Funlexia

Inspiration

Approximately 1 in every 14 elementary school students has dyslexia, meaning 3-4 students in a typical elementary classroom struggle with reading. We were inspired by the challenge these students face when trying to learn fundamental skills, imagine being called on to read aloud in class but struggling to sound out even simple words. These early struggles can cause students to fall behind during critical years of their education. We wanted to create a solution that helps children with dyslexia build confidence and proficiency in reading through engaging, personalized practice.

What it does

Funlexia is an educational app that provides targeted support for two common types of dyslexia:

For Phonological Dyslexia (difficulty sounding out letters): Our app helps students break words into syllables, plays audio of each syllable, and has them rearrange the parts in the correct order. This strengthens phonics skills and sound-to-letter connections.

For Surface Dyslexia (difficulty recognizing whole words): The app displays letters individually with play buttons for each sound, then engages students in a matching game where they connect scrambled letters with their corresponding sounds.

Students can input words by typing or using voice-to-text conversion. The app adapts to individual learning pace, if a student struggles with a word after two attempts, it moves to the next one, allowing them to revisit challenging words later. Results are provided at the end so students can track their progress and identify areas needing more practice.

How we built it

We built Funlexia using game-based learning principles supported by research showing that interactive approaches effectively improve reading skills in children with dyslexia. The app incorporates voice recognition for input, audio playback for letter sounds and syllables, and interactive matching/arranging games. We designed the user experience to be engaging and non-frustrating, with the two-attempt system that prevents students from getting stuck on single words. We used React for the frontend, Gemini for the AI features, Tailwind css for the styling, Framer for the animation, and vercel to deploy.

Challenges we ran into

One major challenge was designing an interface that would be intuitive for elementary students with reading difficulties. We also had to balance making the activities challenging enough to be educational while keeping them encouraging rather than frustrating. Implementing the voice-to-text feature for students who struggle with spelling required careful consideration of pronunciation variations. Additionally, creating adaptive difficulty that provides meaningful practice without overwhelming students took significant iteration. We also ran into many bugs in the code and fetching the AI API but finally got everything working.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud of creating a tool that addresses a real educational gap affecting millions of students. Our dual-approach system targeting both phonological and surface dyslexia makes the app versatile for different learning needs. The adaptive learning feature that skips words after two attempts and allows students to revisit them shows our commitment to reducing frustration while maximizing learning. We're also proud of making the app accessible through voice input, removing barriers for students who can't yet spell the words they need to practice.

What we learned

We learned about the neurological basis of dyslexia, specifically how the brain struggles with phonological processing and connecting sounds with written symbols. We discovered that early intervention through game-based learning can significantly impact a child's educational trajectory. Research, including a 2019 JMIR Publications study, showed us that games engaging visual search, selective attention, and pattern recognition can strengthen the same cognitive skills needed for reading. Most importantly, we learned that technology can provide the personalized, self-paced practice that traditional classroom settings often can't offer to every student who needs it.

What's next for Funlexia

We plan to expand Funlexia to address additional types of dyslexia and incorporate more advanced adaptive learning algorithms that adjust difficulty based on individual progress. We want to add a teacher/parent dashboard so educators and families can track student progress and identify specific areas of difficulty. Future features could include multiplayer modes to reduce stigma and make practice more social, integration with classroom curriculum standards, and expanded word libraries across different subjects and grade levels. We'd also like to conduct formal studies to measure Funlexia's impact on reading proficiency and work toward making it available in schools and homes nationwide.