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Edited by Michael Posner, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, and approved April 23, 2012 (received for review April 4, 2012)
Abstract
Although the causes of dyslexia are still debated, all researchers agree that the main challenge is to find ways that allow a child with dyslexia to read more words in less time, because reading more is undisputedly the most efficient intervention for dyslexia. Sophisticated training programs exist, but they typically target the component skills of reading, such as phonological awareness. After the component skills have improved, the main challenge remains (that is, reading deficits must be treated by reading more—a vicious circle for a dyslexic child). Here, we show that a simple manipulation of letter spacing substantially improved text reading performance on the fly (without any training) in a large, unselected sample of Italian and French dyslexic children. Extra-large letter spacing helps reading, because dyslexics are abnormally affected by crowding, a perceptual phenomenon with detrimental effects on letter recognition that is modulated by the spacing between letters. Extra-large letter spacing may help to break the vicious circle by rendering the reading material more easily accessible.
Footnotes
↵1M.Z., C.B., and A.F. contributed equally to this work.
- ↵2To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: marco.zorzi{at}unipd.it.
Author contributions: M.Z., C.B., A.F., and I.L. designed research; C.B., M.C., M.M., L.B., F.G., and C.P.-G. performed research; M.Z., C.B., A.F., and J.C.Z. analyzed data; and M.Z. and J.C.Z. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
See Commentary on page 11064
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1205566109/-/DCSupplemental.
Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.
Wider letter spacing helps dyslexic readers
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- How the visual aspects can be crucial in reading acquisition: The intriguing case of crowding and developmental dyslexia
- Interletter spacing and dyslexia
- Reply to Skottun and Skoyles: Statistical and practical significance of extra-wide letter spacing for dyslexic children
- Helping dyslexic children attend to letters within visual word forms
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