Founded in 2009, iABCD is a Brazilian non-profit institution dedicated to the cause of dyslexia. It works in three main areas: advocacy; specialized diagnosis and follow-up; and education.
Advocacy – working for better support from society and public policies. This led to the creation of a guidebook for parents with children with dyslexia, to help them in starting associations and support groups, as well as approval of Law No. 14,254/2021.
Diagnosis and care – through a call for proposals, ABCD selected five projects (four of them linked to public universities) to build into leading centers on specific learning disorders. This allowed already existing projects to undergo a process of professionalization and promotion.
Education (teachers): the Todos Aprendem project, executed in partnership with educational organizations and municipal and state departments of education, promoted continued training to public school teachers in 2014. The following year, the course moved into an online format, expanding its reach. In addition, iABCD created the online course “Understanding Dyslexia”, aimed at persons with dyslexia, family members, and those interested in the topic.
Education (students): given the high rate of functional illiteracy in the country, estimated at 30%, the iABCD expanded the idea of directly supporting the literacy of children with learning disabilities. In 2019, it launched EduEdu, a free app with personalized activities on phonological awareness, alphabetic writing and reading system.
Pandemic: During the Covid-19 pandemic, EduEdu became an important tool during remote teaching. In addition to activities for printing, iABCD invested in digital activities and in the Socioemotional Space (in partnership with the Ame Sua Mente Institute), also in 2020. The following year, EduEdu continued to expand digital activities and created, with funding from Cisco, the Dyslexia Space, which provides a test for signs of dyslexia developed in partnership with the Federal University of Rio Grande Norte (UFRN). Also during the first two years of the pandemic, iABCD launched two books on specific learning disorders aimed at education professionals, held a cycle of online lectures during Dyslexia Week and conducted the study “Profile of Specific Learning Disorder in Brazil: Costs for families and Impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic” with Cisco’s support. Already reaping results of its actions, iABCD now broadens its vision of helping ALL children with literacy difficulties, in the search to reduce the social, economic, and health barriers imposed on learning in Brazil
