Multilingual pediatric dictionary for children

Abstract

In 2018, the IULATERM group published a pediatric dictionary aimed at children within the Diximed project and began developing its online version, first time for Catalan and Spanish (2019) and later for Galician and English. In 2026, the University of the Basque Country (EHU) has enlarge the linguistic spectrum by producing a Basque version together with the Association of Basque Wikimedians and the Orokieta Public School (Zarautz).

he main purpose of the dictionary is to help children understand health terms.

Based on Ausubel’s Theory of Significant Learning, all the definitions have been elaborated conforming to the Do-Undo-Redo (DUR) methodology: through interviews, sheets and images, researchers have first gathered information on Primary Education students’ knowledge on the most frequent pediatric health terms; and later on, terminologists along with health professionals have elaborated all their definitions by blending medical information and children’s assumptions. Thus, misunderstandings and fears of children have been taken into account along with medical concepts in the construction of definitions.

The result of the work is the Pediatric Dictionary DIXIMED, available online for consultation. It comprises around 400 health terms (including familiar variants of technical ones) and their definitions as well as children’s drawings. The online dictionary has been enriched with read-out-loud  recordings by children, an anatomical atlas adapted to them and different games.

This dictionary is the first Basque medical dictionary adapted for children from 6 to 12 years old. The print and online versions (Catalan and Spanish) versions are used in pediatric consultations, hospitals and schools in Catalonia and are regarded by pediatricians and educators as a helpful and handy resource, among other goals, to guide conversations on issues that are difficult to deal with children.