The application designed by some students allows helping, from mobile phones, to improve the language of children with Down syndrome
We have already seen several examples where technology has been applied in favor of people with disabilities. In this case, we are going to talk about a new mobile application that favors children with Down syndrome.
Yago App is an application for mobile phones that helps improve language in children with Down syndrome. Something that seems simple, but until today no one had been able to carry it out.
A small step that once again shows that technology can help people with disabilities. The creators of this project have been engineering students from the Universidad del Valle (UVG) in Guatemala.
The operation of the Yago App is very simple: through different images, it offers assistance to the user in order to form sentences and improve their communication. The purpose of the application is, according to the creators, to serve as educational material for the speech therapy of these little ones with Down syndrome.
Why create Yago App?
Well, it has its origin in that Yago is the brother of IÃąaki Alvarado, one of the founders of the application for smartphones. When little Yago was born, his brother IÃąaki noticed that his brother had unusual behaviors. It was then that his parents told him that the little boy had Down syndrome.
Since then, IÃąaki looked for a way to help his brother. He was turning his head in search of an option until he found the creation of the Yago App.
It really all came about when at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, in one of the programming classes they sent him as a job-creating application. And IÃąaki's idea was what is now a reality under the name Yago App. The work was not only done by Yago's older brother, but also by three other colleagues.
The team that created this app that helps children with Down syndrome is made up of Adriana Duque, a student of Civil Environmental Engineering; and IÃąaki Alvarado, Kennet Colocho, and Esteban Herbruger, students of Industrial Mechanical Engineering. All of them are students at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala.
Innovation and technology for education
After the success of the application, the team that created it participated in the National Award for Innovation and Technology in Guatemala, from the National Secretariat of Science and Technology (Senacyt). The result was that they obtained the first prize in the Innovation for the education section.
The next objective of the work team is to find sponsors so that the application can reach the Google Store and the App Store. All this after a great effort in favor of disability, which once again shows us that technology can help the inclusion of this sector.
The creators define Yago App as an interactive digital pedagogical educational tool for children with Down syndrome. All this with the goal of serving as didactic material for speech therapy.