Digitally Different, in partnership with ReadBeyond, Il Narratore, and QZR, announces a new tablet to help dyslexic students attending secondary schools

Milan, 2014-10-01

Concurrently with the beginning of the school year, Digitally Different, the startup that introduced in 2012 the first tablet specifically designed for primary school children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Specific Learning Difficulties (SLD), presents today a new model for the secondary school.

The new model, named EdiTouch High School, nicely complements the other EdiTouch tablets designed for the primary school, which proved more effective than all the other solutions on the market in a rigorous trial under the control of SEN/SLD experts.

Beyond top-notch hardware (retina display, multicore processor, 4G connectivity), EdiTouch High School features new apps and digital contents specifically crafted for students attending secondary schools.

In detail, on board of EdiTouch High School tablets users will find a selection of preloaded books in EPUB 3 and MP3 format from Il Narratore, the Italian publisher specialized in audiobooks and Audio-eBooks. The list of preloaded titles includes Dante's Divine Comedy, The Betrothed by Manzoni, History of Italy, Poetry by Leopardi and Foscolo, I Malavoglia by Verga, Boccaccio's Decameron, The Prince by Machiavelli and Three Men in a Boat by Jerome. Included in the price tag there is also a voucher to buy more Audio-eBooks from Il Narratore's Web site.

An EPUB 3 Audio-eBook contains the text of the book in reflowable (customizable) format, and its synchronized reading, recorded by a voice-over professional. Introduced by Il Narratore and ReadBeyond, startup based in Padua leader in developing innovative software for the digital publishing, Audio-eBooks can be read and listened using the Menestrello app, which has been customized for and is preloaded on EdiTouch High School tablets.

"As we did with the previous models, our approach does not consist in proposing an assistive tool designed "on paper" without testing of its impact, but rather we measure the real effectiveness of EdiTouch tables, and we improve our products integrating the feedback from the users" – says Marco Iannacone, founder of Digitally Different.

This tablet also features high quality TTS voices and high readability fonts, to help the student in reading and listening activities. In particular, EdiTouch High School includes a special version of the TestMe font, customized according to the feedback of more than 200 students gathered by Digitally Different during the experimental phase which took place in the previous school year.

Starting in October 2014, EdiTouch High School might be purchased directly from the Web site http://tabletascuola.net/editouch/ .


Digitally Different Srl (http://www.digitallydifferent.it/) is a Milan-based startup which develops solutions for inclusive learning. Its most famous product is the EdiTouch tablet: the first tablet to support the learning activities of Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Specific Learning Difficulties (SLD) students. EdiTouch was subject to a rigorous trial, lasted 2 years and involving 400 students of 8 primary and secondary schools in Italy. This trial demonstrated that students using EdiTouch tablets study more efficiently and independently, and have a low stress level. The research, coordinated by "ASL Roma D" Hospitals, confirmed that EdiTouch is more effective than all the other software/hardware products on the market. More information on the trial can be found online at http://dsaetecnologie.info/sperimentazione/ .

Il Narratore Srl (http://www.ilnarratore.com/) is the biggest publisher in Italy specialized in producing and editing audiobooks. Founded to promote the narration and the listening of stories from all literary, philosophical, and religious cultures of the world, maintains the Web site http://www.ilnarratore.com/, the first and most comprehensive Italian site devoted to audiobooks. The project, devised in 1997 by Maurizio Falghera – sociologist, expert in the theory of communication, and voice-over professional –
and launched in collaboration with Cristiana Giacometti, is based on the deep conviction that listening to a narrating voice has a great linguistic, educational, and entertaining value. In fact, the oral narration is a way to access ideas, make written words vivid, and to immerse the listener in a wonderful experience of imagination and introspection.

QZR Srl (http://www.qzrstudio.com/) is a company working on communication campaigns and information design projects. It developed an online platform (http://testmefont.com) which allows experimenting with different versions of TestMe font, a font designed for SEN/SLD people by Luciano Perondi in collaboration with Leonardo Romei. The font can be freely downloaded, used, modified and improved. The version of TestMe font preloaded on EdiTouch was adapted by Roberto Arista according to the feedback gathered by Digitally Different in the previous trials with SEN/SLD students.


About ReadBeyond

ReadBeyond Srl (http://www.readbeyond.it/) develops innovative software to create, distribute, and enjoy digital contents. Italian Startup with headquarters in Padua (Padova), ReadBeyond is the applied research lab currently global leader in Audio-eBooks with synchronized audio/text in EPUB 3 format.


Contact Information

ReadBeyond
words never heard before
Padua (Padova), Italy
http://www.readbeyond.it/
info@readbeyond.it