Specific Learning Disorders have always been focused within the educational context, with a focus on methodologies to facilitate learning or task performance in order to seamlessly integrate the student within the school environment.
Especially in recent decades, various computer or methodological solutions – such as the use of special fonts, speech synthesis systems, voice dictation software, or dispensatory or compensatory teaching procedures – have been adopted to allow equal opportunities for the category of students with specific learning disorders as well.
Among the most frequent SLDs are, certainly, reading disorders, such as dyslexia, and writing disorders, such as dysgraphia and dysorthographia. They manifest themselves, especially at a young age, as difficulties in reading or writing, and, thanks to widespread digitization, we often use computer practices to facilitate learning processes in every field.
Among the benefits that Music offers in the growth path of young students certainly stand out the opportunities to enhance inclusion and creativity.
To foster such opportunities, ODLA, a keyboard with a three-dimensional Clickable Musical Staff, conceived by Renato and Alessandro Pace, a father and son who have always been involved in the world of music, and winners in 2019 of the Leonardo Prize for Musical Innovation, was born in Italy.
With a happy marriage of digital and musical practice, ODLA technology simplifies the approach to study for those with specific learning disabilities and enables them to break down the barriers of visual impairment. It is a system for transcribing music and melodies in an immediate and intuitive way, perfect for capturing anyone’s attention.
The keyboard features a raised musical staff input system that promotes the tactile experience, recalls the traditional aesthetics of music writing, and is perfect for capturing attention, making the approach to music even more interesting. It contains all the keys needed to write notes on one’s digital sheet music on the computer and for all other intuitive editing functions.
ODLA makes the student the protagonist, fosters their independence, and develops their creative and cognitive abilities. That is why it is the perfect teaching tool for enhancing the abilities of students, with or without special needs.
