A research team at the University of Technology, Hanoi National University is developing the first eye movement tracking technology in Vietnam capable of supporting screening, diagnosis and intervention for children with dyslexia. reading (Dyslexia).
Dr. Ngo Thi Duyen, Faculty of Information Technology, University of Technology, Head of the research team, said dyslexia syndrome due to congenital neurological disorder affects 5-10% of school-age children. It is estimated that in Vietnam there are tens of thousands of students suffering from this syndrome but it has not been detected.
When suffering from dyslexia, children often have difficulty connecting spoken and written language. This affects the child’s life and learning process, making it difficult for him or her to catch up with other normally developing children.
Eye movement tracking is the first technology capable of screening large numbers, supporting experts in making confirmed diagnoses and classifying dyslexia that children suffer from. Technology can also suggest teachers and parents effective early intervention measures for children suffering from this condition.
Dr. Duyen said that around the world there have been studies using eye movement tracking technology to detect dyslexia. However, due to the different characteristics of each language, these technologies cannot be applied to children with dyslexia in Vietnam.
She and her colleagues have developed a system that has the potential to support screening, detection, and intervention specifically for Vietnamese children with dyslexia. The system consists of simple software and hardware including an eye movement tracking device available on the market, connected to a laptop via USB port.
When children take tests with Vietnamese input on the computer, lasting 10-15 minutes, the system will monitor the child’s gaze and record all coordinates of the child’s eye gaze on the screen. image. The research team built algorithms based on artificial intelligence (AI) to process this data.
Dr. Ngo Thi Duyen (middle) with the research team at the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory, Faculty of Information Technology, University of Technology, Hanoi National University. Image: NVCC
This is the first set of algorithms capable of linking characteristics of children’s eye movements (including eye stops, eye movements from one stop to another, eye movements in the opposite direction of the text, etc. .) with the input material of the test (including initial sounds, rhymes, colors… of Vietnamese text), thereby helping to detect children with dyslexia.
In addition, children’s eye movements can be stored as records, to assess individualized characteristics of each child’s reading behavior. This is a completely new, highly accurate approach in supporting the diagnosis and intervention of dyslexia in Vietnam. “If only using traditional tests on paper, with the naked eye, even experienced special education experts cannot do these things,” Dr. Duyen said.
Eye scan map obtained from a system that tracks normal people’s eye movements while performing the Stroop Effect test, one of the tests used to diagnose dyslexia in children. Image: Researchers.
Dr. Nguyen Thi Cam Huong, Head of the Department of Education for Blind Children and Children with Learning Disabilities, Faculty of Special Education, Hanoi University of Education – who has more than 10 years of research on dyslexia in children – evaluated “The technology developed by Dr. Duyen’s group is very meaningful in the context of the huge need for screening, diagnosis and early intervention for children with Dyslexia in Vietnam.”
According to Dr. Huong’s previous research, on average every classroom in Vietnam has at least one child with dyslexia. Children with dyslexia often feel low self-esteem, develop oppositional defiant behavior disorders over time, such as not studying, being afraid of learning, or many children even drop out of school. At this rate, the group of children with Dyslexia is placing a huge burden on each teacher and throughout the entire education system if they are not given full and proper attention. Accordingly, just helping children with Dyslexia syndrome read, they will develop normally, and many children will also develop with outstanding talents.
Dr. Huong directly participated in the process of testing new technology developed by Dr. Duyen’s group on 35 students, including 5 students with dyslexia at two primary schools in Hanoi and Hoa Binh. She commented that eye tracking technology has now proven its ability to support teachers and special education professionals in all steps from screening, diagnosis to intervention for children with dyslexia.
“Eye movement tests can be integrated immediately into school health rooms, or early-year health checks for elementary school students, to help detect groups of children at high risk of dyslexia. “, Dr. Huong said.
According to her, eye movement characteristics are a layer of in-depth information, directly linked to how children process information and brain function. Therefore, information about eye movement characteristics will help experts make accurate diagnoses and classify what type of dyslexia a child is suffering from.
Once a diagnosis is obtained, this data will once again help experts provide personalized intervention direction for each child.
The research team and Dr. Nguyen Thi Cam Huong are testing eye-tracking technology on a child with dyslexia. Photo: NVCC
Personalized intervention using technology is also the goal that Dr. Duyen’s research team is aiming for. Accordingly, the output data of the eye tracking system can be used as input data for an application capable of helping children with dyslexia understand text in their own way.
“Dyslexia syndrome has different forms. Each form requires different intervention methods,” Dr. Duyen said. “In the mildest form, children only have visual processing problems. Use an application that has the ability to customize the text display, for example making the font larger, increasing the space between lines letters have helped improve children’s reading ability.
For more severe forms of reading disorder, when children cannot read words, especially having difficulty with some difficult rhymes, difficult words or specific numbers in Vietnamese, the application can provide alternatives. Replace these words or numbers with images or sounds that children can understand.
Dr. Duyen also wants to spread information to parents, because “many parents don’t know their children are having problems and even when they discover the problem, they don’t know it’s Dyslexia.”
The research team is aiming to build an application for mobile devices that teachers and parents can download to their phones, tablets or laptops.
The application allows for regular, personalized interventions for each child with dyslexia right at home and at school, without having to go directly to special education centers.
Dr. Duyen estimates it will take about 1-2 more years for the team to perfect the technology. The work requires collecting a large amount of children’s eye movement data, training artificial intelligence algorithms in parallel with streamlining hardware devices.