Chatta

We live in a time where people are communicating more but talking less. Digital distraction is reducing the quality and quantity of parent/child interactions. Spoken language skills are declining rapidly in under 5s. Chatta is a powerful teaching and learning approach which is used by schools, kindergartens and families which accelerates progress in early spoken language. The simple, powerful and unique method is embraced by families and leads to sustained impact in many areas of essential early child development. Chatta harnesses the power of technology and solves a colossal problem technology is inadvertently creating. 

Parents are spending less time interacting with their children. This is affecting language skills, social skills and behaviour.

Spoken language skills are an essential indicator of future progress in writing and wider learning and children across the world are arriving at school without developing fully in this area.

In the U.K. alone almost a third of 5 year olds are significantly behind their peers in language development.

Language comes from parent/child interaction. Less interaction means less speech. Less speech means less progress in education.

http://theconversation.com/were-not-talking-to-our-kids-are-we-causing-speech-delay-23585

To reach thousands of families we work with schools, kindergartens and community centres.

Our teaching approach is used in schools and achieves ‘unprecedented’ and ‘phenomenal’ outcomes for teachers in the classroom.

It is the schools/kindergartens which share Chatta with families. Families find Chatta simple and accessible and it fits effortlessly into their everyday  lives.

In one small district we have over 500 families using Chatta and the % of children achieving age related expectations in speaking has increased from 49% to 83% for those children using Chatta.

Chatta is a teaching approach which links images and words and mirrors the way we think as people.

Any learning or activity can be presented to children through the Chatta app where the emphasis is placed on modelled language from adults and oral rehearsal from children.

The design of Chatta includes powerful proven methods such as ‘dual-coding’ which tells us that learning is stronger when images and words are presented simultaneously.

Parents turn the activities they do with their children into digital stories. Children also make their own. Chatta provides the software and hundreds of activity ideas for families.

These 2 short videos illustrate how Chatta works.

https://vimeo.com/271260663

https://vimeo.com/340468276

Chatta is a brand new way of teaching. The pedagogical design combines 12 different proven theories and methods into something which is effortless for teachers, students and families.

The pedagogical approach was designed first and then the technology created.

Schools using Chatta use it in early years and beyond. It is used to help children and young people with autism and dyslexia. Students learning new languages. By using Chatta as a teacher student outcomes in all areas improve in a strong and sustained way, and because speaking is the halfway house between thinking and writing the pupil outcomes in writing are spectacular.

Chatta was created to mirror the way people think and to promote spoken interaction. The approach fits with any curriculum and existing teaching activity and takes learning to a new level.

The wider impact of Chatta, or its simplicity and effectiveness, was not anticipated at the design stage.

Chatta uses native android and IOS apps. 

Contented is shared using cloud-based hosting.

Tablets and smartphones are used by Chatta users.

Training and activity resources are shared with users on a standard website.

Chatta already does address the problem. We have had a 2 year study in a district of Hull, UK

In Spring 2017 49% of 5 year olds were achieving age related expectations in speaking. With a targeted launch of Chatta through schools and kindergartens  and community centres. Over 500 families in the area use Chatta. In Spring 2019 70% of 5 year olds were achieving or exceeding age related expectations  across the district with 83% of Chatta using children achieving or exceeding.

Our theory of change is that language outcomes are low because of reduced parent/child interaction caused as a by-product of parental technology use. Families using Chatta interact more which in turn impacts strongly on language acquisition in children.

It is important to understand that the single biggest indicator of success in writing is ‘oral narrative competence’ ie being able to explain/retell things sequentially.

https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxyberklee.flo.org/doi/abs/10.1080/03004430.2019.1572132?journalCode=gecd20

At our current rate of growth we have 6000 family users and approximately 100 schools users.

We expect this (without assisted promotion and acceleration)to double each year so:

Now: Schools 100 Families 6000

2020: Schools 200 Families 12000

2021: Schools 400 Families 24000

2022: Schools 800 Families 48000

2023: Schools 1600 Families 96000

We believe these forecasts are conservative and that wider and faster growth is possible. Chatta is strong enough to reach and impact millions of children and families.

In the next 2 years we want to build our evidence base and our user base and become involved in more city-wide roll outs for families.

Chatta is unlike anything else and we want to make it easier for educators and decision makers to embrace Chatta.

Families find it straightforward and effective. We need to help schools and city authorities promote Chatta to families on a wider scale.

As an educational approach anyone who sees Chatta recognises the power immediately. With support we would like to be available for every family of every child under 5 in every country in the world.

This is achievable. As Chatta is so strong we would like to see the expansion of the approach not only helping under 5s but helping students of all ages. Helping people with additional educational needs including autism and dyslexia. It is also effective for those battling memory loss and dementia.

Chatta can become the first choice for teaching and learning anything.

Chatta isn’t easy to explain - without experiencing it. It is so very simple but combines powerful methods and a sophisticated design. When people see it they understand the enormous power of it but making that message clear is still a challenge.

There is nothing to compare Chatta to which is hard for some people.

We need a strong evidence base. We have grown from nothing and it is hard to access research opportunities and this is a priority

Chatta has had to run as a business and build scale by securing commercial contracts. This is hard and slow. We’d like to access larger scale country-wide and city-wide opportunities but are not a large organisation with the skills and resource to market ourselves at that level.

We are aiming as high as we can. If any country’s president saw Chatta they would want it for every family in the country. In order to grow our profile needs to scale up.

We are actively developing research of Chatta as it grows and building a strong case for Chatta’s impact.

The 2 year study in Hull is leading to a city wide roll out which in turn has led to projects in 4 other cities.

We have just secured a 2 year research project funding bid from a UK Charity.

Chatta is working with Sheffield University on a large scale study.

We are also working with University College London’s ‘Educate’ project to build a defensible impact evaluation.

We have recruited a Commercial director to help us attract larger funding projects and also to improve our core message.

We have a deal with UK investors lined up to help with marketing and expansion.

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3 full time

1 part time

I developed the solution from the ground. I spent 2 years working with families, kindergartens and schools and then a further year in development.

My team are built around our journey. 

We have learned how to change practices at school and in the home in a sustained and successful way.

Having learned and adapted Chatta’s delivery and interaction with families and knowing the challenges I can present Chatta to academics, politicians, school leaders, child development experts, teachers and families with no objection in return.

These people hold the keys which unlock the doors to what we do with our children. I speak on behalf of the children - who want, need and deserve the best start in life. Children need Chatta. I help adults understand how urgent that need is.

We have contracts in the UK with:

Hull City Council;

Rochdale Borough Council

Sheffield City Council

Liverpool City Council

We have no partner organisations.

Our customers are schools, kindergartens and community centres.

They pay for online training, teaching materials and software on an annual basis. We offer 5 modules: Early Years, Special Needs, Teaching new languages, Writing and Closing gaps for disadvantaged children.

Every module includes Chatta software for families of children at the school etc.

If we work at scale there are discounts for the purchaser (City authority /Government) but we sell Chatta on an annual license with renewing revenue either annually or monthly.

Parents and families do not pay but can only access Chatta if their school/city has subscribed. 

We already cover expenses. 

We generate approach $15000 a month which covers costs.

We will grow our team as we take on new contracts.

We are looking for investment capital for software development and marketing improvements.

I hope that Solve recognises the challenge we solve and the power and scalability of our approach.

I am most looking for profile and connections to help spread the impact of our innovation on a large scale.

I am very interested in the Dubai early years commendation as I believe we have a solution which can transform outcomes for millions but are still trying to gain attention to scale up our impact.

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Large tech companies eg google/apple

Large media groups eg Virgin

Governments

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We would use the prize to fund the introduction into areas of greatest need in new countries. It would be valuable to begin to use Chatta in districts of the USA to address social and educational disadvantage.