New functionality for Achieving for Children's "Have My Say" tool

Achieving for Children (AfC) are a not-for-profit organisation providing children and education services to the London Borough of Richmond, Royal Borough of Kingston and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. We previously wrote about their Have My Say survey tool, and how well that has been received by the Achieving for Children team and their children.

Earlier this year we added to the functionality and reach of the tool, making it more accessible and flexible for both the AfC team and their children. With a diverse range of ages, abilities and cultures, we recognised the need for an even more accessible tool, to reach more children and get their important feedback.

The first change we implemented was an additional response mechanism, adding a multiple-choice question type. Previously the questions commanded a free text or select-one-of-many response. The AfC team found that their children often wanted to give more feedback and respond with a wider view - multiple choice enables that and gives the team more scope for gathering a wider range of feedback.

The second change was a special font which facilitates users with Dyslexia. OpenDyslexic has been designed to mitigate some common symptoms of dyslexia. A simple toggle switch in the tool changes all of the text into that typeface, giving children with Dyslexia more independence when using Have My Say.

Lastly, we have facilitated multi-language. Where English was not the first language for a child, they would need close support to enable feedback and information to be shared with the AfC team. Now, Have My Say integrates an additional 19 languages - and we plan to include more as and when they become available.

Emails and messages to children from Have My Say can be sent in their native reading language as well as English (in case an English-speaking carer is helping them), and the tool itself enables the user to select their preferred language for completing their surveys. This is particularly effective on mobile and tablet devices, as those users can easily pre-select their native keyboards for entering responses in their own language. This enables more independence for those children and helps the AfC Team to manage the logistics of sending surveys and analysing the results. 

Administrators of Have My Say can set a preferred language for the child; and when survey results are submitted, they are displayed in both the native language and English, to facilitate easier analysis and understanding.