoBlocks, a tangible user interface to a reading system that uses dynamic colour cues embedded in 3D tangible letters to provide additional decoding information and modalities. PhonoBlocks was developed to support children, aged 5-8 years old, who are having difficulty learning to decode English letter-sound pairs. We present the theoretical foundations as rationale for our core design strategies and decisions. We discuss the assumptions in our design rationale and describe how we will validate our system working with a school for dyslexic children.