Jenny Thomson, and a bunch of researchers from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, recently released findings from a study that say that people with dyslexia may start investing in e-readers!
Dylexic people, who weren’t reading for fun, started using smart phones and e-readers got them into reading! What started as word-of-mouth from different people with dyslexia ended up being seriously investigated.
Apparently, those who were involved in the study, were able to read faster and retain more information when reading off of an ipad as compared to traditional paper media. The researchers are saying that the text customization of the electronic devices may be the key. Users are able to enlarge text, allowing fewer, larger letters visible at a time.
Keep in mind though, not all dyslexia is the same! The study does make mention that dylexics who had high VA Span Scores did just fine with paper media.
If you are like me, and asked yourself “WTF is a VA Span Score?” then you probably just googled it. If you didnt, I’ll save you some time. VA stands for visual acuity, so basically, a VA Span is how well they can keep their “gaze” or “visual attention” on the text. Therefore a low VA Span score suggests that the person has issues keeping their eyes on the lines of text, while a high score means they can keep that level of focus.
Nevertheless, this is a great discovery!
“It’s great news… Our study shows that you don’t have to create a new device, you can use the technology many people already have to help people read better. It’s such an easy thing you could do.” – Jenny Thomson
Since I’ve seen several great TEDTalks who make mention of dyslexia, I thought I’d share some of them here as well, since we’re on the topic! Enjoy.
I'm just Super Saiyan 