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Otsimo

Otsimo is democratizing access to special education & speech therapy through its leading game-based learning apps.

In the US alone, the CDC identifies one in 54 children as diagnosed on the autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Otsimo is democratizing access to special education & speech therapy through its leading game-based learning apps, teaching children core skills vital to cognitive and behavioral development. Its direct-to-family model makes it affordable, accessible, and easy-to-use.

HundrED 2022
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Overview

Web presence

2016

Established

450K

Children

67

Countries
Target group
All
Updated
November 2021
This app is amazing! In two weeks, my non verbal almost 3 year old has learned letters, numbers, senses, and more. He loves playing! Highly recommend!

About the innovation

Democratizing the special education

"We believe that education is a basic human right and are determined to improve our work until proper special education is available and accessible to each and every household in need."
- Zafer Elcik, Co-founder of Otsimo, Ashoka Fellow, from his TEDx Talk

Read Zafer's story:

Zafer's Brother Alper
Meeting With Autism
My brother was diagnosed with severe autism when he was 2 years old. I was 10 back then. He had been non-verbal and unable to read for a long time. I remember those days when we wanted him to speak a word.

Alper & Zafer
Discovering the potential
He was having a hard time focusing and learning. But when I bought my first smartphone, I realized my brother has a special interest in smart devices, about 10 times longer than his usual attention to his surroundings. After that, I bought him an iPad as a gift.


Lack of a proper solution
Then I noticed a problem. There weren’t suitably designed applications for children with disabilities like his. Some apps were too expensive, and the games were very difficult for him. Because of that, he could play only a few apps, some of which included ads that can be harmful to him.

Zafer & Sercan(cofounder)
...and taking the initiative
So with my close friend, we decided to build a basic color game to teach colors to my brother. In a relatively short period of time, he became able to distinguish the colors. His interest and success inspired us to build games for every child who can benefit from them, and we created Otsimo, a mobile education platform for children with disabilities.

Our Apps:

 Otsimo Special Education is uniquely democratizing access to special education internationally with a direct-to-family approach that is affordable, accessible, efficient, and, best of all, simple. Designed to empower and engage children with developmental disabilities—such as autism, down syndrome, and other cognitive learning disorders—Otsimo enables any mobile device to become a platform for learning. The app allows children with special needs to develop core cognitive, social, and speech skills through gamification.

Created under the guidance of parents, psychologists, and special education teachers; assistive games in Otsimo aim to teach fundamental education about core skills such as words, alphabet, numbers, emotions, colors, animals, and vehicles through assistive matching, drawing, choosing, ordering and sound games. For individuals or children having speech problems, Otsimo has a new and improved AAC (Augmented and Alternative Communication) module, a tool often used in speech therapy, autism communication, or special education schools. If you want your nonverbal relative/student with autism or neurodevelopmental disorders, free AAC is a proven effective learning tool to have a better speech and to communicate better.

Download for iOS | Download for Android

 Otsimo Speech Therapy is a voice-controlled and video modeling-based language and speech therapy app. Individuals with speech delays, stuttering, apraxia, non-verbal autism, articulation problems, aphasia, and late talkers can easily use the app for their language and speech development.

In each category, relevant words are spoken on the screen in a systematic way to stimulate sound production. Funny face mask rewards at the end of the sessions boost the speech therapy efforts while keeping the individual entertained. Moreover, there are plenty of stickers dedicated to each exercise activity to be collected once the session is completed. Voice outputs from the individuals are evaluated anonymously by a machine learning environment within the app to provide a better and unique speech exercise experience.

Download for iOS | Download for Android

for more check it out: https://otsimo.com/en


Impact & scalability

Impact & Scalability

The range of content within these apps is fantastic and clearly helps special education children and their families. Otsimo ensures that families can work together at the pace of their child to improve oral competencies.

HundrED Academy Reviews

The range of content within these apps is fantastic and clearly helps autistic children to feel comfortable with their learning and helps to target specific concerns that they have or particular skills that need focussing on.

The potential for impact and scalability is significant. The possibility to have an inclusive app that can be adopted by schools and families adds scalability potential.

- Academy member
Academy review results
High Impact
Low Scalability
High Impact
High Scalability
Low Impact
Low Scalability
Low Impact
High Scalability
Read more about our selection process

Media

What a joy! Otsimo Speech Therapy and Otsimo Special Education have passed the Educational Alliance Finland’s quality tests with flying colors! According to the evaluations based on Finnish Early Childhood Education and Care Standards, Otsimo proved yet again to be comprised of high educational quality aspects.We are so proud to have been certified by Education Alliance Finland as a quality resource for special education and speech therapy for our heroes.EAF provides objective feedback from professional teachers and issues certificates to only those that meet their criteria. With 93% in pedagogical approach and 3.62 in learning engagement, Otsimo has proven its positive learning impact!
We are proud to announce that Otsimo is the first Turkish company to join Leaders for Climate Action and receive its Green Pledge. We are committed to make our company more-climate friendly and continuously work to reduce our footprint. Join us in our commitment to climate action!
Otsimo is globally acknowledged yet again! Otsimo | Speech Therapy and Otsimo | Special Education have been named the Gold Award Recipients by the Mom's Choice Awards!The Mom’s Choice Awards (MCA) evaluates products and services created for children and families as well as educators, and is recognized globally. It establishes the benchmark of excellence in family-friendly media and products.We are thrilled to announce that both Otsimo | Speech Therapy and Otsimo | Special Education received a mark of distinction, proving that we offer high-quality products to children and families across the globe.It is with honor that we will carry this Honoring Excellence seal of approval we were deemed worthy of by an esteemed panel of evaluators at the Mom’s Choice Awards. We will continue to work even harder and give the best to our little heroes!
Otsimo is globally acknowledged yet again! Otsimo | Speech Therapy and Otsimo | Special Education have been named the Gold Award Recipients by the Mom's Choice Awards!The Mom’s Choice Awards (MCA) evaluates products and services created for children and families as well as educators, and is recognized globally. It establishes the benchmark of excellence in family-friendly media and products.We are thrilled to announce that both Otsimo | Speech Therapy and Otsimo | Special Education received a mark of distinction, proving that we offer high-quality products to children and families across the globe.It is with honor that we will carry this Honoring Excellence seal of approval we were deemed worthy of by an esteemed panel of evaluators at the Mom’s Choice Awards. We will continue to work even harder and give the best to our little heroes!
Otsimo Testimonials
Pioneers of Special Education in Turkey (Otsimo's Case Study)
Otsimo's Story | TEDx Talk (with English Subtitles)
Otsimo's State of Autism Acceptance Report in United States
Otsimo (@otsimoapp) • Instagram photos and videos
How brotherly love led to an app to help thousands of autistic children | Otsimo @BBCNews
Otsimo Speech Therapy!
Otsimo product is used by governmental schools in Turkey:

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