Author: American Dyslexia Association

  • Free app for spelling: FCJ Spelling App

    Free app for spelling: FCJ Spelling App

    FCJ Spelling is an app designed to help people improve their spelling with a special emphasis on dyslexia. It contains 10 exercises, customizable words, the option of a color overlay, and a fun word card game.
    The app allows teachers to monitor their students’ results remotely. Once all the students in a class have been added, the teacher can view all their students’ results with the press of a single button. All results are encrypted and private.
    The app was developed by three 13-year-old Irish students: Billy Lee and Eamon Lalor, and was programmed by Niall Kehoe. The team would welcome any suggestions on how they might improve the app in later editions.
    The app is available on the iOS App Store free of charge at the link below, and the authors hope to release an Android version in the near future.
    Apple iTunes store:
  • The daily sex (dyslexia) tips of a writer

    The daily sex (dyslexia) tips of a writer

    Tobias Stone was diagnosed with Dyslexia when he was 18, having failed to get into university. Thanks to his diagnosis, he was able to complete a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree at two of the world’s top universities. He is currently completing his PhD, after a total of 13 years at university on and off, and is now a professional writer. His teachers were wrong when they said he couldn’t go to university. His message to other dyslexics: Dyslexia does NOT mean you are stupid, just that you find some things harder than other people. But you can also do different things better than other people. Never give up!

    Here is an excerpt of his motivational article on Medium.

    The daily sex (dyslexia) tips of a writer

    I once saw a t-shirt that said ‘Daily sex, can you help?’
    Then ‘daily sex’ was crossed out in pen and corrected as ‘dyslexia.’
    I liked that. I was 19 at the time.

    At 18, after failing to get into university, and having dragged myself, with great pain and anguish, through my exams at school, I found myself in an enforced year off. Ostensibly, I was re-sitting some of the exams I had failed so I could reapply to university, but that was about as pleasant as regurgitating the same meal, and re-eating it, day after day. In the middle of all this, I went to see an educational psychologist. The worry was that I was bright yet underachieving, and there were massive inconsistencies in my abilities. Even in the IQ test they gave me, there were inconsistencies. The IQ test is a series of little tests added together to reach your average score. In one test, I got the highest score the examiner had ever seen, and yet I was unable to answer two of the questions at all. Clearly, something was wrong when I was getting between 0% and 100% on different questions, rather than an average of similar scores.

    So they gave me a dyslexia test, and it turned out I was ‘considerably’ dyslexic (around 7 on a scale of 1–10), and unfortunately for me, I was a bit more clever than I was dyslexic, so I had been able to compensate for the dyslexia fast enough that it had not become obvious to my teachers…

    Continue reading:

  • Free dyslexia-friendly science eLearning website, totallearn.co.uk

    Free dyslexia-friendly science eLearning website, totallearn.co.uk

    Studying for exams is a chore for everyone, but it can be much more difficult if the text is not accessible to the learner. eLearning has a role to play in helping these students to learn.

    The website totallearn.co.uk is developing a large number of science eLearning modules to help with study. These are made accessible by having a “click to hear” function.

    All text on the totallearn website can be clicked on and will be read aloud to the user.

    The developer, Michael Collard, is a former science teacher who is able to describe difficult concepts in a clear, straightforward manner.

    There is also a science blog on the site that is equally accessible and updated several times a week.

    The developer welcomes comments and requests as the website develops. Write him at: [email protected]

  • How to Motivate Students to Write for a Cause

    How to Motivate Students to Write for a Cause

    How to Motivate Students to Write for a Cause: Getting Non-dyslexic & Dyslexic Teens to Write about Health & More

    Loving to write as she does and knowing that helping students polish their writing skills boosts their confidence, Davis-Kyle, author of the Kindle book, How to Motivate Students to Write for a Cause: Getting Non-dyslexic & Dyslexic Students to Write about Health & More, is dedicated to instructing beginning writers of all ages. Her 2015 Kindle book, The Busy English Teacher’s Fun Activities & Exercises for Pre-Teens: Nutrition Tips & More, blends an abundance of writing practices with physical exercises and brings them to teachers’ fingertips to select the activities that work best for their pre-teens.

    This 2016 Kindle book, How to Motivate Students to Write for a Cause, honored with a Foreword by the eminent Astrid Kopp-Duller, PhD, creator of the Attention Function Symptom [AFS] system, is more than a gold mine of writing prompts for teens to save time for teachers. It shares topics that can help teens focus on healthy futures. The book also urges teens to research the topics of the day, interrogate the evidence presented in various media, then think, analyze data, and write to share their own thought-provoking solutions with the world.

    With guidance from caring teachers, teens can build their reading and listening abilities and polish their writing and speaking talents. To remove all doubt that teens can write, if they embrace writing, Davis-Kyle highlights currently successful non-dyslexic teen writers from Canada, Scotland, and the United States. She also reminds teens of outstanding dyslexic writers such as Agatha Christie, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Octavia Estelle Butler, and Daniel Eckstein of yesteryear, and Sherrilyn Kenyon, of today, all of whom also began their writing careers early in life. Thus, the teens are championed to step over, navigate around, or bulldoze through any obstacles that intrude, if they truly want to write. With a plan, a caring coach, and practice, they, too, can make their writing dreams come true.

    This unique book takes a passionate stand to help prevent the bullying that dyslexic students sometimes face. Davis-Kyle introduces programmer Victor Widell’s resourceful innovation that helps non-dyslexic teens see—for a moment—what many dyslexics must endure every moment as they try to read. Some non-dyslexics boast that they have no problem reading Widell’s depiction. So be it for some. Nevertheless, Davis-Kyle gently reminds those who can read with such ease to be grateful for their good fortune. With the guidance of thoughtful instructors, dyslexic teens can and do often write with great success. With How to Motivate Students to Write for a Cause, it is hoped that they will find topics to pursue and will write with great vigor to share ideas from their often unique and profound perspective to help our society today.

    Linda Davis-Kyle has been published in more than a dozen countries on five continents in magazines such as World Travel Magazine in Australia and Healthy Options in New Zealand, and professional journals such as Modern Drama in Canada and Studies in English Literature in Japan. Nothing brings her greater joy than to help others who are also beset with an insatiable desire to write just as she is. Many in our society today seem to be lost in a vast wasteland that limits thinking and clouds understanding. Reading widely, interrogating the evidence, analyzing fully, and drawing worthwhile conclusions can clarify a great deal, and sharing their ideas with the world can benefit not only the writers themselves but also their readers. Go for it!

  • Approaches to Dyslexia Training

    Approaches to Dyslexia Training

    by IFDDA.org

    I. INTRODUCTION

    The phenomenon of dyslexia is often referred to as a “learning disability”. However, these exceptional individuals just have different sensory perceptions due to genetic dispositions (Galaburda, LoTurco, Ramus, Fitch, & Rosen, 2006). Their different sensory perceptions cause them to view and experience our world differently, which can lead to significant accomplishments in arts, sports, and science – just not in reading and writing. Many researchers of different disciplines have dealt with this topic, mainly on how to address the reading and spelling issues that dyslexics have and how to render assistance. The approaches to research in dyslexia are as diverse as the various methods of training. What is needed is a comprehensive approach to dyslexia training that addresses all elements that cause the affected individuals’ problems to deliver faster and longer-lasting improvements.

    The different sensory perceptions of a dyslexic person cause his or her attention to diminish when confronted with symbols, like letters. The results are errors while reading and writing. The logical consequence is that dyslexics require assistance in all three areas: improvement of sensory perceptions, as well as enhancement of the attention span while reading and spelling, and last, but not least, practicing reading and spelling. Training techniques for dyslexics and research about such, however, tend to focus on only one (or at most two) of the three mentioned areas. Multiple studies have already proven the benefits of sensory perception training (Bonacina, Cancer, Lanzi, Lorusso, & Antonietti, 2015; Flaugnacco et al., 2015; Fraga González et al., 2015; Gori & Facoetti, 2014; Habib et al., 2016; Ikeshita-Yamazoe & Miyao, 2016; Wang et al., 2014). Other research focused on the advantageous role of attention training (Franceschini et al., 2015; Heim, Pape-Neumann, Van Ermingen-Marbach, Brinkhaus, & Grande, 2015; Valdois et al., 2015), while other scientific inquiries concentrated on increased practicing of the basic academic skills of reading and spelling (Law & Cupples, 2015; McArthur et al., 2015).

    Nevertheless, there is one approach to dyslexia training, which incorporates all three elements and, therefore, promises superior results: the so-called “AFS-Method” (A=attention, F=function/sensory perception, S=symptom). This method is open source and not a commercial program, and has been practiced by dyslexia specialists for the past 20 years in over 50 countries worldwide in different languages with much success. Kopp-Duller and Pailer-Duller (2011) conducted a long-term qualitative study investigating the effectiveness of the AFS-Method, which showed that 85% of test subjects were able to improve their reading and spelling abilities. Other researchers have also reported on the uniqueness of the AFS-Method in contrast to other standard practices for rendering assistance to dyslexics (Ablinger, 2006; Halfarová & Cigánková, 2006; Karli, 2006; Levski, 2011; Mészáros, 2011, Szimmuck, 2014; Zachbauer, 2011). A central key point of training in the AFS-Method is the concept of teaching word using multiple senses called word formulations, which was confirmed as beneficial by Aylward and Berninger from the University of Washington (Schwarz; 2004).

    Further research, specifically quantitative in nature, should be conducted on the distinctive AFS-training method to generate quantifiable and tangible results so the method gains more acceptance in the dyslexia community and thus more affected individuals would be able to benefit from it. If more educators knew how to support dyslexic children successfully, fewer children would struggle at school and ultimately would be able to remain in school longer and receive a better education as a result.

    II. CAUSE OF DYSLEXIA

    Dyslexia is a hereditary condition that causes different sensory perceptions (Galaburda et al., 2006). Dyslexic individuals see, hear, and experience the world differently from non-dyslexics. This can have an upside because dyslexics are often talented in areas like technology, art, music, and sports – just not in reading and writing. The different sensory perceptions cause the dyslexics’ attention to diminish when confronted with the abstract concept of letters. This lack of attention results in errors while reading, writing, and spelling, and in turn in poor academic performance in language studies (Kopp-Duller, 2012).

    Some research focuses on the aspect of auditory processes during reading, spelling, or writing: Bonacina et al. (2015) said that dyslexia stems from difficulties in auditory information processing, which results in impaired phonological awareness. Gori and Facoetti (2014) also agree that dyslexia is an auditory-phonological processing deficit, while Franceschini et al. (2015) said that dyslexics exhibit weak linguistic-phonological processing. Other researchers put the emphasis on the visual aspect: Wang et al. (2014) concluded that dyslexic individuals have an issue with their visual perceptual processing.

    The bottom line is that dyslexia is a multisensory integration deficit (Fraga González et al., 2015). Dyslexic children have a unique way of processing information which results in a unique behavior during the learning process (Kopp-Duller & Pailer-Duller, 2011). No manifestation of dyslexia is alike because not every dyslexic person’s sensory perceptions are affected in the same way. Some children exhibit difficulty in visual processing, others with auditory, and again others in spatial perception. This is the precise reason not every training program to better the effects to dyslexia works on any child. The training efforts always need to be individualized to reach faster improvements without frustrating the child in the process.

    III. ELEMENTS OF DYSLEXIA TRAINING

    The approaches to dyslexia training are as diverse as the approaches to research on dyslexia. Researchers from a spectrum of disciplines have made it their duty to explore this complex subject and ways how to deal with it. Neurologists focus on processes in the brain of dyslexics to better understand the problem this phenomenon causes during reading and spelling (Heim et al., 2015). Geneticists view the issue from a hereditary standpoint (Galaburda et al., 2006). Psychologists focus on diagnosing dyslexia using intelligence tests although these tests were not designed for this purpose (Habib et al., 2016). At last but not least, pedagogues discuss how to help affected children more effectively (Berninger et al., 2008).

    The success of various training programs has been well documented in countless studies, as demonstrated in the following subsections. Noticeably, training techniques tend to focus only on one aspect of the causation of dyslexia: training of attention, training of sensory perceptions, or training of symptoms, while the scientific evidence of the success of sensory perception training dominates. The question remains about what happens if dyslexia training is conducted using an individualized approach that covers all areas that cause the dyslexic child’s problems.

    A. Training of Attention

    The thoughts of a dyslexic person tend to wander, especially when they are confronted with the task of reading and writing. Dyslexic children reject these tasks because they cannot perform them well and would rather be doing something else. So they might act out and give the impression of being hyperactive. The wrong conclusion is often drawn from this behavior, that the child is hyperactive and, consequently, cannot read and write. However, the opposite is the case: The child cannot read and write, which causes him or her to misbehave. An important part of dyslexia training, therefore, is the focusing of attention. The goal of attention exercises is to give the affected individual the tools to focus his or her thoughts on the task at hand, which automatically yields positive results in reading and spelling (Kopp-Duller, 2012).

    Various training techniques can be used to bring forth the desired outcome of focusing a child’s attention. Franceschini et al. (2015) used action video games in their study to increase the attention span in children with dyslexia. Heim et al. (2015) showed that the training of visual attention improves reading abilities. Another study where the training of visual attention improved reading abilities was conducted by Valdois et al. (2015). Breteler, Arns, Peters, Giepmans, and Verhoeven (2010) used qEEG-based neurofeedback training to increase the attention span, where the subject learned to self-regulate and thus improve brain activities, and subsequently were able to reduce reading and spelling deficits. Research by Kast, Baschera, Gross, Jäncke, and Meyer (2011) revealed that phonological awareness exercises increased the focusing of the test subjects on the task at hand.

    B. Training of Sensory Perceptions

    As already discussed, dyslexics exhibit deficits in sensory perceptions, so-called functions. Logic and practice dictate that only with functioning sensory perceptions is a smooth learning process possible. The training and, therefore, improvement of these sensory perceptions leads to automatically better performances in reading and spelling, as the presented evidence from multiple studies will demonstrate. Training can focus on visual, auditory, or spatial sensory perceptions, while it is vital to find out in which areas the child has difficulty before starting with the sensory perception training (Kopp-Duller & Pailer-Duller, 2011).

    Fraga González et al. (2015) disclosed that training of letter-speech sound mapping led to substantial reading gains in dyslexic test subjects. Ikeshita-Yamazoe & Miyao (2016) used a specifically for dyslexics designed visual training tool for learning symbols, where test subjects were able to give 83% correct responses after two months in post-tests, compared to the traditional teaching method, where no correct answers were given. The overall concept of perceptual learning led to improvements in visual attention and reading in research by Gori and Facoetti (2014).

    Furthermore, Balido-Dean, Kupczynski, and Fedynich (2011), Berninger et al. (2008), in addition to Kast et al. (2011) showed that multi-sensory training using letters has positive effects on the reading and spelling abilities of dyslexic children. But even sensory perception training without the use of symbols leads to improvement of reading and spelling skills in a study by Burger, Kastenhuber, and Loidl (2001).

    A new approach to sensory perception training is the use of music. Training of basic musical rhythm perception skills had a positive impact on reading speed and accuracy in a study performed by Bonacina et al. (2015). Likewise, Flaugnacco et al. (2015) used music training to improve phonological awareness and reading skills in children with dyslexia. Habib et al. (2016) specifically used the concept of cognitivo-musical training to yield improvements in auditory attention and reading.

    C. Training of Symptoms

    Another part of dyslexia training is the improvement of reading and writing skills and, therefore, the eradication of errors while reading and spelling. This is achieved through practicing these basic academic skills. In the end, even for dyslexic children, reading and spelling can only be learned through reading and spelling (Kopp-Duller, 2012). A lack of recent investigations in this area demonstrates that the scientific community of dyslexic research has reached the consensus that dyslexia needs to be addressed on the multi-sensory level. Nonetheless, Law and Cupples (2015) found that the increased practice of reading led to improvement of real-world reading for dyslexic children. Likewise, McArthur et al. (2015) showed that practicing sight word and phonics reading leads to improvement in reading.

    IV. A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH

    Kopp-Duller (1997), through her extensive experience in working with children who struggle in school, found that the classic method of increased practice of reading and spelling did not bring forth the desired improvement when dealing with dyslexic children. The reason for this is the sensory perceptions that are not well developed in dyslexics. These need to be activated and formed to facilitate a smooth process of learning to read and write. An altered approach to helping children who struggle with reading and spelling due to dyslexia was needed that took into account all the things that cause dyslexic children to make mistakes when reading and spelling: inattention while reading and spelling, different sensory perceptions, and errors in reading and writing.

    A. The AFS-Method

    The result was the A(=attention)F(=functions)S(=method)-Method. This method is considered comprehensive or holistic because it offers training in all areas where dyslexic children struggle and where improvement measures should focus. The AFS-Method is also considered open because it only provides the framework for dyslexia training and allows the trainer to incorporate any program, tool, or resource that can help the child. Individuality is essential in dyslexia training since every child has his or her unique difficulties and, thus, the training needs to cater to these individual problems (Kopp-Duller, 2012).

    The AFS-Method consists of three parts: Every training session should start with an attention exercise, so the child learns to focus their thoughts on the reading and spelling task. This is followed by exercises for sharpening sensory perceptions. Not every child has issues in the same perception areas. Therefore, it is critical that an assessment takes place before training starts to find out which sensory perceptions need work. Last but not least, dyslexic children also need to practice reading, spelling, and writing (Kopp-Duller & Pailer-Duller, 2011).

    Kopp-Duller (1997) also came up with the concept of so-called word formulations to integrate into symptom training. The practice of core academic skills should also be conducted by activating the senses. Word formulations involve exercises that teach children about word picture (letters make up words, what do the letters look like, etc.), word sound (letters have sounds and these sounds together form a word, etc.), and word meaning (every word has one or multiple applications, how can the word be used in a sentence, etc.). Elizabeth Aylward and Virginia Berninger from the University of Washington, as reported by Schwarz (2004), found in their research that words are not just words but that they are stored in the human brain by using neural circuits to code words in three forms. They found that the most effective way to teach dyslexic children is by showing them explicitly how letters, sounds, and meaning are interrelated.

    It is also worth mentioning that the AFS-Method is not a commercial program but is open source, unlike most training programs for dyslexia. The AFS-Method can be practiced by teachers, parents, and other professionals alike. Practice has shown that greater success in training is achieved if children see a specialist once a week for a training session, and additionally, that 10-20 minutes daily at home with their parents (Kopp-Duller & Pailer-Duller, 2011).

    B. Evaluation of the AFS-Method

    Certified dyslexia trainers in over 50 countries worldwide have been practicing the AFS-Method for over 20 years now with much success (Kopp-Duller & Pailer-Duller, 2011). International academics have discussed this distinctive approach to dyslexia training in various publications and papers and highlighted its uniqueness compared to other standard practices in the teaching of dyslexics (Ablinger, 2006; Halfarová & Cigánková, 2006; Karli, 2006; Levski, 2011; Mészáros, 2011; Szimmuck, 2014; Zachbauer, 2011). The overall consensus is that a variety of training programs for dyslexia work, but this method might bring better results because of its comprehensiveness.

    In 2008, Kopp-Duller and Pailer-Duller published a long-term qualitative study on the effectiveness of the AFS-Method. Data for the study were gathered between 2001 and 2006, and 3,370 dyslexic test subjects (71% boys, 29% girls) between the ages of 7 and 14 years (1st-4th grade: 61%, 5th-8th grade: 39%) participated. The results showed that after being instructed using the AFS-Method, all children improved their reading and spelling skills, while 85% of the participants showed significant gains in their reading and spelling abilities. The improvements were not short-term but occurred continuously over the two-year observation period. After two years of instruction, the dyslexic children had caught up with their non-dyslexic classmates and were able to fulfill the requirements at school. Parents also reported in a survey that conducted in the course of the study that their children seemed more motivated to do their school work.

    V. SUGGESTED RESEARCH AND RESULTING BENEFITS

    New programs to help dyslexic children emerge almost daily on the market of teaching aids. Most of them probably work and help dyslexic children in some cases. Scientific inquiries tend to focus on exactly such tools that have a narrow focus and only address one issue at a time, be it attention issues, individual sensory perceptions, or new ways of how to practice reading, spelling, and writing. Continuing research, however, should focus on training approaches that offer a holistic concept to tackle the problem as a whole and not investigate what can help in a niche area of training for dyslexics.

    A starting point for further research could be to conduct a quantitative study about the AFS-Method to generate quantifiable and tangible results. This might lead to a greater acceptance of this framework of dyslexia training among professionals and would promote the dissemination of dyslexia training techniques. The more educators practice this open-source method, the more children will benefit from it. Dyslexic children would be more motivated to stay in school if they had fewer failures because of inadequate teaching methods that do not cater to their needs and hence would be able to receive an adequate education. The implications for better qualifications when they enter the labor market go without saying.

    VI. CONCLUSION

    The scientific community agrees that dyslexia is a multi-sensory processing deficit that causes affected individuals to make errors while reading, spelling, and writing (Bonacina et al., 2015; Fraga González et al., 2015; Franceschini et al., 2015; Galaburda et al., 2006; Gori & Facoetti, 2014; Kopp-Duller, 2012; Kopp-Duller & Pailer-Duller, 2011; Wang et al., 2014). This is precisely why training approaches have to take into account that dyslexics have different sensory perceptions and what issues these different sensory perceptions cause: On the surface, only the symptoms are visible, namely the mistakes dyslexic children make while reading and writing. But the subject matter is more complex than that. The different sensory perceptions that dyslexic children exhibit cause them to be inattentive when they encounter letters because the concept is too abstract for them to grasp using traditional teaching methods. This inattentiveness ultimately results in erroneous reading and writing.

    Many different training approaches for dyslexia yield positive results, as was extensively demonstrated in this paper. However, training tends to focus on only one area where the dyslexic student has difficulty. Some research centers on improving the attention span of dyslexic children to teach them to focus their thoughts better on reading and spelling tasks (Breteler et al., 2010; Franceschini et al., 2015; Heim et al., 2015; Kast et al., 2011; Valdois et al., 2015). Other research focuses on sharpening the sensory perceptions to guarantee a smoother process of learning to read and write (Balido-Dean et al., 2011; Berninger et al., 2008; Bonacina et al., 2015; Burger et al., 2001; Flaugnacco et al., 2015; Fraga González et al., 2015; Gori & Facoetti, 2014; Habib et al., 2016; Ikeshita-Yamazoe & Miyao, 2016; Kast et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2014). The last camp of dyslexia research focuses on increased practice of the basic academic skills of reading and spelling (Law & Cupples, 2015; McArthur et al., 2015), although the lack of evidence in this area is promising that the scientific community has realized that traditional teaching methods do not work for most dyslexics.

    Because every manifestation of dyslexia is different, the logical implication must be that the procedure to improve symptoms of dyslexia needs to be adapted to match the dyslexic’s issues. The AFS-Method is the only training method that offers a solution to address all the areas the dyslexic child needs training in. Approaching the issue of dyslexia from a comprehensive angle seems more sensible in any case. The AFS-Method is considered not only holistic but also as open because it allows the trainer to incorporate any training program or tool in the individual areas of training: focusing of attention, sharpening of the sensory perceptions, and practicing of reading and spelling. But even the betterment of symptoms is done by using a multi-sensory concept called word formulations (Kopp-Duller, 1997). Aylward and Berninger from the University of Washington agree that words need to be taught to dyslexic children by explaining to them word picture, word sound, and word meaning (Schwarz, 2004).

    The AFS-Method has been practiced worldwide for over 20 years now, and international research agrees on the advantages of the AFS-Method (Ablinger, 2006; Halfarová & Cigánková, 2006; Karli, 2006; Levski, 2011; Mészáros, 2011; Szimmuck, 2014; Zachbauer, 2011). Kopp-Duller and Pailer-Duller (2008) investigated the benefits of the AFS method in a qualitative study. While observing 3,370 test subjects with a confirmed diagnosis of dyslexia between the ages of 7 and 14 years over a period of two years, they found that 85% of participants showed significant gains in their reading and spelling abilities, motivation was improved, and the students were able to fulfill the requirements at school.

    A good amount of research has already been conducted on the topic of dyslexia, and hopefully, researchers will continue to do so in the future to find new ways to help dyslexic individuals more effectively. However, further research into the ways on how to improve reading and spelling abilities of dyslexic children should focus on a comprehensive approach to training, like the AFS-Method. Addressing all areas where dyslexics need assistance delivers greater and longer-lasting results, as has already been found in qualitative research. But generating quantitative results about the success of the AFS-Method would prove to the education community a sophisticated way to help dyslexic students.

    If scientific research can show ways on how to train dyslexic children in practice, educators, other professionals, and parents alike would be able to facilitate a training process that brings lasting improvements for affected children. The result would be more motivated students that are able to stay in school longer and received a better education. This would allow them to achieve ultimately greater things and hopefully, lead better lives.

    Putting these approaches into practice takes structured training. The Dyslexia Trainer Certification Program teaches the AFS method in 48 self-paced online lessons and is open to teachers, learning specialists, and homeschooling parents, with no prior professional training required.

    References

    Ablinger, M. (2006). Frühkindliche motorische Entwicklungsdefizite und Rechtschreibschwäche. Salzburg, Austria: University of Salzburg.

    Balido-Dean, L., Kupczynski, L., & Fedynich, L. (2011). An analysis of dyslexic students at the elementary level. Journal of Case Studies in Education, 2, 1-11. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1057186.pdf

    Berninger, V., Winn, W., Stock, P., Abbott, R., Eschen, K., Lin, S., & Nagy, W. (2008). Tier 3 specialized writing instruction for students with dyslexia. Reading and Writing, 21(1-2), 95-129. doi:10.1007/s11145-007-9066-x

    Bonacina, S., Cancer, A., Lanzi, P. L., Lorusso, M. L., & Antonietti, A. (2015). Improving reading skills in students with dyslexia: The efficacy of a sublexical training with rhythmic background. Frontiers In Psychology, 6(1510), 1-8. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01510

    Breteler, M., Arns, M., Peters, S., Giepmans, I., & Verhoeven, L. (2010). Improvements in spelling after QEEG-based neurofeedback in dyslexia: A randomized controlled treatment study. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 35(1), 5-11. doi:10.1007/s10484-009-9105-2

    Burger, T., Kastenhuber, M., Loidl, K. (2001). Evaluationsstudie zum Einsatz von Lernsoftware bei Kindern mit Lese-Rechtschreibschwäche. Retrieved from http://www.legasthenie.at/eval/studie.html

    Flaugnacco, E., Lopez, L., Terribili, C., Montico, M., Zoia, S., & Schön, D. (2015). Music training increases phonological awareness and reading skills in developmental dyslexia: A randomized control trial. PLoS ONE, 10(9), 1-17.

    Fraga González, G., Žarić, G., Tijms, J., Bonte, M., Blomert, L., & van der Molen, M. W. (2015). A randomized controlled trial on the beneficial effects of training letter-speech sound integration on reading fluency in children with dyslexia. Plos One, 10(12), e0143914–e0143914. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0143914

    Franceschini, S., Bertoni, S., Ronconi, L., Molteni, M., Gori, S., & Facoetti, A. (2015). “Shall we play a game?”: Improving reading through action video games in developmental dyslexia. Current Developmental Disorders Reports, 2(4), 318-329. doi:10.1007/s40474-015-0064-4

    Gori, S., & Facoetti, A. (2014). Perceptual learning as a possible new approach for remediation and prevention of developmental dyslexia. Vision Research, 99(1), 78-87. doi:10.1016/j.visres.2013.11.011

    Galaburda, A. M., LoTurco, J., Ramus, F., Fitch, R. H., & Rosen, G. D. (2006). From genes to behavior in developmental dyslexia. Nature Neuroscience, 9(10), 1213-1217. doi:10.1038/nn1772

    Habib, M., Lardy, C., Desiles, T., Commeiras, C., Chobert, J., & Besson, M. (2016). Music and dyslexia: A new musical training method to improve reading and related disorders. Frontiers in Psychology, 1-15. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00026

    Halfarová, L., & Cigánková, S. (2007). Dyslexie u dospělých a výuka cizího jazyka (Dyslexia in young adults in foreign languages). Ostrava, Czech Republic: Technical University of Ostrava.

    Heim, S., Pape-Neumann, J., Van Ermingen-Marbach, M., Brinkhaus, M., & Grande, M. (2015). Shared vs. specific brain activation changes in dyslexia after training of phonology, attention, or reading. Brain Structure & Function, 220(4), 2191-2207. doi:10.1007/s00429-014-0784-y

    Ikeshita-Yamazoe, H., & Miyao, M. (2016). A visual training tool for teaching kanji to children with developmental dyslexia. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 29(1), 88-102. doi:10.1080/09588221.2014.889716

    Kast, M., Baschera, G., Gross, M., Jäncke, L., & Meyer, M. (2011). Computer-based learning of spelling skills in children with and without dyslexia. Annals of Dyslexia, 61(2), 177-200.
    doi:10.1007/s11881-011-0052-2

    Karli, D. (2006). Dyslexia in theory and practice. Klagenfurt, Austria: University of Klagenfurt.

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    Kopp-Duller, A. (2012). Legasthenie – Training nach der AFS-Methode (4th ed.). Klagenfurt, Austria: KLL-Verlag.

    Kopp-Duller, A. & Pailer-Duller, L. (2008). Legasthenie – Dyskalkulie !? (1st ed.). Klagenfurt, Austria: KLL-Verlag.

    Kopp-Duller, A., & Pailer-Duller, L. (2011). Dyslexia – Dyscalculia !? Osprey, FL: Dyslexia Research Center USA.

    Law, C., & Cupples, L. (2015). Thinking outside the boxes: Using current reading models to assess and treat developmental surface dyslexia. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 1–47. doi: 10.1080/09602011.2015.1064453

    Levski, V. (2011). Discovering and supporting dyslexia in the early years. Bulgaria, Cyprus, Italy, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey: Education and Culture, European Commission, Socrates Comenius.

    McArthur, G., Castles, A., Kohnen, S., Larsen, L., Jones, K., Anandakumar, T., & Banales, E. (2015). Sight word and phonics training in children with dyslexia. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 48(4), 391-407. doi:10.1177/0022219413504996

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    Wang, Z., Cheng-Lai, A., Song, Y., Cutting, L., Jiang, Y., Lin, O., . . . Zhou, X. (2014). A perceptual learning deficit in Chinese developmental dyslexia as revealed by visual texture discrimination training. Dyslexia (Chichester, England), 20(3), 280-296. doi:10.1002/dys.1475

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  • Wisconsin Institute for Learning Disabilities/Dyslexia endorses special paperback edition of The Hypnotist

    Wisconsin Institute for Learning Disabilities/Dyslexia endorses special paperback edition of The Hypnotist

    WILDD

    “As a dyslexic, the typeface used in the special paperback edition of this book [OpenDyslexicAlta] assisted me with the tracking issues I have and made this a much more positive reading experience. The Hypnotist is a ‘must read,’ dyslexic or not.” Ervin Carpenter, Executive Director of WILDD

    Special Edition of “The Hypnotist” by Alyssa Devine for Readers with Dyslexia

    When Tom Lassiter hypnotized his friend Amanda Wilcox, the last thing he thought she would reveal was an abduction and murder that took place 25 years earlier. But who were the murderers, and why did Amanda and Tom have them to fear now?

    “A great story from a new author . . . entertaining and fresh, even fascinating at times.” Lee Ashford for Readers’ Favorite

    When, on an afternoon outing in Bayou Vermillion, Lafayette, LA, Amanda Wilcox has her fortune read by Madam Zu-Zu, she and her friend, Tom Lassiter, never thought it would lead to her having a nightmare in which she dreamed she was being choked to death. Under hypnosis, Amanda reveals to Tom that she once was a woman named Kyla Decker, who disappeared 25 years earlier after being stopped by a policeman while driving home early one morning after partying with her girlfriends. An Internet search reveals the name of another woman, Cindi Lathrop, who disappeared some years after Decker under similar circumstances. As Amanda’s and Tom’s relationship blossoms, the teenagers uncover evidence linking a former Lafayette, LA, policeman and a funeral home employee to the abductions, men who they suspect murdered the two women. But then, in what appears to be a real-life enactment of what the fortune teller told Amanda, Amanda and Tom find their lives threatened by one of the two men they think was responsible for the murders committed 25 years earlier. Can the teenagers survive, knowing the last of the five tarot cards read to Amanda by Madam Zu-Zu was Death? The only way to learn the answer to that question is to read The Hypnotist.

    Available in Kindle and two paperback editions (Georgia and OpenDyslexicAlta fonts).

  • My story and that of many mothers by SANDHYA P.R. B.A., LL.B., M.B.A., DIRECTOR, TRAVANCORE NATIONAL SCHOOL

    My story and that of many mothers by SANDHYA P.R. B.A., LL.B., M.B.A., DIRECTOR, TRAVANCORE NATIONAL SCHOOL

    TRAVANCORE DYSLEXIA ASSOCIATION

    This is the account of a lonely and tiring journey that I set myself on some years ago for my son Tejas, and for other similar children and their hapless mothers. Tejas was diagnosed as dyslexic some years ago. Even before that shocking diagnosis came and shattered our lives, his everyday in school was a terrifying experience for him and us.

    A restive kid by nature, Tejas could not cope with the grinding routine of regular school. He was speedily pronounced a troublemaker, lazy, and prone to throwing frequent tantrums, maligning the decorum and discipline of the classroom. The teachers could not comprehend his behavior, since no one, save me, knew of his malady, that he was the victim of a medical disorder.

    As regular schooling became nearly impossible for my son, I began searching for a different educational environment, one that would not castigate him for his disorder but would reassure him of his abilities and instill confidence in him. To my dismay, I discovered that there was no such institution in Kerala that could satisfy the mother in me, and maybe even provide a measure of comfort.

    By this point, I had come to realize that there were hundreds of hapless Tejases and silently grieving mothers like me in my neighborhood and across the state. I made a resolve to get my son quality education that would not nip away at his talents, but which would nourish his potentials and emotionally support his evolvement into a valued citizen of this society, The efforts I took in this direction bore fruit with the founding of Travancore National School, in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, offering specialized education tailor-made for children with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism.

    A lonely journey

    Yes, it was a lonely journey all the way, too, through unfamiliar, uncharted terrain. Now, when the calendar has completed one full cycle, our school, which began with six kids on July 25, 2014, has grown to accommodate 44 students. Within a year of its opening, we could begin classes from kindergarten to class 12. Four of our dyslexia-challenged students passed their class 10 examinations through the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS).

    Tejas, my son, Young Ambassador for dyslexia

    During the initial period of the school’s functioning, we had another eye-opening experience that pointed toward the need for social education and raising awareness about learning disabilities. Some of our students’ parents approached us with a seemingly strange request –they asked if it was permissible to send their children to our school, robed in other schools’ uniforms. When asked why, the answer was invariably that they wished to avoid the social stigma associated with having their children attend a ‘special school’. Dismayed as we were, we managed to convince them otherwise, but the writing was on the wall – measures needed to be adopted to ensure these children would not be socially outcast. Needless to say, what was required was not a short-term solution, but social education to weed out the deeply rooted stigma. As a first step, I volunteered to project Tejas as the brand ambassador for dyslexia. Of course, much more needed to be done on a much larger scale. We would get to it later.

    Sandhya and Teja
    Sandhya and Teja

    ‘Our teachers, their mothers’

    We at Travancore National School don’t refer to our faculty members as ‘teachers’, but as ‘mothers’ who take care of all the needs of their beloved children. Rather than syllabus and examinations, it is the overall growth and education of the children that are the focus of our educational program. Our ‘teachers–mothers’ are ably assisted by child psychologists and counsellors, who also extend their services to the children’s families in order to help them understand the unique qualities of their children.

    We have also set up a well-stocked library, a computer lab, a visual learning studio, and special training apparatuses for our variously challenged children.

    Live the colorful life

    The co-curricular activities offered to our students include training in martial arts such as karate, musical classes including keyboard, computer education, vocational training, yoga classes, and sports, designed to help bring out the best in each individual.

    We acknowledge the importance of students being equipped to thrive in the world outside their classrooms. To this end, we encourage our wards to take part in social activities such as harvest festivals and the planting of saplings, inspire them to grow up to be responsible citizens, and train them to mingle seamlessly with mainstream students through social interactions.

    The summer camp held in May 2015 exposed the children to training in social and artistic skills. They tried their hands at cookery and painting, and also learned the basics of self-defense. They listened to dietitians speak about the importance of a healthy diet, and doctors demonstrated to them the basics of first aid techniques. They were also introduced to performing art forms such as Kathakali, folk dance, etc., in the camp

    Take society with us

    Recognizing the significance of social participation and inclusion, we also embarked on a mission to create awareness about dyslexia. Leading playback singer G. Venugopal joined the campaign by agreeing to be Travancore National School’s goodwill ambassador. This ensured that we got some attention in the press and on social media, which we were able to leverage to our advantage by focusing media coverage on our cause, all of which went a long way in promoting awareness about dyslexia.

    The research cell of the Thiruvananthapuram branch of the Indian Medical Association’s (IMA) has joined hands with our school for a unique threefold awareness campaign.

    Together, we are attempting to raise awareness of learning disabilities among parents, relatives, teachers, and medical professionals. We are also lobbying with the government to train teachers to identify and help children with dyslexia, and to set up affordable facilities in government schools to help the indigent children and their parents. Furthermore, we are working to develop a network of such institutions and to train professionals who can help the needy children from low-income families.

    Tejas’s journey forward, our vision

    Tejas is a happy child these days, and he enjoys every moment in school. Happy too are dozens of other Tejases, who shine like the lamps lit from the source, the Travancore National School. However, this is not the end of my journey.
    Indeed, I am at the beginning of this journey and am now at a turning point in my life, as are several others around me. I realize clearly that I need to persist; I have a responsibility to make more Tejases smile, and I need to put my head down and plough on until the path on which I have set out is a smooth one on which hundreds of challenged children can hope to begin their life journeys smoothly. I need to strive hard to ensure that those children’s smiles reflect on the faces of their parents.

    I hope to transform Travancore National School into a nodal center for children with learning difficulties, and to raise it as a training center for teachers who specialize in learning difficulties. I realize that the successful first year is only the first mile on this challenging road, and that I have many, many more miles to go before I sleep…

    TRAVANCORE NATIONAL SCHOOL
    www.travancorenationalschool.com

    TRAVANCORE NATIONAL SCHOOL / FB
    https://www.facebook.com/Travancore-National-School-1413481035600359/

    TRAVANCORE DYSLEXIA ASSOCIATION / FB
    https://www.facebook.com/Travancore-Dyslexia-Association-1452503165029522/

  • A message from Tomos Roberts, Author of “The Horse Lord” and “Rose’s Story”

    A message from Tomos Roberts, Author of “The Horse Lord” and “Rose’s Story”

    I was diagnosed with dyslexia at age 7. It was my mother who noticed it to start off with, as I had been able to get past my lack of reading by memorizing books from people reading them to me. The big issue at this time was reading, which I found incredibly hard, and that meant my writing was reams behind my classmates.

    This all came to a head with my mum sending me to go and see a specialist teacher on the weekends, who helped me start to untangle the strange symbols into letters, and then into words, but by this time, I was far behind my friends in my writing. The good news was that as soon as I understood the letters I could read the words, in some fashion, and from there I started to fully grasp the English language and catapulted forwards with my reading, going from the worst in my class to one of the best readers – all in the space of a year or two and kindling a new found love of books that remains to this day. Sad to say, though, I wasn’t out of the woods; in fact, this is where the real issue with my dyslexia started.

    Now I could read, articulate myself as well as the best of them, and had no real downside to my reading, so no obvious outward expression of my dyslexia until I started to write, and it was there I really showed how severe I had it. The fact was that most teachers, classmates, and the like couldn’t understand anything I wrote, so I stopped writing and did the bare minimum of notes in class, which was fine due to my ability to memorize things fairly well. I could still cope in class, but writing each year became more and more of an issue as the assessments got longer and longer, and my ability to string a coherent sentence together got weaker and weaker, resulting in the need for a scribe for my GCSE and A-levels. An issue that was slightly embarrassing at the time. But because I was good verbally and my recall was fine, I was able to sit for my exams, which I passed, and then I went to university. During my exam years I had stopped having specialist support lessons and help from teachers to try and improve my writing because of the severity of my writing meant that I had reached a point where the staff of the school I was at, as well as the staff at my university, didn’t know what to do me, being in the top 1% of dyslexic in the world. But although my writing structure could not improve, having a scribe in the exams allowed me to speak the answers, and as I could read and memorize things, this was fine. However, my lack of writing made it harder to really relate to people work-wise, as people couldn’t understand my emails, and most people find my text messages difficult to decipher!!

    My biggest issue at university, which was almost a forewarning for my later life, was that the majority of people don’t understand dyslexia and definitely don’t understand that it comes at different levels. My dissertation brought down my overall final grade at university because my dissertation tutor had no idea how bad I was and assumed I was like the majority of dyslexics he had seen with a “mild case,” as he put it, but saying that I finished uni, got my degree in History, and set off to join the army. A job I had been working towards for five years, mainly because I had realized at 14, during my first job, that the inability to write coherent sentences without someone checking them puts a big black mark against getting a lot of jobs. So I got myself fit and had always been good at sports, and assumed my life would center on practical things outdoors – a career without writing. An idea I assume a lot of dyslexics have – to get me as far away from writing as possible. Anyway, as fate would have it, it was because of my dyslexia that the army failed me during my officer assessment. I actually have a letter from them acknowledging that my dyslexia is the problem, and as they don’t have to comply with discrimination laws, that was the end of the road for me.

    A sting that took a long time to get over – I found it hard to accept that something I was born with would stop me from doing a career that I thought I was meant to do.

    From this point on though, a very strange thing happened, I started writing, creative writing, maybe to help better myself or to prove to myself that I could, I don’t know but I started writing reams and reams of stuff and then landed on my series, Riders of the North, and I wrote all three books back to back; the two short stories and the main full novel story. It was at this time that some of my family and friends heard about what I was doing and wanted to read them, to which I hesitantly obliged. Strangely enough, they seemed to like them with comments like “that’s good,” “very visual,” “great battle scenes, very bloody” started coming back to me, followed by “You should try to get that published.”

    Which leads me to here, probably the most severely dyslexic person you will meet who is an author with two books and a very small but still respectable audience, now trying to hit the big time and show the world that even if you are born with something that stops you from doing something, you still can. I shouldn’t be a writer. It’s crazy, if we bumped into each other in the street and you asked me to write down something for you, I probably couldn’t – or if I did, you wouldn’t understand it, but here I am with two books because of hard work and a good team around me. And it’s put me almost into a position that I believe I was born to occupy; writing my stories is something I really enjoy doing. It takes a lot of editing to get it to publication, but I want to show that with perseverance, it can be done. I have no contacts to make my route easy, no parent in publishing, no rich family to underwrite me, just a computer and a ton of hard work sprinkled with a bit of luck, and a heap load of dyslexia, which has made me so creative, something I now realize, and a good editor. So if you are dyslexic or know how hard dyslexia is to deal with, then please help me get my books out there to an even wider audience, and share them with your friends. If I can do it, anyone can, and I hope sharing my story will inspire others.

    Kindle USA: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=tomos+roberts
    Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=tomos+roberts

    Tomos Roberts
    Tomos Roberts

    Tomos Roberts’ Website: https://ridersofthenorth.wordpress.com/

  • Can Print-on-Demand (POD) Publishing Mean More Books for Readers with Dyslexia?

    Can Print-on-Demand (POD) Publishing Mean More Books for Readers with Dyslexia?

    By Theodore J. Cohen, PhD (aka ‘Alyssa Devine’)
    Award-Winning Author of The Hypnotist

    Anyone who’s self-published a book in the last ten years (or more), or who has ordered a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, or Kobo, among other online retailers, is probably familiar with the term print-on-demand, or POD, publishing. Simply put, the book you order isn’t printed until you order it . . . it is ‘printed on (your) demand’.

    That’s a tectonic shift from the way the retail book business used to be run. In the past, when a book was published, whether by a legacy publisher or so-called ‘vanity press’, a fixed number of books was printed and literally put on the shelf (or packed in boxes and stored in warehouses or garages) in hopes they eventually would find buyers. Today, thanks to advancements in printing technology, that’s no longer the case for those of us who publish our own books. (Legacy publishers still print thousands of books for distribution through their retail outlets, and eBooks are a completely different story altogether.) Our books—that is, those usually published by so-called ‘indie’ authors—are available ‘on demand’, thanks to a multitude of POD publishing houses around the US. If you want to see one of these presses in operation—and they truly are a marvel to behold—take a look at this Website:

    So, whether you want to purchase one or a hundred copies of a book available on demand, your order is not printed until it’s received and payment is tendered.

    How can this benefit readers with dyslexia? Well, I’m sure you’ve noticed that there are not many books with interiors specifically designed for readers with dyslexia. In fact, I recently did a search on Goodreads’ Website, and was able to find only a few books, including The New Testament, King James Version, printed in OpenDyslexic.

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1481290886

    For more books, check out these two Goodreads groups:

    https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/158134-dyslexia-friendly-publishing

    https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/75371-dyslexics-untie

    The fact is, despite one in five people being dyslexic, most books are not printed for dyslexics, something of which many of you are painfully aware. To some extent, those who labor under this condition compensate for it by adjusting the typeface of the eBook they are reading (perhaps trying such typefaces as Arial, Comic Sans, Verdana, and others), increasing the spacing of the letters and/or the lines, using left-justification only (if that is even an option), changing the color of the letters (e.g., using blue-colored text on a white background or even trying black on a light blue/pink/yellow background), and other ‘tricks’. And when it comes to paperbacks, options are slim to none. Unless someone has gone to great lengths, it’s highly unlikely you’ll encounter special colors for type and paper. Finally, in the case of Kindle readers, there is very little flexibility when it comes to the typefaces that can be displayed, unless you apply a ‘fix’ to your Kindle. (There is a ‘fix’, by the way, that does not require hacking, but few will go to the trouble.)

    So, how do we address the problem?

    Well, a step in the right direction would be to make more POD books available in formats that are ‘dyslexic friendly’, something I recently attempted using the interior of my Young Adult (YA) novel, The Hypnotist. I published this book earlier this year in Kindle and paperback formats under the pen name ‘Alyssa Devine’.

    Know, first, I am not dyslexic. But I came to appreciate the problems readers with dyslexia face not long ago when I read about the work of UK graphic designer Daniel Britton. Britton created a typeface that is intended to recreate for non-dyslexic readers the frustration and embarrassment people with dyslexia experience when they attempt to read newspapers, books, and other literature that most people are able to read every day of their lives. An example of simple text rendered in this typeface is shown below:

    Typeface Britton
    Typeface Britton

    It’s not easy to read, is it?! You can read more about Britton and his work at the following site:

    http://danielbritton.info/195836/2165784/design/dyslexia

    His work also was discussed recently in this article on CNN:

    http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/17/living/dyslexia-graphic-design-typeface-daniel-britton/index.html

    It was Britton’s work that inspired me to move forward with the creation of a special edition of The Hypnotist for readers with dyslexia.

    The first thing I had to do was select the font I was going to use. Without boring you with the details, I’ll refer the interested reader, as my professors used to say, to the following blog I wrote, which should answer most of your questions (and then some):

    https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3251724.Theodore_Jerome_Cohen/blog

    Suffice it to say, I selected OpenDyslexicAlta as my typeface of choice (the same one used in the version of The New Testament cited above). Frankly, the idea of using a typeface specifically designed for people with dyslexia appealed to me, and if it were to be free (‘open source’), so much the better. The Open Dyslexic typefaces fit the bill, here. Bottom heavy, with unique character shapes, help make it more difficult for the reader to confuse letters. You can read more here:

    http://opendyslexic.org/

    Once the font was selected, I quickly eliminated the text’s right justification, which I learned could confuse dyslexics, substituted OpenDyslexicAlta for the regular text’s Georgia typeface, adjusted the font size, and voila, that was it. Total elapsed time: about two hours.

    OpenDyslexicAlta
    OpenDyslexicAlta

    Now it was just a matter of obtaining a new piece of royalty-free artwork and configuring a special front cover (another two hours), and it was completed…the new edition was ready for uploading to Amazon’s CreateSpace for approval.

    By the way, I felt it only right to include the following statement on the book’s Amazon.com Web page:

    “This special edition of The Hypnotist is printed using OpenDyslexicAlta developed by Abelardo (Abbie) Gonzale: “Your brain can sometimes do funny things to letters. OpenDyslexicAlta tries to help prevent some of these things from happening. Letters have heavy weighted bottoms to add a kind of ‘gravity’ to each letter, helping to keep your brain from rotating them around in ways that can make them look like other letters. Consistently weighted bottoms can also help reinforce the line of text. The unique shapes of each letter can help prevent flipping and swapping.” You can get a good idea what the print looks like by using the LookInside feature on this Web page. Will the use of OpenDyslexicAlta help everyone with dyslexia? No. Because the expression of dyslexia in an individual is as unique as the individual him- or herself, no guarantee can be made that the use of OpenDyslexicAlta will help any given person with readability. This special edition of The Hypnotist, however, is intended, at the least, to provide an option to those readers with dyslexia who might be helped when reading books printed using the OpenDyslexicAlta typeface.”

    You’ll find the special edition of The Hypnotist for dyslexics here:

    http://www.amazon.com/dp/1514789337

    [NB: the LookInside feature may or may not be active when you read this; it often takes several days before the feature comes ‘live’.]

    Importantly, CreateSpace’s editors approved the book within 12 hours of submittal (actually, overnight), so theoretically, what was conceived as a project over dinner with my wife and editor, Susan, could have resulted in the book being available for sale on Amazon.com the next morning. That I waited until I was able to review a proof copy of the paperback edition three days later is simply good practice. (CreateSpace also gave me the option of reviewing the interior and cover online, but you never know what the final product will look like until you hold it in your hand.)

    So, to my question: Can print-on-demand publishing mean more books for readers with dyslexia? It can…if…IF…POD publishers, especially indie authors/publishers, take the time to create special editions for the 20% of the population that would benefit from access to books tailored to their needs.

    Theodore J. Cohen, PhD
    Theodore J. Cohen, PhD

    Editor’s note: The author welcomes your comments and feedback; you may reach him by e-mail through either of his Websites:

    http://www.theodore-cohen-novels.com/bio-contact.html

    http://alyssadevinenovels.com/contact.html