Microsoft + Made by Dyslexia: Using Technology To Help Dyslexic Students Thrive

Female teacher speaks with female middle school student who is sitting at desk in classroom, using pen on screen of convertible laptop folded open as tablet.

“What if I never learn to read?”

This question was posed by eight-year-old Fatima to her mom, Tasneem, after coming home from school in tears because she was struggling to read aloud in class.

Fatima has dyslexia, a term used to describe disorders that involve difficulty learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols.

While statistics on the prevalence of dyslexia in the Middle East and Africa are in short supply, in today’s classrooms it is estimated that one in five students has dyslexia. However, there are likely far more who have not yet been diagnosed. These students who see the written word differently are often mistakenly labelled as having a learning disability and as such, make up approximately 70 to 85 percent of today’s special education classes. Their teachers and parents – despite a passion to help – often don’t have the resources or training to do so and without the proper support in their formative early years, a struggling student’s confidence and love of learning can fade. History has shown these great young minds can bring tremendous gifts to the world – like the many great Dyslexic innovators, artists and leaders before them – if given the tools to feel empowered and see dyslexia differently.

That is why today, Microsoft is honoured to be the first company to sign the Made by Dyslexia pledge to give the 700 million people around the world with dyslexia technology that empowers them to excel in their academic journey and in life. The pledge calls on partners to build a better future for those with dyslexia and together with Made by Dyslexia, we aim to democratise dyslexia support so that every dyslexic child is understood and given the right support to realise their brilliant potential.

To achieve this goal, Microsoft will set out to do the following, starting today:

  1. Develop Training Materials. Together with Made by Dyslexia, we will develop free training materials for educators and parents, helping them to understand this common learning difference so they can better recognise and support dyslexic learners.
  2. Technology for Early Intervention. We will be working with top researchers and partners in the dyslexia community to identify ways to use technology for early intervention.
  3. Expand our Microsoft Education Products that support dyslexic students. Products like Learning Tools are free to educators and students and already helping more than 14 million people improve their reading and writing comprehension. We will be rolling out a series of new updates that will help students to:
    • Write with their voice using speech to text in our free Office web apps
    • Better engage in group discussions in Flipgrid using Immersive Reader
    • Improve math performance with math equation read-aloud in Immersive Reader
    • Use Immersive Reader in their native language with real-time translation (supported languages include Arabic and Turkish)
    • Build confidence and comprehension with new tools stemming from research with the University of Washington to explore new phonemic awareness capabilities
    • Browse web content more easily with new accessibility updates to the Edge Browser
    • Capture text from anywhere using OfficeLens for Android to take a picture of the text so it can be uploaded into Office and read with Immersive Reader

For a more detailed outline of each of these commitments and products, you can read the official post on the Microsoft Education blog here.  With these new materials and technology, we’re excited to help Made by Dyslexia take their important awareness and advocacy work to a new level of action and impact in today’s schools.

More inclusive education in the Middle East and Africa

The Made by Dyslexia pledge is only one of the many initiatives Microsoft has embarked on to build more inclusive learning environments.

In Kenya, in partnership with inABLE, for example, Microsoft is supporting over 500 visually impaired children at the Likoni School for the Blind, with assistive technology to access richer digital learning content. And in Sharjah City in the United Arab Emirates, the Al-Amal School for the Deaf is also using cloud-based technology to help teachers build more engaging lessons, create sign-language videos and facilitate independent learning.

Microsoft recognises that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to learning. We believe in supporting teachers with the technology tools that support different learners and learning styles – creating a more personalised and inclusive approach to learning. As found in one of our research projects, students want to navigate their own learning – exploring and making choices that unlock their curiosity and potential. And they want teachers to know and understand them as individuals.

Interested in learning more? Read Microsoft Middle East & Africa’s in-depth feature on the building blocks for success in today’s classrooms.

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