Abstract
M.Ed. (Educational Psychology)
Reading is a daily skill that is used by millions of people all over the world. Reading problems influence reading ability and one of these is Dyslexia. Dyslexia is a neurobiological-originating learning disability that is characterised by difficulties in accurate, fluent word recognition as well as poor spelling and decoding abilities (International Dyslexia Association, 2002). Dyslexia thus forms a barrier between reading accurately – it can be so severe that Dyslexic readers cannot even read well enough to understand the prescription instructions on a medicine bottle (Davis, 2014). Research over the years has been done to see if there are products and adjustments that can be made to decrease the effects of Dyslexia.
The Dyslexie font aims to decrease the effect of Dyslexia on reading – it claims to decrease the number of faults that are made as well as increase the reading rate when it is used. This claim has been put the test in this research study. A standardised, normed assessment, namely the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability II test from Great Britain was used. The benefits of using a British test greatly outweigh the limitations of using it on a South African population. Matched sampling was used on seven participants who fell into one of three groups, namely Dyslexic readers, struggling readers and on-par readers. A quasi-experimental pre- and post-test design was used, where a frequently used font (Times New Roman) was compared to the Dyslexie Font. Three statistical methods were employed to gather results – the Wilcoxon matched pairs signed rank test, between groups analysis and individual analysis.
Mixed results needing further investigation were found. With the Wilcoxon matched pairs signed rank test there were no significant differences between the groups in the pre- and post-test scores. In the between-groups analysis positive changes were seen in the pre- and post-test for the Dyslexie readers, but small to negative changes were seen in the other two groups. Results in the individual analysis showed major decreases in the Dyslexic readers’ time used for the assessment. Overall, the conclusion is that there is a change in the rate, accuracy, and level for Dyslexic readers when they used the Dyslexie font – however, the changes are not significant enough to warrant its use as the solution for all Dyslexic readers. More research with larger sample sizes and more variety...