Font for Dyslexic Readers now Available

For Dyslexics, A Font And A Dictionary That Are Meant To Help

November 11, 201412:16 PM ET

Bill Chappell

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The Dyslexie font uses slight changes between similar letters to help keep dyslexic readers from confusing them. Dyslexie hide caption

itoggle caption Dyslexie

The Dyslexie font uses slight changes between similar letters to help keep dyslexic readers from confusing them.

Dyslexie

A designer who has dyslexia has created a font to help dyslexic readers navigate text, designing letters in a way that avoids confusion and adds clarity. And in England, two researchers are compiling a dictionary that favors meaning over alphabetical order.

Roughly 10 percent of the world's population is dyslexic. And as NPR's Nancy Shute reported in 2012, "People with dyslexia are often bright and verbal, but have trouble with the written word."

The people behind two new projects hope they can help change that.

Dutch designer Christian Boer's Dyslexie font has been around for a while, but it's been getting new attention thanks to being featured in the Istanbul Design Biennial.

The font defaults to a dark blue color, which Boer's website says "is more pleasant to read for dyslexics."

"When they're reading, people with dyslexia often unconsciously switch, rotate and mirror letters in their minds," Boer tells British design magazine Dezeen. "Traditional typefaces make this worse, because they base some letter designs on others, inadvertently creating 'twin letters' for people with dyslexia."

To avoid confusion, Boer designed letters that have a heavier bottom half, making it less likely that a reader might flip them. He also made some openings larger, and slightly tilted some letters that closely resemble others — such as a "b" and a "d."

In that sense, Boer's font uses a similar approach to another font developed with dyslexics in mind. OpenDyslexic (click here to get font to download) is a free, open-sourced font that's also designed to help prevent confusion, as NPR reported last year.

Graphic designer Christian Boer's Dyslexie font is being featured at the Istanbul Design Biennial. Dyslexie hide caption

itoggle caption Dyslexie

Graphic designer Christian Boer's Dyslexie font is being featured at the Istanbul Design Biennial.

Dyslexie

Dyslexie also incorporates more space between letters and words, to help prevent a dyslexic reader from seeing a confused jumble of text.

Boer's font works with both Apple and Microsoft-based systems; it can also be added to a Web browser as an extension. The font is free for home users and available for a fee to schools and businesses.

It's not clear what font education researchers Neville and Daryl Brown will use for their new dictionary, which will cater to dyslexic readers' needs. The father-and-son team say the project builds on decades of research — and the understanding that the standard dictionary isn't very helpful for dyslexics.

Instead of using a strict alphabetical order, words in their dictionary will be organized according to their meanings, as the pair explained in a recent article in British newspaper the Litchfield Mercury.

"We teach literacy using an entirely different method to phonics, instead using the 'morphological approach,' which was developed by my father over 30 years ago," Daryl Brown says.

So far, they've organized nearly 50,000 words, sorting them by some 3,700 morphemes.

"For another example, the traditional dictionary places the words 'signature,' 'resign' and 'assignation' many pages apart," the Mercury reports. "But they are connected by the common morpheme 'sign,' pronounced differently across the three words."

The two researchers recently told BBC London that they've been working on the dictionary since 1982, when their research school, Maple Hayes Hall, was founded. They hope to finish the book by the end of 2015.

Writers Block & Getting Started On Writing Assignments

I think we have all had writer's block. But some students constantly get stumped on  how to break down a writing assignment and organizing their thoughts. This idea from Stowell Learning Center can provide some great ideas. 

How often does a short writing assignment turn into hours or days of sitting in front of a blank piece of paper?

 

Please know that you, and your child, are not alone! Professional writers sometimes have this very same thing happen to them.

 

Below you'll find a three-step process for getting ANY writing assignment started. Making this a part of every writing assignment will make ALL writing easier.

 

 

Can't Think of Anything to Write About

"I can't think of anything to write about!" whines Casey as he sits staring off into space hoping for inspiration to hit. And the 20-minute writing assignment just became an hour.

Even though teachers usually give some kind of a prompt or topic for students to write about, the minutes tick away for many students as they are "blank" about what to write.

Here are a couple of very simple strategies that will help:

1. It is easier to answer a question than to just write from scratch, so turn the topic into a question. For example:

 

 

 

 

2. Visualize the answer to the question you asked. List three to five things that you pictured. These become your details. For example:

 

 

3. Use words from the question to write your topic sentence. For example:

 

 

Many students find they have lots to say once they get started with writing. It's that initial getting started that's so challenging. Using these three steps will give students a structure to "jump start" the process.

Struggling with Math Problems?

Listening to my students, math is not one of their favorite subjects and they start quoting me the word problems and how silly the questions they are.  I saw this idea from Stowell Learning Center and thought it would help those out there struggling with word problem.
 
Do you and your child dread math word problems?

Many parents report that even if their child can do the rest of the math homework, the word problems often pose a huge "hurdle" that neither parent nor student want to "leap over."

There are two main causes for this fear:

1. The child has a reading problem and word problems require reading,
   
   OR
   
   
2. The child (and parent) is trying to solve the problem by picking out the numbers or key words without really understanding what the problem is about.

Word problems are the application of math; the part that makes math something real and relevant.

They used to be called story problems and that's how we have to think of them - as a story. You don't just pick out the pieces you want from a story. If you do that, the story won't make sense.

The best way to really understand a story is to visualize it, turning it into a movie in your head.

 

 

Word Problem Strategy

• Read and visualize the story. (Do one sentence at a time if necessary).
  
  
• Have your child talk about what he/she pictured. Who was in it? What were they doing? What were they trying to find out?
  
  
• Use the chart below to think through the information. Have your child say what he's thinking as he goes. This helps him reason through the information and develop the language that he eventually internalizes and uses on his own whenever doing word problems.

 

Here is a simple problem as an example, but this strategy works with word problems of almost any level and helps students understand what they doing.

Problem: Sara and Kaitlyn were on the same swim team. On Friday morning, Sara swam 19 laps and Kaitlyn swam 23 laps. How many more laps did Kaitlin swim than Sara?

Visualize and verbalize (make a mental movie of) the story:

"I picture two girls in a swimming pool swimming laps. They both swam a lot of laps, but Sara got out after 19 laps and Kaitlin kept going until she completed 23 laps. I have to figure out how many laps Kaitlin did after Sara got out of the pool.

(To solve this, you might have to guide your child in recognizing that until Sara got out of the pool, the two girls swam the same number of laps. The difference is the number of laps Kaitlin swam once Sara got out. Whenever you are finding the difference, you will subtract the smaller number from the larger number).

 

Have your child verbalize or write the full answer to the problem:

"Kaitlin swam 4 more laps than Sara."

*As with many of our tips, this takes some time at first, but the more you do it, the more independent and confident your child will get with word problems.

Audiobooks May Help Your Struggling Reader

Since having kids, I've become a fan of audiobooks. Staying awake to pick-up a book and get past a page is difficult, but listening to audiobooks has been a life saver. I can actually keep up on books in my ever growing wishlist. I can also see the benefit for students to be read to as long as they follow along. I can remember my father reading to me at night, such classics as "Treasure Island" and "The Hobbit." I like the advice given here by Stowell Learning Center for students.

 

Audiobooks May Help Your Struggling Reader Keep up with the Class and Be More Independent

 

Does your child dread or avoid reading textbooks because the pages seem too dense, the chapters too long, or words too hard? Having textbooks on audio allows students to spend less time struggling with homework, and more time understanding and absorbing the material.

It also frees you up from having to do the reading for your struggling reader and helps your child be more independent.

Here are two resources available to schools and parents for a nominal yearly fee (may be free to schools) that will allow students with learning disabilities to access their textbooks on audio

Learning Ally: www.learningally.org
Bookshare: www.bookshare.org

Here's HOW to get the most out of audiobooks:

 

Have your child or teen read along in their textbook as they listen. Using their finger under the line of text may help them to keep their place and allows them to touch, see, and hear the words simultaneously.

This action helps students notice vocabulary, see how words look while accurately hearing them read, and increases attention and comprehension.

Research reported by Learning Ally states that students show the following improvement with the use of audiobooks:

 

Improved reading comprehension: 76%
Increased interest in reading: 76%
Improved reading accuracy: 52%
Increased self-confidence: 61%
Increased motivation: 67%

 

Audiobooks are a valuable resource and support for struggling readers.

It is important to recognize, however, that these resources do not correct the reading problem.

Most reading and spelling problems can be permanently corrected by identifying and developing the weak, underlying learning skills that are getting in the way of the student learning comfortably and efficiently.

Food Play for A Picky Eater

We have a picky eater, and even though we went through OT for 6 sessions, our progress was still slow. After some time, I took a day off work to attend a picky-eaters class through OT and decided to give more effort to the eating habits of our youngest. However, the method has helped all 3 (ages 2, 4, and 6) of our boys. So I thought I post some of the games we played while eating dinner.

We always eat dinner together and had already worked on keeping the kids at the table for 15-20 minutes with a timer. So the next step was to deal with the actual food presented. Some simple rules: everyone participates, including the adults. The kids don't have to eat everything, it's just getting the kids to touch and play with the food so they get comfortable with the tactile sensations.

Day 1
I served chicken, rice, corn and apples. We all took a smell and described one thing we all could smell. Then we took turns listing the colors and shapes. This will be the first thing we do every meal before I ask them to do a game.

Day 2
I served mashed potatoes, hot dogs, mixed veggies and banana slices. I brought out the mini chocolate chips, gave everyone a few pieces of chocolate chips. They first were asked to make a face with the chocolate chips on a banana slice, or all of them. After comparing faces, I asked them to make a banana sandwich and eat them. The two year old did not eat the bananas, but he had fun making the face.

Day 3
We had mac n cheese, rice, grapes, and corn. I had a raspberry in the corn and the kids had to find the raspberry. Again, my two year old didn't eat the raspberry but he got his hands "dirty" by going through the corn. I have already noticed he is willing to touch more of this food. So of course, I am happy.

Day 4
We made spinach tortellini soup with rice and oranges and the boys had to spoon out as much as they could in 10 seconds. Then the boys had to hide rice on their spoon and cover it with spinach. We all took turns taking guesses to how much rice was on the spoon. My two year old didn't really understand what he was doing, but it was fun to see him copying his brothers.

Day 5
Quesadillas with chili and grapes, yum. We cut the grapes in half and tried to see who could build the tallest tower in 10 seconds. Then we dipped our finger in the chili and made faces on our quesadillas. It's always fun to see how creative the kids can get.

Some other games with food:

• Build a house with pretzel sticks or carrot sticks
• Finding marshmallows in mashed potatoes using your fingers
• Sprinkling grated cheese over broccoli
• Putting an orange wedge in your mouth and see who can hold it the longest before laughing
• See who can put the most corn and peas on their fork in 10 seconds
• I'm sure we will come up with more as time continues

Our adventures will continue, but I already see an improvement with the boys and their use of the utensils, touching the food, and asking "what game are we playing tonight?" I find myself planning a game as part of planning the meal, thinking, what I can I hide or have the kids make or do with this?

Two of my kids have SPD and I found this article very useful in understanding even more how their brains are wired to have difficulty with sensory input.  I am also hopeful that this information will make SPD a disability so the boys can qualify for more learning and therapy services to help them overcome their sensory issues. I hope you find this article as helpful as I do.

Breakthrough Study Reveals Biological Basis for Sensory Processing Disorders in Kids

By Juliana Bunim on July 09, 2013 |

The image shows areas of the brain that can be affected by sensory processing disorders. Using an advanced form of MRI, researchers at UCSF have identified abnormalities in the brain structure of children with SPD primarily in the back of the brain.

Sensory processing disorders (SPD) are more prevalent in children than autism and as common as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, yet the condition receives far less attention partly because it’s never been recognized as a distinct disease.

Pratik Mukherjee, MD, PhD

In a groundbreaking new study from UC San Francisco, researchers have found that children affected with SPD have quantifiable differences in brain structure, for the first time showing a biological basis for the disease that sets it apart from other neurodevelopmental disorders.
One of the reasons SPD has been overlooked until now is that it often occurs in children who also have ADHD or autism, and the disorders have not been listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual used by psychiatrists and psychologists.
“Until now, SPD hasn’t had a known biological underpinning,” said senior author Pratik Mukherjee, MD, PhD, a professor of radiology and biomedical imaging and bioengineering at UCSF. “Our findings point the way to establishing a biological basis for the disease that can be easily measured and used as a diagnostic tool,” Mukherjee said.
The work is published in the open access online journal NeuroImage:Clinical.

‘Out of Sync’ Kids

Sensory processing disorders affect 5 to 16 percent of school-aged children.

Children with SPD struggle with how to process stimulation, which can cause a wide range of symptoms including hypersensitivity to sound, sight and touch, poor fine motor skills and easy distractibility. Some SPD children cannot tolerate the sound of a vacuum, while others can’t hold a pencil or struggle with social interaction. Furthermore, a sound that one day is an irritant can the next day be sought out.  The disease can be baffling for parents and has been a source of much controversy for clinicians, according to the researchers.

Elysa Marco, MD

“Most people don’t know how to support these kids because they don’t fall into a traditional clinical group,” said Elysa Marco, MD, who led the study along with postdoctoral fellow Julia Owen, PhD. Marco is a cognitive and behavioral child neurologist at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, ranked among the nation's best and one of California's top-ranked centers for neurology and other specialties, according to the 2013-2014 U.S. News & World Report Best Children's Hospitals survey.
“Sometimes they are called the ‘out of sync’ kids. Their language is good, but they seem to have trouble with just about everything else, especially emotional regulation and distraction. In the real world, they’re just less able to process information efficiently, and they get left out and bullied,” said Marco, who treats affected children in her cognitive and behavioral neurology clinic.
“If we can better understand these kids who are falling through the cracks, we will not only help a whole lot of families, but we will better understand sensory processing in general. This work is laying the foundation for expanding our research and clinical evaluation of children with a wide range of neurodevelopmental challenges – stretching beyond autism and ADHD,” she said.

Imaging the Brain’s White Matter

In the study, researchers used an advanced form of MRI called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), which measures the microscopic movement of water molecules within the brain in order to give information about the brain’s white matter tracts. DTI shows the direction of the white matter fibers and the integrity of the white matter. The brain’s white matter is essential for perceiving, thinking and learning.

These brain images, taken with DTI, show water diffusion within the white matter of children with sensory processing disorders.  Row FA: The blue areas show white matter where water diffusion was less directional than in typical children, indicating impaired white matter microstructure.  Row MD: The red areas show white matter where the overall rate of water diffusion was higher than in typical children, also indicating abnormal white matter.  Row RD: The red areas show white matter where SPD children have higher rates of water diffusion perpendicular to the axonal fibers, indicating a loss of integrity of the fiber bundles comprising the white matter tracts.

The study examined 16 boys, between the ages of eight and 11, with SPD but without a diagnosis of autism or prematurity, and compared the results with 24 typically developing boys who were matched for age, gender, right- or left-handedness and IQ. The patients’ and control subjects’ behaviors were first characterized using a parent report measure of sensory behavior called the Sensory Profile.
The imaging detected abnormal white matter tracts in the SPD subjects, primarily involving areas in the back of the brain, that serve as connections for the auditory, visual and somatosensory (tactile) systems involved in sensory processing, including their connections between the left and right halves of the brain.
“These are tracts that are emblematic of someone with problems with sensory processing,” said Mukherjee. “More frontal anterior white matter tracts are typically involved in children with only ADHD or autistic spectrum disorders. The abnormalities we found are focused in a different region of the brain, indicating SPD may be neuroanatomically distinct.”
The researchers found a strong correlation between the micro-structural abnormalities in the white matter of the posterior cerebral tracts focused on sensory processing and the auditory, multisensory and inattention scores reported by parents in the Sensory Profile. The strongest correlation was for auditory processing, with other correlations observed for multi-sensory integration, vision, tactile and inattention.
The abnormal microstructure of sensory white matter tracts shown by DTI in kids with SPD likely alters the timing of sensory transmission so that processing of sensory stimuli and integrating information across multiple senses becomes difficult or impossible.
“We are just at the beginning, because people didn’t believe this existed,” said Marco. “This is absolutely the first structural imaging comparison of kids with research diagnosed sensory processing disorder and typically developing kids. It shows it is a brain-based disorder and gives us a way to evaluate them in clinic.”

Support SPD Research

Thanks to groundbreaking work from UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco, a biological basis for SPD has been discovered.  There is much work to be done and a funding gap. We still need to:

• Understand the genetic causes of sensory processing differences
• Uncover risk factors for SPD
• Measure the neurologic brain differences in affected individuals
• Determine if current interventions are truly effective for brain plasticity
• Develop new therapies based on scientific evidence

You can pave the way for a new era of sensory research and therapies by supporting UCSF’s scientific sensory processing team.
Learn how you can help.

Future studies need to be done, she said, to research the many children affected by sensory processing differences who have a known genetic disorder or brain injury related to prematurity.
The study’s co-authors are Shivani Desai, BS, Emily Fourie, BS, Julia Harris, BS, and Susanna Hill, BS, all of UCSF, and Anne Arnett, MA, of the University of Denver.
The research was supported by the Wallace Research Foundation. The authors have reported that they have no conflicts of interest relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose.
UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital creates an environment where children and their families find compassionate care at the forefront of scientific discovery, with more than 150 experts in 50 medical specialties serving patients throughout Northern California and beyond. The hospital admits about 5,000 children each year, including 2,000 babies born in the hospital. For more information, visit www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org.
UCSF is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care.

Related Links: 

MORE SPD RESEARCH: Kids with Autism, Sensory Processing Disorders Show Brain Wiring Differences

Staying on Track with School Work for the Holidays

I know I'm not the only one who gets excited during the holidays. I love going on special outings and watching holiday movies with the kids, but I also know consistency is the key to success during the busy holidays. Stowell Learning Center has some great ideas for keeping on track. (You can sign upo through Stowell to receive your own email tips too).

1. Keep your Homework Routine
   If your homework routine has begun to fall by the wayside, re-establish it and make it non-negotiable.  Students fight things less when things are "set in stone."  Have a set time and place for doing homework.
   
   
2. Acknowledge; then Move Ahead
   Kids will naturally be more distracted and excited at this time of year.  We can't make them not feel that way and really don't want to "squash" the excitement.  So it's important to acknowledge where they are and then move forward to what they need to do. 
   
   Here's how this might look:
   
   For a younger student:
   "You're super excited aren't you?  This is a fun time of year.  Right now, it's homework time.  How about if I help you get started?"
   
   For an older student:
   "You're anxious to talk to Sara about the party Saturday night, aren't you?  It sounds like it's going to be really fun!  Right now, it's the time we've agreed on to do homework.  Why don't you put a reminder on your phone to call Sara as soon as you're done?"
   
   
3. Make it Fun
   Take advantage of the season
   
   For example, if you're studying times tables, spelling words, or vocabulary with your child, you might write each one on an index card and then separate them into Santa's naughty and nice piles.  Be a little silly.  Put the cards the student knows in the "nice" pile!  "Yea!  That one gets a present this year!"  "Awesome!  This one goes in the nice pile!"
   
   The ones the student doesn't know go in the "naughty" pile.  "Boo, he was bad this year!"  "No presents for him!"  This takes the emphasis off of the student not knowing certain facts or words and puts the blame, in a fun way, on the fact/word itself.  Be sure to go back and practice the cards in the "naughty" pile to try to move them to the other pile.
   
   Other examples:
   "How about if you try these cookies I've been baking after you finish this assignment?"
   
   Play Christmas music in the background.
   
   Read a Christmas/holiday story for the nightly reading.

Be creative, have fun, acknowledge and enjoy the excitement, all the while sticking to your homework routine!  Happy Holidays!

Remembering What You Read to Conquer the "End of Chapter" Questions

 As a teacher, it's not uncommon to assign chapter review questions, but many students struggle with going back and finding the answers. Some students just shut down and don't try because it looks overwhelming. I don't assign these types of assignments as much since it doesn't show me the data I need to see if students truly understand the chapter concepts. However, I love this technique offered by Jill Stowell from Stowell Learning Center. This technique is helpful for many worksheet-type assignments:

One of the more "torturous" kinds of homework is to read a worksheet or a chapter and then answer questions about what was read.

Why can this be so difficult? Because it involves so many of those underlying skills that cause students to struggle. It takes just one weak or missing skill to make life, and school, more difficult than it should be.  

Below you'll find a strategy to help your student remember what was read so that they can answer questions. It's really quite fun and will help in improving memory.

 

Conquering Those End-of the-Chapter Questions

A Student Study Tip for Remembering What You Read

A common complaint of students is that they cannot remember what they read when they get to the end of a chapter.

Answering those end-of-the-chapter questions (or worksheet questions) can be a real chore when students do not have good strategies for holding onto the information as they read, or for going back and finding it later.

Many students think that they just have to reread the chapter from the beginning over and over to locate the information.

NO!!!!

In order to understand and remember what is read or heard, individuals must be able to visualize or make pictures in their mind, letting those pictures run like a movie. Three simple steps can be used to help students visualize, understand, and remember the information more easily.

These are:

• Picture
• Replay
• Retell
  

So instead of just rereading, when your child is reading or listening, have him try to picture what is being said, to "make a movie" in his head. Then have him "replay the movie."

Replaying helps set the information into memory.

Have your child picture the information again, retelling it to you in detail as he sees it. Do this first with stories and oral directions. Then try it with content material such as Social Studies or Science.

When your child has questions to answer, have him rewind his "mental movie" to the section where the information can be found. Have him think, "Did I see that at the beginning, the middle, or at the end?"

If he can't remember, have him think, "What did I see at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end? Where does this question seem to fit?"

Once he has located a logical starting point, he can then go back and check in the book without doing a lot of unnecessary rereading.

Using this sequence will save a lot of time, especially after it becomes automatic.