Abstract:

Learning disabilities are usually evident in children since they start the process of literacy; dyslexia being one of the most common. Dyslexia is a difficulty of neurobiological origin that causes a high incidence of school failure and affects approximately 10% of the population (Rello, 2014).
Children with dyslexia are characterized by a normal IQ but present variable degrees of disability to read, comprehend what they read and write properly. The great variability observed in dyslexia has been associated with other cognitive processes involved in the reading process such as visual and auditory perception, eye movements, auditory recognition, working memory, oral expression, processing speed, between others (Etchepareborda & Habib, 2001).

The largest number of applications with various intervention strategies to support specific aspects such as those mentioned in people with dyslexia has been developed for English speakers.

The present investigation focused on the search and analysis of applications developed on different platforms and devices in Spanish in order to determine what they favor and if they can be used with Mexican children with dyslexia enrolled in basic education.

The analysis of these applications allowed us to observe that the activity in any of them, involves working memory, which is encouraged as the participant follows the implicit rules in the game, which are not clarified but discovered during the use by the participant. In some cases sentences are observed with direct instructions on the action to perform such as: add a letter, change a letter, etc.

The analysis of some of these applications shows specific needs regarding their adaptation to the Mexican Spanish, concerning the appearance of unknown words, procedures to divide or complete words that are seldom used in common Mexican Spanish therefore involving a complex and abstract semantic content for children.

It is considered important to develop applications involving both a neighboring auditory feedback to a written words newly formed, a global visual association with the written new word, graphic images of specific objects or actions, and ideally a presentation of the sound produced or generated in real life by that object or action in particular, thus providing valuable information in a multisensory level.

Apps developers could create games, directed activities, exercises covering grammar rules, so difficult to acquire for children and some time adults, that could include the graphical representation of easy vocabulary to improve their comprehension. It would also be important to create applications where one could determine what is required to practice for example, verbs, nouns, grammatical structures, etc.

Our results concerning the analysis of educational resources and games based on ICT allowed to determine their purposes, cognitive processes involved, and the need of correction for their possible use in specific alterations in language and literacy with Mexican school children presenting dyslexia.

Keywords:

Digital applications, dyslexia, basic education.