2024-03-26 17:39:08
A video game specially developed for children with learning disabilities has proven itself: spelling progress and better sound recognition are observed.
Published on 03/26/2024 6:39 p.m.
Reading time: 2 mins
A child plays a video game on a tablet. Illustrative image. (CATHERINE FALLS COMMERCIAL / MOMENT RF)
A video game to help children with learning disabilities. There are more than a million of them in France. This is a first in the country, the start-up Poppins offers a fun application to “dys” children aged 7 to 11. The device has been validated by a scientific study and developed with specialized doctors. It is reimbursed by certain mutual insurance companies and has already proven itself with parents of dyslexic children.
A priori, it’s an ordinary video game: a cartoon setting with a journey to complete. “On the screen, the little character follows two others with holes, describes François Vonthron, president of Poppins. If you don’t do the movements at the right time, you’ll fall in the water.”
“By following the rhythmic sequence, you will really work on the anticipation of sounds in speech.”
François Vonthron, president of Poppins
at franceinfo
The manager talks about a drug game, but it is above all fun, he called on the greatest video game specialists: Ubisoft and Warner Bros. And it worked well with Clément, 10 years old, dyslexic. His mother Emmanuelle saw progress very quickly. “At first, it was every day. ‘Mom, I want to play Poppins. Mom, it gets stuck after 20 minutes, unblock the game!’. Today, it comes in the evening after homework. Three five times a week, that’s how progress is made. He makes a lot fewer reading errors, he recognizes sounds better and there is also great spelling progress.”
Video game tested in a clinical trial
This video game was tested for eight weeks during a clinical trial and it was demonstrated: there was progress in precision and speed of reading. “Poppins relied on previous studies carried out by other researchers which had highlighted both the very specific difficulties that dyslexics have in processing rhythms on the one hand, and the fact that if we worked on rhythm, we improved phonological skills and reading”, explains neuropsychologist Catherine Grosmaitre, head of the reference center for language and learning disorders at the Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital.
The idea is to use Poppins in addition to speech therapy sessions. A one-year subscription to this video game costs 26 euros per month, some mutual funds reimburse it in full, the founders of the start-up hope for reimbursement from social security in 2025.
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