SABAY-Salita — ECAIR's AI Speech and Dyslexia Screening Pilot for Philippine DepEd Schools

The Philippines' Department of Education (DepEd), through its Education Center for AI Research (ECAIR), developed SABAY-Salita (Screening using AI-Based Assistance for Young Children – Salita) to examine children's speech recordings for signs of dyslexia and speech sound disorders (SSD).

The tool is designed as a first line of defence: it filters learners who likely need referral to a specialist from those who do not, aiming to catch disorders that often go undetected — and therefore untreated — even after preliminary teacher-led checks. ECAIR built the system jointly with DepEd's Bureau of Learning Delivery – Student Inclusion Division, alongside education experts, healthcare professionals and special-education practitioners.

DepEd began pilot testing SABAY-Salita in two schools in the National Capital Region in the second semester of 2025, as part of a wider set of AI projects DepEd publicly presented in September 2025 alongside its national push on AI transparency and integrity. ECAIR has stated it intends to expand the pilot into 2026, covering more regions, larger datasets and additional training for teachers and learners.

As of the pilot stage, no independent accuracy figures, false-positive/negative rates or downstream intervention outcomes have been published — the documented evidence covers the tool's design rationale, its inter-agency development process and its initial two-school deployment, not yet its screening performance or impact.

Read the full analysis: https://tribune.net.ph/2025/04/29/deped-to-roll-out-ai-screening-tool-for-early-disability-detection