special-world-issue-1

REGULARS | NEWSBACK TOCONTENTSA Blind LegendA team of gaming professionals atDowino studios in Lyon, France haslaunched a video-less mobile game specificallydesigned for visually impairedplayers. The game, titled A Blind Legenduses a technique known as binauralrecording to create a 3D immersive worldusing just sound.The player embodies Edward Blake, aknight whose wife has been kidnappedby his fearsome foe Thork. On the day ofthe kidnapping, Thork gouged out Blake’seyes. Guided by his daughter, Blake setsoff to confront Thork’s army and to savehis wife.Blake’s movements are controlled usingthe swipe and pinch gestures familiar tousers of smartphones and/or tablets witha touch-sensitive screen.In a further innovation Dowino Studiosused crowdfunding to raise more than€40,000 (£31,000) to develop their functioningprototype.The company’s pitch on the fundraisingsite ulule says, ‘A Blind Legend is aimedequally at non-sighted and sighted playerseager for a novel gaming experience– using their hearing as the only way toorient themselves and take decisions.’Games for visually impaired playershave a potentially huge audience with anestimated 285 million visually impairedpeople worldwide.READ MORE HEREDyslexia in IndiaDiagnosing ADHDBack to School HandbooksA study designed to assess the understandingof dyslexia among elementaryschool teachers in India found that onein six of them (16.6%) were unaware ofthe condition and that nine out of 10 ofthose that were aware (92.3%) felt theirknowledge was ‘inadequate’.The findings were based on an analysisof self-report questionnaires given to314 elementary school teachers in 32schools. Socio-demographic information,such as gender, teaching experience andprior training, was also elicited, to seewhat if any influence this had on teachers’knowledge.Teaching experience and prior trainingwas found to have a significant bearingon knowledge.The majority of teachers surveyed supportedthe idea of providing training programmeson dyslexia and expressed theirwillingness to attend such programmes.A new study by Tel Aviv University mayprovide an objective tool to accuratelydiagnose ADHD. The researchers usedan eye-tracking system to monitor theinvoluntary eye movements of two groupsof 22 adults taking an ADHD diagnosticcomputer test.The exercise lasted 22 minutes, andwas repeated twice. The first group,diagnosed with ADHD, initially took thetest unmedicated and then took it againunder the influence of methylphenidate. Asecond group, not diagnosed with ADHD,acted as the control group.The researchers found a direct correlationbetween ADHD and the inabilityto suppress eye movement in theanticipation of visual stimuli. Researchalso reflected improved performance bytaking methylphenidate, which normalisedthe suppression of involuntary eye movements.Irish autism charity AsIAm has publisheda set of free, downloadable handbooksfor parents, teachers and students(in second-level with HFA/AspergersSyndrome).The charity says it hopes the books‘will provide ideas, knowledge and reassuranceto all parties in education andalso create a conversation within schoolcommunities around how people withautism can be best supported withinthat community’.As well as separate handbooks theset also includes two further books: MyChild and All About Me.My Child enables parents, undervarious headings from communicationsto sensory processing, from anxiety tostrength, to share their child’s story andneeds with teachers. All About Me providesan opportunity for teenagers withthe condition to do the same.READ MORE HERE READ MORE HERE READ MORE HERE8WWW.SPECIALWORLD.NET | ISSUE 1 | SEPTEMBER 2014