Font size. Such an
easy starting point to reduce barriers to reading. Critical Print Size
Yesterday I met the daughter of a friend who I taught
with years ago. She always had difficulties in school, which were ‘diagnosed’
as Dyslexia when she went to the local FE College.
No one at school suggested that she may have a barrier to
reading that could be reduced or removed.
The conversation which took place went over her
experiences as a person growing up with dyslexia and how she was ‘assisted’.
She recounted how her difficulties got worse when she
started in secondary school. The drop in
font size was a real problem for her. So much so that at the age of 12 she went
to an optician where she was identified as significantly short sighted with an
astigmatism in both eyes.
In secondary school, she did not like practical work
which involved reading instructions or writing. She was very messy or clumsy if
she mixed the practical work with reading and writing. This is a very typical
story that I hear from adult dyslexic people.
Where possible she would work in a team and leave the reading and
writing to other members of the team…. No problems then.
This did not solve her problem though. In a way it must have reinforced in her the
idea that she just was not really academic. The optician could not fix her
problem. She was still very aware
that the reading was really limited by the small font sizes being offered to her,
in all the books and print outs.
With smaller fonts the letters seemed to crowd each
other, especially the ends of the words, which she would guess at. After a
short period of slow reading the letters and lines would start to move, become
unstable.
At the FE College, she was referred to an Educational
Psychologist, who duly tested her and pronounced her ‘dyslexic’. Unfortunately,
she was unable to read the ‘report’ and did not understand the ideas when
explained to her. This is a common
experience of dyslexic undergraduates.
It is often as if they do not recognise the report as really being about
them.
Back to my friend’s daughter.
At the college the support staff went through ‘testing
for ‘colour’. A range of ‘coloured plastic sheets’ were placed on to text.
Some stabilised the text for a short time, then the
movement and crowding would start again. She has a ‘bluish filter’ which sort
of helps sometimes. But a larger font
always does!
I am writing this today, after a few weeks without a blog
following a spinal problem which has made it difficult to use my computer,
because yesterday I received an email from a group of dyslexia specialists
which I am a member of which included a link to a particular website.
Now the people
who run this website are great people, I have tremendous respect for them. I
have tried to engage them in a dialogue, but just get ignored. Perhaps they
know something about me that I do not. Let’s consider the website, please look
at it as you read this.
The first thing
that hits you is the bit of graphics on the home page with the philosophy of
the two main people at DNA and amongst others, that well respected ‘honourable
/co-opted dyslexic Albert Einstein.
Now this is a
good start. Large font, not a white
background.
Then we get
into body of the website.
Welcome to DnA, a social
enterprise story
designed and led by
dyslexic and disabled
adults working with the sole purpose to
provide support, strategies, Assistive
Technology training and shared wellbeing.
The website
appears to be defaulted to Arial 10.5 font.
From work with dyslexic undergraduates in the UK the following histogram
has been produced showing the ‘optimum font size, needed to stop the dyslexic
student’s reading performance being limited by font size.
Ignore the
pretty colours but look at the column on the left.
There were 3 students who had a critical font
(print size) less than 11!
In this
histogram of the last 345 dyslexic students seen by my colleague, 99% would be
restricted by the font size on the website.
Over half of
them needed a font size of 16. They would still be restricted if the default
was font 16.
This is in no
way a new idea. Other studies have found a close relationship between font size
and reading performance. One report suggested that font size management is a
major reason for the popularity of Kindles, in addition to that lovely grey
background.
In work being
undertaken with a primary school, font size is the starting point in reducing
barriers to reading. You can see a close link between oral reading fluency and
critical print size. An adjustment that could be made in all printed
materials at the school and in extreme cases using a computer screen.
I will publish
this in Font 20 as well. There are issues in terms of restricting the space for
advertising on the web… sorry to you graphics artists.
Back to the
website.
Taking our cue
from the expressed philosophy let’s consider accessibility. How can the user of
the website reduce the barriers for themselves?
There is an
accessibility option at the top of the site.
This gives the opportunity to raise the font to a massive Font 12!!!!!
Welcome to DnA, a social
enterprise
story designed and led by dyslexic and
disabled adults working with the sole
purpose to provide support, strategies,
Assistive
Technology training and
shared wellbeing.
Ok that fantastic
possibility will now bring improved access to…
..another 7% …..of the dyslexic adults reading this site, leaving another 92% struggling because of
font size.
Mind you they probably
think they are struggling because they are dyslexic!
I will quote someone who,
on the occasions when I talked with him gave me great hope about what could be.
‘Attitude is indeed the biggest disablement. We all have the ability to
change the attitude of others. ‘
Unfortunately that
‘attitudes’ that we strike up for ourselves; unwillingness to remove /reduce
obvious boundaries restricts our ability to change the attitude in others.
I worked for a few years with a group of
inspiring, severely physically disabled young people at Hephaistos School, when
I first started teaching. They taught me a great deal. First remove /reduce the barriers.
And now at font 20
Font size. Such an
easy starting point to reduce barriers to reading. Critical Print Size
Yesterday I met the daughter of a friend who I taught
with years ago. She always had difficulties in school, which were ‘diagnosed’
as Dyslexia when she went to the local FE College.
No one at school suggested that she may have a barrier to
reading that could be reduced or removed.
The conversation which took place went over her
experiences as a person growing up with dyslexia and how she was ‘assisted’.
She recounted how her difficulties got worse when she
started in secondary school. The drop in
font size was a real problem for her. So much so that at the age of 12 she went
to an optician where she was identified as significantly short sighted with an astigmatism
in both eyes.
In secondary school, she did not like practical work
which involved reading instructions or writing. She was very messy or clumsy if
she mixed the practical work with reading and writing. This is a very typical
story that I hear from adult dyslexic people.
Where possible she would work in a team and leave the reading and
writing to other members of the team…. No problems then.
This did not solve her problem though. In a way it must have reinforced in her the
idea that she just was not really academic. The optician could not fix her
problem. She was still though very aware
that the reading was really limited by the small font sizes being offered to her,
in all the books and print outs.
With smaller fonts the letters seemed to crowd each
other, especially the ends of the words, which she would guess at. After a
short period of slow reading the letters and lines would start to move, become
unstable.
At the FE College, she was referred to an Educational Psychologist,
who duly tested her and pronounced her ‘dyslexic’. Unfortunately, she was
unable to read the ‘report’ and did not understand the ideas when explained to
her. Again this is a common experience of
dyslexic undergraduates. It is often as
if they do not recognise the report as really being about them.
Back to my friend’s daughter.
At the college the support staff went through ‘testing
for ‘colour’. A range of ‘coloured plastic sheets’ were placed on to text.
Some stabilised the text for a short time, then the
movement and crowding would start again. She has a ‘bluish filter’ which sort
of helps sometimes. But a larger font
always does!
I am writing this today, after a few weeks without a blog
following a spinal problem which has made it difficult to use my computer,
because yesterday I received an email from a group of dyslexia specialists
which I am a member of which included a link to a particular website.
Now the people
who run this website are great people, I have tremendous respect for them. I have
tried to engage them in a dialogue, but just get ignored. Perhaps they know
something about me that I do not. Let’s consider the website, please look at it
as you read this.
The first thing
that hits you is the bit of graphics on the home page with the philosophy of
the two main people at DNA and amongst others, that well respected ‘honourable
/co-opted dyslexic Albert Einstein.
Now this is a
good start. Large font, not a white
background.
Then we get
into body of the website.
Welcome to DnA, a social
enterprise story
designed and led by
dyslexic and disabled
adults working with the sole purpose to
provide support, strategies, Assistive
Technology training and shared wellbeing.
The website
appears to be defaulted to Arial 10.5 font.
From work with dyslexic undergraduates in the UK the following histogram
has been produced showing the ‘optimum font size, needed to stop the dyslexic
student’s reading performance being limited by font size.
Ignore the
pretty colours but look at the column on the left. There were 3 students who had a critical font
(print size) less than 11!
In this
histogram of the last 345 dyslexic students seen by my colleague, 99% would be
restricted by the font size on the website.
Over half of
them needed a font size of 16. They would still be restricted if the default
was font 16.
This is in no
way a new idea. Other studies have found a close relationship between font size
and reading performance. One report suggested that font size management is a
major reason for the popularity of Kindles, in addition to that lovely grey
background.
In work being
undertaken with a primary school, font size is the starting point in reducing
barriers to reading.
You can see a close link between oral reading fluency and
critical print size. An adjustment that could be made in all printed materials at the school and in extreme cases using a computer screen.
I will publish
this in Font 20 as well. There are issues in terms of restricting the space for
advertising on the web… sorry to you graphics artists.
Back to the
website.
Taking our cue
from the expressed philosophy let’s consider accessibility. How can the user of
the website reduce the barriers for themselves?
There is an
accessibility option at the top of the site.
This gives the opportunity to raise the font to a massive Font 12!!!!!
Welcome to DnA, a social
enterprise
story designed and led by dyslexic and
disabled adults working with the sole
purpose to provide support, strategies,
Assistive
Technology training and
shared wellbeing.
Ok that fantastic
possibility will now bring improved access to…
..another 7% …..of the dyslexic adults reading this site, leaving another 92% struggling because of
font size.
Mind you they probably
think they are struggling because they are dyslexic!
I will quote someone who, on
the occasions when I talked with him gave me great hope about what could be.
‘Attitude is indeed the biggest disablement. We all have the ability to
change the attitude of others. ‘
Unfortunately that ‘attitudes’
that we strike up for ourselves; unwillingness to remove /reduce obvious
boundaries restricts our ability to change the attitude in others.
I worked for a few years with a group of inspiring,
severely physically disabled young people at Hephaistos School, when I first
started teaching. They taught me a great deal.
First remove /reduce the barriers.
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