Coffre à histoires: a Custom Educational Platform for Deaf Children
building an inclusive digital tool for Fondation A Capella

Context: Coffre à histoires and Fondation A Capella

Fondation A Capella has worked for many years towards the social, academic and professional integration of deaf and hard-of-hearing people in French-speaking Switzerland, primarily through Cued Speech (LPC — langue parlée complétée).

In 2011, the Coffre à histoires project was born from a joint initiative between the Cantonal Institute for Special Education (ECPS), the Swiss Federation of the Deaf (FSS) and Fondation A Capella, with support from the Federal Bureau for the Equality of People with Disabilities (BFEH).

The target audience: children aged 2 to 6 with deafness or hearing impairment attending mainstream early childhood facilities, and 1st–2nd grade HarmoS students in mainstream classes. The goal is to support these children while including their hearing peers in the same activities.

The challenge: tooling a growing educational programme

Over the years, Coffre à histoires has built a growing library of children's books carefully selected by specialists in children's literature and deafness. Each book is accompanied by word cards broken down into syllables (for Cued Speech) or illustrated with sign images (for LSF), along with educational activities aligned with the Plan d'études romand (PER — the curriculum framework for French-speaking Switzerland).

Managing this material manually — creating cards, linking them to books, generating printable resources — could no longer keep up with the project's growth. Fondation A Capella needed a custom digital tool to:

• !Centralise the management of words, books and activities in a single interface.
• !Support both modalities — Cued Speech and Sign Language — with their respective visual requirements.
• !Automatically generate printable word cards in PDF format.
• !Be usable by educational staff with varying levels of technical skill.
• !Manage access levels and roles across administrators, editors and regular users.

The solution: a custom educational CMS

d-side solutions designed and built a content management platform entirely dedicated to the Coffre à histoires workflow. Built with Laravel 10, it provides a modern, intuitive interface enabling the Foundation's team to manage all their educational materials independently.

Key design decisions

• ✓Colour-coded word types — Each word is categorised (adjective, feminine, masculine, verb) and assigned a distinctive background colour to support visual learning.
• ✓Dual LPC / LSF modality — A single word can be accompanied by syllable images (Cued Speech) and/or sign images (LSF), depending on the use case.
• ✓Bilingual interface — The application is available in French and English to accommodate different usage contexts.
• ✓Granular access control — Three access levels (Super Admin, Admin, User) separate technical administration from content management.

Key features

Word management

At the heart of the platform is the word management system. Each word is enriched with multiple attributes: grammatical type, level, determiner, syllable breakdown, illustration and LSF images. The colour-coding system automatically assigns a visual background based on word type:

Adjective  (a) → Green
Feminine   (f) → Yellow
Masculine  (m) → Brown
Verb       (v) → Blue

Book and activity management

Books are organised by levels and linked to educational activities. Each activity can contain attached PDF files (up to 200 MB per file), allowing educators to share supplementary materials directly through the platform.

Automated PDF word card generation

One of the most anticipated features: automated word card generation in PDF format (A5 landscape). Each card includes the word, its determiner, the language indicator (LPC or LSF), syllable or sign images, the illustration and the colour-coded background matching the grammatical type.

User and role management

The three-tier permission system enables a clear separation of responsibilities:

• ✓Super Admin — Full access, user and role management.
• ✓Admin — Content management (words, books, activities) without access to system settings.
• ✓User — Content viewing and PDF card generation.

Technical architecture

Notable technical choices

Laravel was chosen for its robustness, rich ecosystem and the rapid development it enables. The Tailwind CSS + Alpine.js pairing delivers a responsive interface without the complexity of a heavy JavaScript framework — a sensible choice for a business tool aimed at non-technical users.

PDF generation via DomPDF produces word cards faithful to the intended design, with automatic handling of colours, images and layout in A5 landscape format. Custom Artisan commands were developed for automated database backups and user role management.

Impact: supporting inclusion through digital tools

The platform developed by d-side solutions fits squarely within Fondation A Capella's mission and the educational objectives of the Coffre à histoires programme:

• ✓Facilitate integration of deaf children in mainstream settings by providing educators with structured, ready-to-use materials.
• ✓Stimulate language development in deaf and hearing children through shared stories and adapted LPC/LSF resources.
• ✓Foster tolerance between deaf and hearing children by giving them common tools for understanding.
• ✓Support educational staff by simplifying the preparation of weekly sessions and the production of teaching materials.
• ✓Ensure PER alignment — all produced materials remain consistent with the Plan d'études romand curriculum framework.