Written By Michael Abbott
Fighting Dyslexia with Computer Science
By Markus Gross
Markus Gross is a Professor of Computer Science at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), head of the Computer Graphics Laboratory, and the Director of Disney Research, Zurich.
Dyslexia is prevalent in approximately 10% of the population of the Western world and it has a severe impact on an individual’s entire life. This talk highlights research that has challenged Dyslexia with the use of modern methods of computer science.
Dr. Gross’ son developed a handicap at an early age. Writing and reading became a nightmare for him. He was diagnosed with dyslexia. Therapies did not help and that led to frustrations. Often times leads to underperformance and demotivation. Over time strengths emerged.
Professor Gross elaborates on the effects of dyslexia and the processes in the brain. Combining neuroscience and computer science, Dr. Gross and his colleagues have come up with a multimodal learning model. The brain is able to process information over various senses simultaneously and develops preferences. Their idea is to recode and reroute information by breaking it down into various “codes” (topological code, color code, musical code, and shape code) for more fluid interpretation. This process leads to multimodal processing.
These researchers are hoping that the system they have created will enable early detection of learning disabilities in order to make appropriate adjustments early on. The hope is to be able to extend these learning models into other avenues in the future.
For more information, please check out the video.
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