Dubai – A Brazilian company creating gamified technologies for the development of children and teenagers with autism; this is Jade Autism, one of the Brazilian startups that participated in the 2021 edition of Gitex Future Stars, the largest startup show in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia region. It was the company’s second participation in the show at the Brazil Pavilion, organized by the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil), which this year brought ten startups. In last year’s edition, in December, Jade won the Supernova award in the Best Social and Environmental Impact category.
Since then, Jade Autism has caught the attention of investors in the Gulf region and has been accelerated by Hub 71, the largest startup acceleration incubator in the UAE, based in Abu Dhabi. The company, born in 2018 in the state of Espírito Santo, now offers services in four languages, Portuguese, English, Spanish, and Arabic, and already has over 100,000 downloads in 179 countries.
ANBA was at Gitex Future Stars this week and spoke with Marcus Cunha (pictured above), the company’s marketing and operations director. According to him, in the games offered to children, their behavior is analyzed in different ways, and a prognosis report is created, both for the health and education areas, showing the main struggles of the child and making a behavioral analysis. “Based on this information, these professionals (teachers, psychologists, occupational therapists) will have more tools to transform the child’s treatment,” he said.
The application also monitors the child to find out if the indicated approach is giving results, and if not, it can adjust the method in real-time. “This completely changes the lives of these children because what we have today is a more pasteurized form of treatment, but each person has different needs, each autistic person is unique, and tailored medicine can bring a better quality of life,” said Cunha.
Jade Autism offers three technologies, therapeutic software aimed at children’s health, educational software, and Autism Tracking, which tracks the possibility of the child being autistic.
The therapeutic software is used by clinics, psychologists, and occupational therapists; the educational in schools and Autism Tracking is recommended for physicians to make a report in a single consultation. “Educational psychologists can also use it at school, which is usually where the first signs of autism are detected,” said Cunha. Schools and clinics pay a monthly software subscription.
Cunha stated 80% of the application is free and can be used by the families of these children, generally low-income or in a vulnerable situation. Internet connection is not needed to play.
The United States is Jade’s biggest market, and according to Cunha, they are the country researching the most about the spectrum. “Today, there are about 200 million autistic people in the world; one in every 105 children has autism. In the United States, one in every 68 children is on the autistic spectrum, but this more significant number is because they are the ones who test the most,” informed the director. He also stated autism is 90% genetic and 10% environmental factors.
The company’s CEO and founder, Ronaldo Cohin, is the father of an autistic boy and saw the need to create a quality app for autistic children and their parents. He is a software developer and had the collaboration of therapists and professionals specializing in the treatment of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) of the Association of Parents and Friends of the Exceptional (APAE) of Espírito Santo, a partner since the beginning of the project. So, he developed an app based on games associating colors, numbers, letters, animals, and objects. Jade‘s website also offers quality information about autism.
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
