Dyslexia is surprisingly hard to define. According to the British Dyslexia Association;
“Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty which primarily affects reading and writing skills. However, it does not only affect these skills. Dyslexia is actually about information processing. Dyslexic people may have difficulty processing and remembering information they see and hear, which can affect learning and the acquisition of literacy skills. Dyslexia can also impact other areas such as organisational skills.”
Note what you didn’t see there – nowhere does it say that dyslexia is a vision problem.
Nonetheless, there have been countless vision-based approaches to treatment, including the development of a special dyslexia font (or 6!).
After all, if you think dyslexia is a vision problem that makes it hard to recognise letters, it makes sense to develop typography for dyslexia. If you can make the letters more distinctive, then surely it’s easier for kids to read, right?
Well, not necessarily…
Dyslexia and font choices
Over the years, several fonts have been deliberately created for dyslexic readers. Fonts for dyslexia include:
- Dyslexie
- Opendyslexic
- Gill Dyslexic
- Read Regular
- Lexia Readable
- Sylexiad.
These are all slightly different but the basic premise of a dyslexic font is to use:
- Thicker lines at the bottom of a letter
- Equal space between each letter
- No italics
- Sans serif
- Longer lines to differentiate letters like b, d and p.
Do dyslexia fonts work?
It would be lovely if they did, wouldn’t it? All you’d have to do is choose the right font and your child’s reading difficulties would disappear. It’d be so easy.
And that longing for a simple solution is perhaps why dyslexic fonts have become so popular. Maybe they do help some people. But the research tells us that, for most people with dyslexia, a specific dyslexic font doesn’t really make much difference.
A 2017 research study examined whether font options made a difference to the reading performance of children with and without dyslexia. The researchers compared kids’ reading speed and accuracy when using Dyslexie, Arial and Times New Roman then asked them which font they preferred.
The researchers report that, “Children with dyslexia do not read better when text is printed in the font Dyslexie than when text is printed in Arial or Times New Roman.” In other words, a dyslexia font did not improve reading performance.
The kids didn’t particularly like the font either. Nearly 40% of them preferred Arial while nearly 30% preferred Times New Roman. Only about 12% chose Dyslexie.
Dyslexia friendly fonts
It is true that some fonts are easier to read – but that’s true for all of us, not only for children with dyslexia.
If you look on your computer now and review your font options, you’ll see that some fonts involve complicated flourishes or squash the letters closely together.
One Spanish study from 2013 found that fonts such as Helvetica, Courier, Arial and Verdana were easiest for people with dyslexia to read. Those fonts are well-known because many non-dyslexics prefer them too. They’re just good fonts!
If you’re trying to choose a good font for kids with dyslexia, the British Dyslexia Foundation simply recommends choosing a simple, uncrowded font in at least 12-14 point font size. Their suggestions include Arial, Comic Sans, Verdana, Tahoma, Century Gothic, Trebuchet, Calibri and Open Sans.
Why don’t dyslexia fonts work?
Probably because dyslexia is not ultimately a vision problem. It’s a language-based processing difference.
A legible font certainly helps (don’t choose Lobster!). But typography is one aspect of dyslexia. Once the words have been seen, the information has to be processed and decoded so the meaning can be understood. The International Dyslexia Association recommends teaching reading using a ‘multi-sensory, structured language approach’ that ‘involves several senses (hearing, seeing, touching) at the same time’.
Dyslexia treatment at Neurofit
At Neurofit Brain Centre, we believe that brain activity makes an active difference.
We use treatments such as the interactive metronome and brain-based video games to stimulate and strengthen the left side of the brain and to improve connections between different parts of the brain. Our methods rely on multisensory integration, including rhythm-based interventions shown to aid language processing.
If you’d like to try brain-based therapies, please book an assessment with Neurofit Brain Centre.
Disclaimer
All information is general and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Neurofit Brain Centre can consult with you to confirm if a particular treatment approach is right for you.
References
- British Dyslexia Association, About dyslexia, https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/dyslexia/about-dyslexia/what-is-dyslexia, [Accessed 28 August 2024]
- Annals of Dyslexia,Dyslexie font does not benefit reading in children with or without dyslexia, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11881-017-0154-6#Sec2, [Accessed 28 August 2024]
- British Dyslexia Association, Creating a dyslexia-friendly workplace, https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/advice/employers/creating-a-dyslexia-friendly-workplace/dyslexia-friendly-style-guide#, [Accessed 28 August 2024]
- Edutopia, Do dyslexic fonts actually work? https://www.edutopia.org/article/do-dyslexia-fonts-actually-work/, [Accessed 28 August 2024]
- International Dyslexia Association, Dyslexia basics, https://dyslexiaida.org/dyslexia-basics/, [Accessed 28 August 2024]
- Colling LJ, Noble HL, Goswami U. Neural Entrainment and Sensorimotor Synchronization to the Beat in Children with Developmental Dyslexia: An EEG Study. Front Neurosci. 2017 Jul 12;11:360. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2017.00360. PMID: 28747870; PMCID: PMC5506338. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28747870/, [Accessed 28 August 2024]
