TY - JOUR
T1 - Extra-large letter spacing improves reading in dyslexia
AU - Zorzi, Marco
AU - Barbiero, Chiara
AU - Facoetti, Andrea
AU - Lonciari, Isabella
AU - Carrozzi, Marco
AU - Montico, Marcella
AU - Bravar, Laura
AU - George, Florence
AU - Pech-Georgel, Catherine
AU - Ziegler, Johannes C.
PY - 2012/7/10
Y1 - 2012/7/10
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Orthographic processing
KW - Print
KW - Visual-attentional deficits
KW - Word recognition
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84863951768&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84863951768&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1205566109
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1205566109
M3 - Article
C2 - 22665803
AN - SCOPUS:84863951768
VL - 109
SP - 11455
EP - 11459
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
SN - 0027-8424
IS - 28
ER -