A New Font for Readers with Dyslexia

I am always excited when I see things that help students who learn differently. Having raised children with diagnosed ADHD and dysgraphia and watching them struggle to navigate through educational hurdles, this piece of news makes me smile.

Christian Boer, a graphic designer in the Netherlands, has developed a special font that aids dyslexic individuals in their reading. It is called “Dyslexie,” and it is designed to enable dyslexics like Boer more easily identify letters.

You see, those with dyslexia often get similar letters confused. Dyslexia is a processing issue, not a problem with intelligence. Please don’t confuse processing issues with how smart someone is!

Letters that are mirrored, such as “b” and “d” are often interchanged in the brain when a person with dyslexia is reading. Letters that can be flipped, like “p” and “d” are also an issue. What Boer did was carefully design each letter so that it is unique from the others. He made all the letters slightly thicker at their bases so they appear heavier and weighted down. He also slightly angled others so that they look more distinct. The capital letters in this font are in bold, as well as all punctuation.

All of these details produce a font that is much easier to read.

And the best part? This font is free for home use at dyslexiefont.com.

If you have a reluctant reader or one who struggles, why not try a few sentences using this font? It may be just the thing to give your student a boost in their learning.

And don’t give up. Keep trying new ways to gently encourage reading. If your student is struggling, require reading only during actual reading lessons, but maybe read aloud other subjects’ assignments. Allow your children to listen to books on tape, too. Continue to encourage a love of learning while slowly building on reading skills as your child matures. It will happen.

And, perhaps, this new font will play a helpful part!