SPEDucate

SPEDucate is an online learning software that provides courses to those who have learning differences, including Autism, ADHD, and impaired vision.

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SPEDucate

A home where proper education techniques are used to teach those with special needs.

Inspiration

Our idea starts with a personal connection to learning disabilities within our team. One of our teammates has ADHD, while another has a younger brother who has Autism. From their experiences, we've seen that the resources supporting special education learning are extremely limited. SPEDucate provides a proper platform for those who have learning disabilities and demonstrates how to connect with those in need.

Functionality

Using the exact same sample curriculum, we have tailored each of SPEDucate's tabs to a specific ailment. Looking at each tab, it is evident that each learning disability has its own unique challenges, and different methods of learning must be used for each one.

Tackling ADHD

The key to designing our ADHD page was change and progression. From our research, it was clear that one of the biggest challenges those with ADHD have when learning is a lack of stimulation. To combat this, we divided each section of our curriculum into separate pages so that the user felt some sort of progression. On each individual page, we also differed the styling to try to combat possible feelings of boredom. Finally, the timer in the top right corner acts as a reminder to keep moving forward, gently nudging the user to move on after a certain amount of time so they don't get distracted for too long.

Addressing Autism

While learning for ADHD was about stimulation, Autism was the complete opposite. The last thing we wanted was for the user to feel overstimulated. Therefore, we created our interface to be very consistent with no sudden changes that could potentially be detrimental. Our goal was to make the website simple to follow, yet fun to look at the same time! Lastly, once the user finishes the course, they are able to claim a badge, which provides a beneficial sense of accomplishment!

Breaching Blindness

Although there is already a pre-established method for surfing the web while blind (screen readers), web developers need to be extremely aware of the limitations and features that screen readers have. For instance, screen reader users prefer a very linearly designed website with clear punctuation markings to make the flow clearer. Additionally, web devs should be careful about using proper accessibility-friendly elements within their HTML code (e.g. using <nav> and <h1> instead of a lot of non-semantic <div> elements), as screen readers depend greatly on this. We also added in some extra screen-reader-only text to provide those blind users with much-needed information.

It is worth considering those with color blindness as well. When designing webpages, it is good practice to be aware that there are many different types of color blindness. Using a good color palette is key to opening the doors of any website to as many users as possible.

Lessons Learned

This was our first time using a proper GitHub environment. We learned how to manage workflow, delegate tasks, and cooperate with a team in a professional environment. The entire project was also very enlightening for those on our team who did not have much experience with learning disabilities as they read about the struggles that some of their peers faced.

What's Next for SPEDucate

We hope to continue expanding our site, adding in new resources for even more learning disabilities. Additionally, we want to reach out to our community and see how things like SPEDucate can be implemented in schools and learning sites.

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