Avatar Adventures by Reservoir

Learners with neurodiversity are often isolated from their communities due to differences in they way they navigate the world. Low levels of awareness, lack of government intervention and stigma leads to difficulty in accessing education, therapy and low social integrity. Traditional education systems pose limitations and do not allow these children to reach their full potential. 

Avatar Adventures helps children learn in a goal-oriented, stigma-free, and engaging manner. Despite lacking a cure, most neurodiverse conditions can be managed better with interventions like Behavior Therapy, Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy etc. 

Our research-backed solution allows children to learn with avatars and cartoons in a safe space. Tailor made experiences can be easily offered to work on specific social skills, educational goals or practice real life simulations.

 In our quest to make the world more inclusive, Avatar Adventures bridges the gaps where special education systems fall short. 

1 in 8 children are diagnosed with a neurodiverse condition, which directs us to a universe of 5 million children under the age of 9 (PLOS medicine, 2018). Due to extreme stigmatization, parents sometimes don't opt for diagnosis. A lot of children receive help for behavioral issues even without a formal diagnosis. 

Our target market is metro, tier 1 and 2 cities where awareness levels aren't extremely poor, and households have internet and a laptop/tablet device. Given India's increasing internet penetration due to new government schemes, we will be able to break past the accessibility and stigmatization that surrounds the disability community.

We are building an interactive learning platform for children with learning differences. 

Our program, Avatar Adventures, offers a personalized learning experience with cartoon characters that are animated real time using a 3D animation software. Children meet these avatars in different environments to learn social/motivational/educational goals that they encounter in their real life. 

We make learning an adventure, which improves attention spans, generalization and application of concepts, encourages engagement and curiosity. For children that are forced to learn ways of the world, can now forego the pressure of being right or wrong and focus on learning with their friends.

Autism, ADHD and other learning differences do not have a cure and require very diverse support/assistance in the form of therapy. There are several NGOs, therapy centers and special schools that try to cater to these needs. However, the space is fragmented, unregulated and thus poses issue of poor quality, user experience and inaccessibility.

 Avatar Adventures builds on traditional therapy as it utilizes evidence-based techniques to engage with neurodiverse children across different learning goals without fitting them into a box. The therapist assists the child in navigating real life situations through virtual simulations with different characters and avatars in customized environments within the comfort of their homes. 

Avatar Adventures allows individuals to learn in an engaging, stigma-free environment and promotes better better academic and social integration into mainstream society.

Our 3D digital puppeteering solution is an accessible virtual tool for learners with autism, ADHD and other learning differences that breaks past the perceived stigma and traditional limitations of in-person therapy.

• Parental Support: Throughout the process, we actively engage the parent(s)/guardian(s) by providing training and resources to map progress and initiate post-session activities.
• Peer Interaction: Skills built in our sessions are translated and generalized to real world situations into connections with peer groups.
• Independent Work: Post session exercises are assigned to apply and accentuate their learnings from the session using non-digital, tactile experiences customized as per progress made.

Since January 2019, Reservoir has built a strong community of families, self advocates, professionals and allies. 

Avatar Adventures was launched in April 2021 and we are currently in the pilot stage with the product. We are working with 10 individuals currently from across India [Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Amritsar], each having different needs and skill sets. Our clients include young learned with ASD who range from 4 - 16 year old, as well as 3 neurodiverse adults (21,25,31). The main goal for our young learners is to improve peer interaction and consequently find better acceptance in their schools (inclusive or special needs schools).

In May 2021, our focus was developing a core curriculum and tracking the effectiveness of our program. Each learner has a different roadmap, starting from goal mapping to content planning. We are focused on creating SOPs to effectively scale the program and meet our targets/goals for this year.

Most ed-tech startups cater to the top 20% of young learners in India- the ones that are going to make it to premium universities or aim to become world class professionals. Like the traditional education system, this too puts the remaining 80% in a box and forces them to learn in conventional ways which may not allow them to reach their 100%.

Our goal is to acknowledge that 100% looks different for each child, especially for over 5 million children with learning differences, and unlock a new learning dimension for them with our interactive learning platform- Avatar Adventures.

Our technology allows us to easily customize each experience according to the learner's goals, interests and likes. Children love cartoons, and we use this safe space to forge friendships between our avatars and students-making learning fun, an adventure.

Reservoir has served over 300+ individuals and families in the neurodiverse community. 

Avatar Adventures was launched in April 2021 and is in the pilot stage. We are currently working with 10 learners. 

• In Year 1, we will reach 100 learners. These early adopters will be acquired through our large community that of over 2000+ members connected with us online. 
• In Year 5, Avatar Adventures will reach over 25,000 children with learning differences with the software as a service model. We will reach an additional 50,000 students with products (games and other app based solutions). 

Goal 3, 4: We use scientifically recognized parameters and milestones to map the progress of every neurodiverse learner we work with. Each case is unique and treated on its own merit:

> Pre-session: Activity planned, targets (social greeting, asking questions, choice, introduction, etc) and medium (specific avatar (s) and environment(s)) to be used shared with therapist and parents. A total of 3 such sets are designed with important notes for each, including expected outcomes and goals. Multi-party inputs are taken before finalizing the content plan.

> Post-session: with timestamps for each note, status (alert, distracted, etc), social greeting, engagement with avatar, eye contact, visual and receptive auditory attention, expressive engagement, asking and following of commands with avatar and therapist, and whether WH questions were asked and answered are tracked. Moreover, the conversation, grammar, emotions and sequencing is rated across 21 sections. Final comments summarize this info and are sent to the parents along with necessary data and strategies for next steps.

Goal 8: Equipping learners with soft skills via social situations and dilemmas. Indirectly, we target 8.5.1 and 8.5.2 which deal with average hourly earnings and unemployment rate of PwDs. We directly impact 8.6.1 which tracks youth not in education/employment/training by facilitating entry and performance of our clients in these areas.

Full-time: 5
Part-time: 2
Contractors (design, IT): 2

Growing up with a brother with autism normalized fighting for acceptance, moving cities to find services, being thrown out of schools because he couldn't learn the way other children did. Discrimination feels much worse when you're on the receiving end. Working in New-York, alongside individuals on the spectrum was an overwhelming experience—my peers had jobs, their apartments, dating experiences. I couldn't dream of this for my brother up until then. 

Reservoir was born to fight the stigma and stagnation that my family faced over the last two decades, & several other families like mine have faced over the years. Avatar Adventures will teach us all to dream again & to dream big.

Core team members consist of Pratham, Kanan and Mytri who bring their experience in technology, business strategy and marketing to create a seamless and effective user experience and build our community's spirit.

Yaashna, our clinical lead, is a research-practitioner working as an audiologist and speech language pathologist with 7 years of experience. Her exposure to clients both at hospitals and at their homes helps us build an equitable solution for all-round development in a natural environment.

Aranyo, first-place winner of American Psychological Association, brings his knowhow of working on a culturally adapted screening tool for ASD.

Rishabh, a young adult on the spectrum, advises us on modules on peer interaction and language sensitization and awareness building. 

Our curriculum advisor, Sangeeta Jain, has represented India at United Nations and runs a school with over 150+ learnerswith diverse needs. 

Our team members are from a variety of lived experiences. The common thread that unites us is our determination to democratize therapy and support systems for the neurodiverse community in India and beyond.

Several neurodiverse individuals play an important role as our advisors and collaborators on different projects, including Avatar Adventures. At Reservoir, we believe in a do-with-not-for approach which reflects in all our endeavors, be it panel discussions led by leading self advocates or curated & customized DEI workshops.

As a female-founded company aiming to redefine the Ed-tech industry for neurodiverse individuals, we believe in inclusive workplace policies and hiring practices. One of our key offerings 'Made Equal', a workshop on DEI, is put to use right in our own office. Moreover, on every team call and micro-meetings, we share common goals and priorities, as well as our weekly 'alphas' and 'deltas'—positive and negative highlights, respectively. This helps us give constructive feedback and builds team motivation and spirit. 

At Reservoir we always prioritize physical and mental health and well-being as well as personal time, and that has reflected how we function. We believe in having open and transparent communication channels to ensure optimum performance.

Reinventing the Western edtech tools and adapting to the Indian setting and local cultural context. By doing so, we can reimagine therapy management and access to quality skill-building and support resources for youth with disabilities. Mentoring with local partners,

Having access to mentoring within MIT's network and beyond with experts in the field, better tech partnerships and recommendations will allow us to further democratize access to efficient tele-therapy and special education. Moreover, it will aid the development and addition of mini-games for specific skills especially of a cognitive/behavioral nature.

Solve encourages innovation and human-centered design, which we strive to uphold through our comprehensive all-round approach balancing a young learner's strengths, affinities, challenges and learning difficulties. Having a home-based edtech solution will allow neurodiverse individuals and their families to develop at their own pace, on their own terms. Our overarching long-term efforts to scale and expand our program within the next few year would be fruitful if we are selected as a Solver team.

1. Access to capital is important for us to build a better product and scale. Due to low awareness levels in India, the neurodiversity space is often neglected by the government and private equity players. Participating in this competition will give us access to more sensitive, empathetic and global capital. 
2. We would like to utilize cutting edge technology present in different parts of the world to solve challenges in Asia, Africa and other developing countries. Why Re Invent the Wheel? 

Short game sessions, such as those by Otsimo, have tremedously helped us maintain attention span and motivation, sustaining skill-building exercises and reinforcing key concepts beyond the 45 minutes. We involve a range of fun games involving recognizing, matching and learning about items, short scenarios with a storyline, number, alphabet and word games and much more. Partnering with them would help us license these apps so that we can use them while a child in enrolled in our programs. In the long run, we want to team up with healthcare insurance companies as a way to reduce thier costs incurred while serving underserved neurodiverse communities.

MIT has several exciting projects, such as EngageME, Commalla, with whom we would love to collaborate. All our sessions are recorded and consent taken for their usage in further research and development. In exchange for these sessions, these research groups could provide us additional insight as well as digital technology support to further improve our offering. Once we scale up, we eventually want to automate some portions of the process, such as session planning and post-session analysis. Thus, the work at the Affective Computing Group under Professor Picard can aid us in leveraging AI to design emotionally appropriate interventions.

Education Modified and Livox can better help our therapists plan out their sessions. Moreover, Sima by Kukua can be integrated to our curriculum to make the learning experiences more enjoyable and attractive.

Avatar Adventures helps children learn in a goal-oriented, stigma-free, and engaging manner. Despite lacking a cure, most neurodiverse conditions can be managed with therapy and support. Our program promotes better social and academic integration. 

We believe that disability is in the environment and not in the learner. If a child with ADHD cannot learn in a typical classroom, it is because the way the classroom is structured. We are re-imagining classrooms and learning environments. All neurodiverse children who enter the Avatar Adventures program can focus on their goals assisted by trained professionals. 

In our quest to make the world more inclusive and safe, Avatar Adventures bridges the gaps where traditional and even special education systems fall short to offer Inclusive Learning.

All our sessions are recorded and consent taken for their usage in further research and development. We would like to develop additional insight as well as digital technology support to further improve our offering. 

As we scale up, we want to automate some portions of the process, decrease human intervention, create culturally relevant modules and increase the efficiency of the program. 

With this approach we will be able to reach millions of learners with learning differences from vulnerable communities. 

All our sessions are recorded and consent taken for their usage in further research and development. We would like to develop additional insight as well as digital technology support to further improve our offering. 

As we scale up, we want to automate some portions of the process, decrease human intervention, create culturally relevant modules and increase the efficiency of the program. 

With this approach we will be able to reach millions of learners with learning differences from vulnerable communities.