Alfaba: A Tangible Solution to Support Brazilian Dyslexic Students in their Literacy Process

The Covid-19 pandemic has driven students out of schools around the world. In Brazil, a developing country, this dropout has damaged the literacy of students between the ages of 5 and 9. We are running against the clock, and solutions to develop skills to promote reading and writing are fundamental. For students with learning difficulties, the damage is even greater. Dyslexic students have difficulties that naturally make this step even more complex for them. This work presents Alfaba: a tangible solution developed with low-cost hardware that stimulates literacy skills. Alfaba got evaluated by professionals and teachers and prototyped to support not just dyslexic students, but every student that needs to be supported at this stage of their learning journey. Our results show that Alfaba meets the needs of students and that its functions are consistent with the skills to be worked on in the reading and writing process.