An automatic feedback educational platform: Assessment and therapeutic intervention for writing learning in children with special educational needs

In this paper we present the SPRF (Sensorised Pen with Real time Feedback) platform that aims to objectively detect handwriting-related graphomotor disorders in children with Special Educational Needs (SEN), and to treat them through game-guided intervention plans performed with the same sensorised system. We have developed two sensorised devices (wristband and pen) for the SPRF to be able to quantify relevant physical parameters as children perform both diagnostic activities and the subsequent intervention plans. This way, SPRF differentiates from traditional methodologies commonly adopted in non-technologically assisted approaches where well-known graphomotor variables (directly related to the abovementioned physical parameters) are observed by diverse professionals with different criteria, which undoubtedly leads to an undesirable subjectivity. The novelty of SPRF relates to: (i) the ability to suggest tailored intervention plans for each child, based on objective parameter measurement, and (ii) the possibility to instantaneously correct children as they perform that custom-made plan thanks to an intuitive interface (similar to traffic lights) through which therapists can easily identify skills achieved, in progress or failed. The approach has been validated with a real group of SEN children from Ecuador, showing that, in terms of graphomotor skills, children who received on-the-fly feedback during the therapeutic intervention outperformed children not exposed to such real-time corrections.