Good news for anyone with dyslexia:  Read faster and comprehend more of what you’re reading by using an E-Reader. Research at the Simthsonian shows  that if you set your e-reading device to display a few words per line,  you’ll increase your speed of reading and you’ll understand more when compared to reading conventional books.

The e-reader set-up works for some dyslexics because:

  1. They often have visual attention deficit — meaning they can’t concentrate on letters within words or words within lines of text.
  2. They can’t concentrate on letters within words or words within lines of text.

The researcher also tracked eyeball movements and found that the use of short lines facilitated reading by improving the efficiency of eye movements.

I don’t have dyslexia, but I’ve noticed that I read faster on a hand-held device. I have to set it up so the words are larger, because my sight is getting worse as I age. My dyslexic husband reads faster on his Kindle app on his phone, and when he reads on his laptop he moves the cursor under every word. He must have good finger dexterity. I always noticed that he was continually using his touchpad and I finally asked him “what are you doing?”

Since we have one son with dyslexia, I’ve become more aware of their challenges. And gifts. If you are homeschooling, or if your dyslexic child is in public school, get them on an e-reader and set it up with a few words per line. See if it works.  I’m thinking it may work for more of us than just the dyslexics.

Some options for E-Readers:

how to size the font in Kindle on laptop