Are Dyslexia Fonts Helpful?

We don’t know yet. They may be, but they also may not. There are some sites that will let you download them for free but there is no scientific evidence supporting their claims. Dyslexie and OpenDyslexic are two of the services that supply free fonts. But they have not had any research published on their fonts. This is crucial because peer-reviewed articles are highly respected and reliable when it comes to new research. News entities and social media outlets get so excited about new findings but fail to mention that these are not researched and supported accommodations or solutions to dyslexia.

Though Dyslexie’s research has not been published in a journal, there has been some research done that seems to be promising. To be clear, this font is not an intervention or solution to dyslexia, but it may make reading a bit easier.

According to understood.org, Here are some of the ways the creators of these fonts say they differ from traditional fonts:

• Parts of the letters have thicker lines.
• Letters are slanted a bit, such as a lowercase L that leans to the left.
• Letters that have sticks and tails, such as b, d and p, vary in length

Fonts, colored overlays, and vision therapy are all ways NOT to treat dyslexia. A child with dyslexia needs a very specific method of teaching to learn how to read, write and spell in a way that their brain is wired to learn. If you would like more information about our research-backed dyslexia therapy please visit us here.