Spyzzz - Dyslexia Reading Game by Kelly McClymer

About this project

The Project: Our project, code-name Spyzzz, is a reading game app for the iPhone, iPodTouch and iPad that strengthens vowel recognition, a core reading skill. There's a simple idea behind the reading interventions that help people with dyslexia learn to read fluently and well -- break the skills down to the component level, teach the skill, and then practice, practice, practice. We aim to take that idea and add in fun. It's always more enjoyable to practice when the practice is fun, right?

The Geniuses Behind the Madness: Kelly McClymer is a published writer, most recently of young adult novels. A voracious reader since childhood, she discovered the frustrations experienced by those who have the specific learning disability known as dyslexia when her youngest son couldn't seem to learn to read, despite remedial interventions like Chapter 1 and Reading Recovery. He finally found the program that worked for him (Orton-Gillingham) and Kelly was so grateful that she trained to be a tutor in the same program. She has been tutoring children with dyslexia for eight years and is a proponent of Multi-Sensory Structured Learning Programs. A.J. McClymer has never met a video game he couldn't beat. Nearing completion of his computer science degree, he dreams of one day creating the perfect (nearly unbeatable) video game.

The Need: Because many children are not formally diagnosed with a Specific Learning Disability (i.e. dyslexia) until third grade, we've aimed Spyzzz to be attractive to older kids who may have outgrown the reading games that target preschoolers. Gameplay is intended to be as deceptively simple as Tetris and Zuma and other puzzle games, while emphasizing core reading skill practice for vowel recognition.

Where We Are: The basic game is designed and coded and the first level is playable on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. We only need a few more things before we are ready to test with people with dyslexia and get feedback that will help us make the game so much fun that the core skill building practice does not feel like a chore.

Kickstarter Funding will allow us to:

hire an artist to finish up artwork for additional levels and for the spies and the success level screens
commission a logo design for the game
get feedback from test players to help us refine gameplay and skillbuilding
create an Android version
create a series of short "tips and tricks" webcasts (approx. 5 min. each) aimed at parents of kids with dyslexia; each webcast would discuss a core reading skill and specifically how to support skill building for that core skill
get started on the next game in the lineup

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This project reached the deadline without achieving its funding goal on January 5.

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We have a little internal disagreement about the name of the game. At the moment, it is Spyzzz. One of us likes it. One of us thinks a dyslexia game should have a name that's spelled according to the rules. If you donate a dollar, you can suggest a better name. If your name is selected, you get a copy of the game. NOTE: if multiple people suggest the winning name change, winner of free game will be chosen in a random drawing.