This video has been around for a while, but it is so cool and such a great example, again, of how technology can help kids with special needs - in this case, specifically dyslexia.
If you go to this YouTube video, you will see a demonstration of a new typeface called "dyslexie", which was designed by a guy with dyslexia to be more readable and cause fewer errors for people with dyslexia. (You can also go to the guy's website, but it's mostly in Dutch and I don't speak Dutch).
The idea is to have the font itself be a tool for reducing errors. So, as the video explains, the English alphabet was not designed with dyslexia in mind! There are only 26 letters, and many of them look alike - v and w, i and j, d and b and p and q. The problem is ascerbated by sans serif fonts that are widely used (like Arial, and Helvetica, and ones that like.) So, "dyslexie" emphasizes differences between letters, weights the letters on the bottom so that it's easier to see a "d" instead of a "p", angles some letters to make them look different, and emphasizes punctuation and the capital letters at sentence beginnings (so that it's easier to know when the sentence ends and a new sentence starts).
According to one study at the University of Twente, this actually works. Now, it wouldn't hurt to have a few more studies verifying it, but hey, the essential points are still there: (1) make letters look more distinct from each other and; (2) make it easier to know when sentences begin and end.
I think it's so awesome when people use technology in creative ways to solve problems like this. Practically speaking, I'm not sure how to get dyslexie across the pond and into books for kids (or onto computer screens). But I appreciate now knowing that a couple of simple changes in the way words are presented could make life easier for a kid with dyslexia.
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