AR Games for Special Education and Physiotherapy

Approximately 15 percent of the global population lives with a disability (WHO, 2021). The disability ratio in Pakistan is at 3.56 percent according to the World Bank Report on Disability, whereas, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) indicates that 22.1 percent of government schools have children with disabilities In Pakistan. It is known that children with disabilities face the most limitation to quality education as children with disabilities are often denied admission to mainstream schools just because the child has mobility issues (Rathore Mansoor, 2019). Furthermore, according to the UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Region COVID-19 Technical Guidance, due to the pandemic, children with disabilities and children who relied on classroom support missed greatly out on their learning and are at risk of dropping out of their education, if the school closures continue, this is mostly due to the lack of equipment or staff support at home as compared to their school. 

In Pakistan, there is a lack of institutional support in providing inclusive and quality education that caters to the learning needs of all students. The discrepancy exists because there is a lack of proper teaching methods for children with determination in government schools. Physiotherapy & education of children with special needs is painful & tiresome for the children and expensive for the parents when done privately. Moreover, in developing countries like Pakistan, there is a gap between the number of children with determination vs. the number of institutions and trained professionals (special educators, psychologists, physiotherapists). For example, Pakistan has over 1.5 million children with special needs & only 550 special education institutions. And there is only one psychologist & physiotherapist for 230,000 Pakistanis. The condition is not so good in developed countries either. In the USA, there is a national shortage of special educators & almost half of all state schools do not have qualified teachers for these children. The cost of raising a child with determination is ten times higher.

 In the light of these problems, WonderTree has identified the need to promote innovative teaching methods that promote learning for all children. Therefore, WonderTree incorporates augmented reality games in mainstream classrooms to provide quality education for all.

At WonderTree we incorporate various digital technologies such as augmented reality and artificial intelligence to gamify physiotherapy and educational exercises for children with determination. Our games also use the concept of mirror therapy which focuses on the motor, cognitive, social, language development of children. We have combined the best practices of clinical psychology and game design into our solution. Making the previously tedious or painful exercises and lessons fun and motivating for the child as the augmented reality games allow for total body movement. 

The use of augmented reality helps promote multiple means of representation using different senses: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. This method assists the child in interacting with the games, which gives them autonomy over their learning process. The child learns at their own pace as they progress through the game and the completion of each level gives them a sense of accomplishment. The progress of each child is tracked in our games through an in-built reporting system.

WonderTree games can be deployed anywhere in schools or homes and do not require guidance from a teacher or facilitator. They help in overcoming institutional limitations by reducing the costs making WonderTree 80% cheaper than conventional physiotherapy. As it requires only a computer with a camera and internet connection which makes this solution extremely accessible. As it overcomes infrastructural and institutional barriers to education for these children because of its easy accessibility and affordability. Furthermore, our games require limited facilitation from teachers or parents as the gameplay is easy to understand for children. The augmented reality games overcome space limitations and provide immersive and engaging experiences for children. 

WonderTree’s solution promotes quality inclusive education, especially for the marginalized populations, who may not have access to high-quality education and healthcare systems.  Due to COVID-19 and the resulting school closures, children do not have access to learning opportunities like before. WonderTree games can be used at home which makes it accessible for children who are out of school. School closures impact children with disabilities more as they require specialized learning programs. However, our solution bridges that gap through our easily accessible language development games that can be played at home. These games are user-friendly and easy for parents and children to understand with their simple instructions.  Our games focusing on language and literacy skills development would help parents facilitate their child’s learning at home. They can also access the progress of their child through an in-built reporting feature which provides a detailed progress report of each user. 

WonderTree's first research has also recently been published in an international medical journal further proving that the technology and method really work. 

Our team comprises clinical psychologists and game developers, and designers; who are working on revolutionizing therapeutic care and education for kids. Our psychologists have worked closely with children with disabilities in the past, and have strong connections to the academic world where they are constantly involved in research in the field. 

But most importantly, every member of our team strongly believes in WonderTree and we all are aligned on our mission to make a difference in special children's and in the lives of their families. 

We also have a strong medical advisory board, consisting of occupational therapists, psychologists, special educators, and physiotherapists, each member of our medical advisory board has at least 15 years of experience working with children with special needs. 

Our dream is to make WonderTree is a global solution impacting the lives of millions of children with special needs around the world. 

Our intention for applying to MIT Solve is to gain mentoring, networking, and knowledge acumen that can help us answer the following questions/topics:

1. International Scaling: How to scale WonderTree outside of Pakistan in both developing and developed economies. 
2. Product Market Fit: Outside of Pakistan: What should be the pricing, should we go for a distributor or sell ourselves, Should we focus more on B2B or B2C, etc. 
3. Financial Sustainability: We are a for-profit startup and WonderTree needs to be financially viable at the same time we would not want to compromise on our mission of serving the children with special needs first and making our solution accessible and affordable. How do we achieve impact and profitability and growth? 
4. Researching Partners: We are also hoping that through MIT solve we will get connected to researching partners who can conduct research on WonderTree, further proving its efficacy and credibility.