Dyslexie font is designed to help students with dyslexia better comprehend online text
A font that is intended to help people with dyslexia better distinguish between each letter by making each letter’s form unique is making its way into solutions used in U.S. schools.
The Dyslexie font is designed in a way that helps people with dyslexia cut down on reversing, flipping, and swapping letters. It does this, creator Christian Boer told eSchool News, by making each letter distinct and unique, and by adding extra space between letters.
Individual users and educators can install it for free. Once installed, the font displays on computers and the internet. Explore the different ways in which the Dyslexie font aims to make reading easier for those with dyslexia here and see a sample of the font below.
Boer, who has dyslexia, initially designed the font as a graduation project, thinking only he and his text group would use the font. But the font spread after Boer won the Smart Future Minds Award in Amsterdam in 2011. The font also won first prize at the Smart Urban Stage in Amsterdam in 2011 and was a finalist for the Fast Company Innovate Through Design Award in 2012.
Education technology companies are already beginning to incorporate the font in their products.
Dig-It! Games is using the font beginning with the release of 3 Digits, and plans to introduce it to all newly- developed games for kids. It also is going back to update previously released games, said founder Suzi Wilczynski.
“We’re always looking for ways to accommodate [different needs],” she said. “We do try very hard to make our product accessible to all different types of learners.”
When the Dig-It! team first became aware of the Dyslexie font, Wilczynski said she knew the team needed to learn how to incorporate it.
“We include a lot of text in our games, and we do it on purpose–Common Core has pushed more technical reading, more nonfiction, which is exactly what we do in our games. If I can easily incorporate a way for kids who have dyslexia to read the content, of course I’m going to do that in a heartbeat.”
Adding the font is not a challenge, Wilczynski said, noting that it only took a few hours, or at most, a couple days to make adjustments.
“It’s such a simple change that can make such a huge difference in the life of a child with dyslexia,” she said.
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