Durriya Shamsi in conversation with Mohammad Waqas, the CEO of WonderTree and Syeda Rida Asad, a clinical/senior psychologist at WonderTree
WonderTree represents the resplendent future of Pakistan: a future we hope where differently abled people are given opportunities, acceptance and voices. A future where divergence is not considered a transgression but an opportunity to learn from and work with. A future of empathy, where we, as a progressive nation, coalesce around the idea that even though we may have different capabilities and neurodiversity, nobody amongst us is less and everyone deserves our respect.
What is WonderTree?
We are a technology company which designs and develops augmented reality therapeutic games for individuals with special needs at very affordable prices. The technology is simple: All that is needed is a sensor, a TV and a laptop. The sensor detects the individual’s movements and sends it back to the laptop, whereby it works with the software and displays the action on the TV screen. WonderTree games develop gross motor skills, as well as attention and hand-eye coordination abilities. These games also work on developing upper and lower body strength. The next frontier for our company is the development of games with a focus on cognitive skills with emphasis on recall, recognition and rudimentary educational skills. The games can cater to multiple language competencies. Right now, we are focused on Urdu and English but can incorporate other languages. We are based in Karachi and opening centres in Punjab.
Where did the idea behind WonderTree come from?
WonderTree was launched when CTO Mohammed Usman had an epiphany after noticing his brother, a differently abled person, enjoying video games. He floated the idea of developing video games for people with different abilities to me, his friend and neighbour. We laid the foundation for the start-up in 2015. In 4 years, we have progressed from a small start-up to an award-winning company which is providing therapeutic help to so many in Pakistan and beyond.
Tell us a little about some of the awards and accolades that you have received:
There are many! From an award from Hatch Co Lab in 2019 which empowers entrepreneurs to build Impact Ventures to solve humanity’s grand challenges and drive sustainable change to being one of 4 winners (from 135) in Pakistan’s Shell Top Ten Innovators in 2017 to being 3rd place out of 1072 global start-ups in a competition held at Stanford University as a part of Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2016. Find out more at our website.
What is the biggest challenge that you face?
According to one conservative estimate, there are approximately 1 million children with special needs in Pakistan 
alone and a total of 330 special schools across the country. There is only 1 psychologist and therapist for every 250,000 Pakistanis. Currently special education and therapy are either not accessible or very costly due to the limited number of therapists and special educators. This scenario demands an affordable, efficient, measurable and accessible solution for education and therapy for children with special needs.
Thus, our solution is to use the technology of Augmented Reality to gamify special education, cognitive development activities and therapy exercises for children with special needs. These games include reports through which the progress of every child can be monitored. These games also have adjustable settings which allow the game to be adjusted to every child playing the game. This way children with various or multiple abilities can play the game and improve on their own pace.
Who have you collaborated with to design and implement these games:
The games have been designed with close feedback from psychologists, clinical therapists, special educators and parents.
What impact has WonderTree already had on Pakistani communities?
WonderTree is currently working in 48 schools and 18 hospitals across multiple cities in Pakistan. We are having an impact on the lives of 4500+ children with special needs. According to therapists and teachers using WonderTree they have seen 40 to 60 per cent improvement in child’s cognitive or motor skills in various aspects, using WonderTree in a period of 6 months. Furthermore, the child is always motivated a happy after playing the games. We have recently started work in our countries like Kazakhstan where the game is helping 30 children in Astana. The primary beneficiaries of WonderTree are children with special needs. So far it is being run in special schools and hospitals, but we are about to open it for parents as well.
What is in store for the future?
Since our solution is technology based it can be expanded quickly. We are already talking to government and NGOs to expand it throughout Pakistan. And simultaneously, we are talking to partners and mentors about expanding it outside Pakistan as well. The aim is to solve the challenge globally.
We are also working with machine learning to make our games more intelligent and effective and exploring development of a mobile version of our games that can run on android or IOS which will make WonderTree even more accessible and affordable. We are developing an App store where our technology can be used by third party developers to develop more games and apps for children with special needs. The software and method that we have developed can be very effective with some stages of Early Childhood Development, physiotherapy and physical rehabilitation.
