When learning is painful: Sooinn Lee at TEDxBayArea

Hello today I will share my story as a mom and as a game designer and as a woman on a mission to reduce pain in learning for children with special needs I I was a game designer in Korea I can I moved to the u.s. five years ago with my husband who just started his PhD in computer science at UC Berkeley soon after my son was born he was born with multiple special needs he has difficulty in hearing eating and reading doctors also mentioned about high risk of developmental delay in the future I was lost I didn't have any idea what all of those means I just wish it if I were a medical doctor or a nurse or special educator the 10 years of career I built in game industry seemed so useless one day my son stayed at the intensive care unit for eight weeks I visited him every day one day a doctor came in and casually asked what was your profession become being a mother so I told her I was a game designer I and my husband developed videogames her answer surprised me she said wow we need that kind of talent in this field a lot so that's the moment I and my husband started to think about how to use our skill and knowledge to help children with special needs soon after might my son came home his days of startle filled with learning he have physical therapy speech therapy occupational therapy home visit early intervention early intervention program so this is how his day looked like when he was 18 months 18 months so school in the morning therapy in the afternoon and his afternoon is not a play time as other children it was homework time so he needed to practice how to walk how to eat how to speak how to play soon I found this learning all the along schedule is not uncommon in the world of children with special needs 13% of population million children in the US has special yet and ironically they spend more effort and longer time in learning when their typical peers just observe the concept naturally and finish the task quickly and go out and play some children needed to sit and stay until they finish that task researcher research says oftentimes children with special needs found they are inside of the ulnar spiral fall keep falling keep up in the school lead to them into the feeling of frustration lack of motivation and poorest self esteem some children build feeling of peerless helpless I'm sorry feeling of helpless and learning anxiety in earlier of their time learning is painful learning is painful you should know that my idea on learning is not positive from the beginning I came from Korea the most intensely competitive learning environment in the world I remember when I got a low score in math tutoring practices pressure from the parents and teachers and social comparison was really hard so I know learning is not easy for normal children sometimes when I see that disability my son has hi just wonder how will it look like he loved his learning he loved his school he loved his teachers his homework time was fun time with mommy and daddy so ideally want to preserve that I want to remove all the obstacle in learning from his life as a game designer and fortunately it was the year that iPad has come that yes that device while many parents because they can see there are total ur can access to the latest software without any problem now we have a device the technology that can make two years old with special needs can practice every day with the highest quality of the interaction I started small project helped by NCsoft and launch it engineer child development games with it helped 12 months to 36 months of all the children to play and learn the concept of early intervention practices and they can play it independently for long amount of time and feeling the success inside of the iPad it went well so it would as a number one favorite app in apps for children with special needs community and or their parents choice called medal in 2011 this app called write my name some children need to practice writing a ABC for long amount of time so users can make their custom name card and now children can trace more meaningful thing their own name their loved ones name more important messages in life like I love you mom happy birthday so it hit number one in education chart in 2012 after that project folded I started my own company locomotive laps we have a mission to empower children with special needs to be independent learners and my husband who just finished his PhD can join me so this called kid in story inspired by children with autism parents can superimpose children's image on the visual storybook with just one click now we are focusing on early elementary math some children are not ready to follow curriculum when they enter the kindergarten and just keep falling behind so we want you to make an enormous amount of practice they can just play and learn build complete concept of math and confidence in only age of life it deserves the best design over that lunch education and case conference 2013 and we are still working hard to make a comprehensive system that will help children for a long amount of time so with all those a word and from business from the market some people asked me what is this difference between normal software to your software that is designed for children with special needs well it looks the same because all children need to learn the same thing they need to learn how to read how to write how to count how to calculate it how to read a clock but if it is used by children with special needs it requires the higher quality to keep engaged for a longer amount of time every detail counts actually children get their games every day they could when they get bored when it is too confusing it is too confusing or it is too hard to solve so children just will quit press the home button and say it's not my fault it's this apps fault it's bad but if this child has a self doubt if she built many of the failure from her Lee of life she may think it is her fault she just count one more failure in her life when she quits some games even say it directly so game designers use that word a lot to increase people to keep challenging so losing five times in a row is building frustrating but it is fine because it is a game but we heard a similar word in the learning directly or indirectly a lot you succeed you failed best dropped learning is not that black or white children will learn even after they graduate from their school in this fast changing world we need to learn everyday so if we can preserve children's curiosity and interest in learning as long as possible they will become independent learner we're confident this is my son he he will become five very soon he learns new things every day and he never misses a chance to show what he knows to other people I hope I can name all the obstacle in learning from his life as a mom and as a game designer and I hope the whole word become more sensitive about pain of children with special needs they are million in the US you know that it is the same not exactly bigger number than total number of Korean children so we need more creative solution we need more innovative ideas it is not just all schools work or families work technology innovations like computers or iPad changeit life of people with special needs every day we need more programmer we need more game designer investors and entrepreneurs is needed we need you our talent in this field a lot think about it if the most brilliant people come together and try to get rid of all those pain and failure from the tree from the children who is struggling school will be changed forever the shape of homework test or textbook will not the same we can change the whole education system and the life of a family and children from the most needed point that's my three thank you

As found on Youtube