Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) used the old famous-people-with-Learning-Disability bit as a lead for an entry in its blog that is part of the company’s public relations campaign (AKA “advertising”).
What do Tom Cruise, Whoopi Goldberg, Walt Disney, Winston Churchill, and Alexander Graham Bell have in common?
Learning disability.
TIS is a software development company with headquarters in India that creates simulations and games and transforms traditional print content into more technically accessible formats. Other than a few instances of pandering to the public, TIS claims to develop “end-to-end solutions that screen and identify children with learning disabilities, and offer remedial action as well as a tracking system to monitor their progress.” Sounds good, no?
Could be good, but who knows? As evidence, TIS offers endorsements by various agencies and companies. I’m not ready to accept those data as strong evidence. Show us the data!
As one or two of the three readers of LD Blog may know, I have a fondness for technology in education, having fiddled with it for the better part of 20 years. Still, I harbor skepticism about technologies that claim to correct Learning Disabilities. Usually the products are misbegotten examples of quizzing with gratuitous feedback (bronx cheers upon error, fireworks displays for accurate answers) or superficially sensible sequences of activities that supposed to address underlying processes (e.g., deducing the sequence described by a series of objects). I am certain there are better things available, but I don’t know enough about them. (My much-admired colleague Mable Kinzie has led a graduate class on developing learning games; I should investigate the work they produced.) Whatever they are, we need to see the empirical examinations of their effects. Show us the data!
Neither the TIS blog entry nor a PDF document describing the products provide data.
The good news, according to the blog entry, is that TIS supports a local (a) hospital by performing systems analyses and programming data management activities—excellent use of technology!—and (b) employees running footraces (7K, halfathon, and marathon) to raises funds for Learning Disabilities.
Latest Comments