An assistive computerized system for children with intellectual and learning disabilities

Abstract

This work proposes an assistive computerized system using the Arabic language for children with intellectual and learning disabilities (ILD) who are resident at Shafallah Center in Doha, Qatar. The system is flexible and can be used by parents, children and teachers, where they can employ the materials according to specific needs. The contents are developed with the help of special education instructors. The tutorials cover a range of topics on basic concepts of living including simple mathematics and sciences. The animated images used in the tutorials are taken from the children's environment, so they can feel more comfortable when using the system. After studying the tutorials, children can solve puzzles based on the topics they learned. A simple intelligent greedy algorithm is used to guide children to a solution. Concept analysis are used to extract the main ideas of electronic texts and dialogues, link them with images, sounds and clips, and present them to the children with ILD.