[URL]http://news.yahoo.com/wider-letter-spacing-helps-dyslexics-read-study-193022621.html[/URL]
[QUOTE]European researchers said Monday that offering reading materials with wider spacing between the letters can help dyslexic childrenread faster and better.
In a sample of dyslexic children age eight to 14, extra-wide letter spacing doubled accuracy and increased reading speed by more than 20 percent,
according to the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Scientists believe the approach worked because people with dyslexia are more affected than normal readers by a phenomenon known as "crowding,"
which makes a letter harder to identify when it is close to other letters.
"Our findings offer a practical way to ameliorate dyslexics' reading achievement without any training," said the study led by Marco Zorzi of the
department of general psychology at Italy's University of Padova.
Researchers studied 54 Italian and 40 French dyslexic children, giving them a text made up of 24 short sentences to read in either standard or
expanded letter spacing.
In the standard text, the words were printed in Times-Roman font with a 14 point print size (1 point = 0.353 mm in typesetting standards).
In the expanded text, the space between letter was increased by 2.5 points, so the "space between i and l in the Italian word il (the) was 2.7 pt in
normal text vs. 5.2 pt in spaced text," said the study.
The space between lines of text was also increased to show a proportional amount of white space on the page.
The children were given either French or Italian texts according to their native language, and the regular and extra-space sessions were scheduled
two weeks apart to minimize the effect that memorization might have on reading speed.
Not only did dyslexic children read faster, but the greatest benefits were observed in children who had the most problem identifying letters.
Children without reading challenges showed no increase in reading speed when given materials in which letters were more widely spaced, suggesting
that the benefit was unique to children with dyslexia.
"Practitioners only know too well that getting dyslexic children to read more is a key component in achieving long-lasting improvements in reading
skills," said the study.
"Extra large letter spacing, which could even be optimized adaptively on an individual basis, can certainly contribute to achieving this goal."
Dyslexia is a developmental disorder that is linked to a problem in the part of the brain that interprets language, and can run in families. Extra tutoring
and an intense focus on reading are the most frequently advocated treatments.
The disorder, which has no cure, is estimated to affect about 15 percent of Americans.
Co-authors on the study came from Aix-Marseille University and France's Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.
The research was funded by grants from the Institute for Maternal and Child Health in Italy, the European Research Council Grant and the University
of Padova.
[/QUOTE]
The fuckup in the title was meant to be heter. [HR][/HR][HR][/HR]
[SUB][SUP]Sorry, I am a terrible person.[/SUP][/SUB]
You spelled "dyslexia" wrong.
snip
That actually makes sense.
d o t h e y ?
edit: arse, facepunch autocorrects stupidly huge spacing
Imagine some really obnoxiously huge spacing in between those letters instead.
I can confirm this.
It also explains why comic sans is very readable for people with dyslexia. (Wide spacing and very unique letter shapes)
[QUOTE=Lambeth;36203529]d o t h e y ?
edit: arse, facepunch autocorrects stupidly huge spacing
Imagine some really obnoxiously huge spacing in between those letters instead.[/QUOTE]
Yes, actually.
Courier New
[QUOTE=valkery;36203412]
The fuckup in the title was meant to be heter. [HR][/HR][HR][/HR]
[SUB][SUP]Sorry, I am a terrible person.[/SUP][/SUB][/QUOTE]
Yeah because us dyslexics cannot spell its very funny
[QUOTE=Vasili;36203875]Yeah because us dyslexics cannot spell its very funny[/QUOTE]
Some can't. My sister-in-law has dyslexia and can't type worth shit. Not only are words misspelled, but the words are in the wrong order and everything else.
It sort of makes me frustrated to see someone struggle so much with text when they are fairly eloquent with speech.
dyslexics can learn to spell, we just learn to spell a differently to traditional approaches.
h i g h f i v e
Does that mean the dyslexics of the world can't untie anymore? I guess life just gave them melons.
[QUOTE=da bloop;36203804]Courier New[/QUOTE]
That would kinda explain why that's my favourite font.
[QUOTE=da bloop;36203804]Courier New[/QUOTE]
Jesus, the spacing on courier new. It's like Switzerland is between each letter.
Good thing CSS can do that own it's own.
I thought this was obvious. Just like increasing the font size helps.
Would be nice to have converters or something.
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