Dyslexia, what the new studies on the use of spacing say

October 8 is the world dyslexia day. In recent years, the diagnoses of cases of dyslexia, dysorthography, dysgraphia and dyscalculia, that is the disorders recognized by Italian law, have increased considerably. The data published by the Ministry of Education, as of 2017-2018, reveal that there are 276,109 pupils in Italian schools with SLD and they went from 0.7% in the 2010-2011 school year to 3.2% of the total number of pupils in the latest available survey.

The percentage of pupils with SLD out of the total of pupils in the different levels of school is very different if we pass from primary data to subsequent cycles:

• 2% in primary school (0.8% in the 2010-2011 school year)
• 5.6% in lower secondary school (they were 1.6% in 2010-2011)
• 4.7% in upper secondary school (from 0.6% in 2010-2011)

Research in Developmental Disabilities

But there is a new study that brings to light theimportance of letter spacing and the possibility of increasing the reading speed. This was underlined by a study conducted by the team of experts coordinated by Steven Stagg of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), the results of which were published in the journal Research in Developmental Disabilities. It is the first study to investigate how these adaptations can help reduce specific reading errors.

On average, the dyslexic group showed a 13% increase in reading speed, while the comparison group of non-dyslexic children showed a 5% increase in reading speed.

The study involved 59 children aged 11-15, 32 of whom had a report of dyslexia, with 27 non-dyslexic children forming a control group. Participants were recruited from six schools in Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and London.

Participants read four texts with standard or extra-large letter spacing, with and without colored overlay. The children were instructed to read the text aloud during the recording. The recording was used to measure the number of mistakes made, in particular lost words, added words, misspelled words and pronunciation, as well as the participants’ reading time. In addition to improving reading speed for both children with dyslexia and the non-dyslexic group, the increased letter spacing also resulted in a significant reduction in the number of words lost by children with dyslexia. However, the study found that the colored overlays did not have a significant impact on reading speed or error reduction for either group of children.

Here then, in the gallery, some proposals for reading. Some are highly readable books, that is, they adopt particular characteristics aimed at an easier reading experience, from the elimination of typographical barriers to the comprehensibility of the story. The use of highly readable fonts, line spacing, space between letters in the same words, unjustified text, spacing between paragraphs, the use of a cream-colored paper that does not tire the eyes, are the most typographical characteristics. used by specialized publishing houses.