OpenDyslexic

Schools are becoming increasingly tech-centric. Many schools are switching to a 1:1 classroom format, a form of teaching best defined here, but what in essence marks a shift in education towards some sort of internet-accessible device for every student. In many school systems that can afford it, this device is a Chromebook. When I taught briefly in Lexington 3, and when I myself attended school in Richland 2, every student was given a Chromebook. Now that I work in Charleston County, I see the same pattern reflected here. As a result, educators are using Chromebooks to do awesome things with their students as varied, interactive information is more accessible than ever before.

In my own classroom, I used the computers to my advantage, asking students to locate news articles often for analysis and presentation as a weekly "news of the week" activity that aimed to improve literacy, comprehension, analysis skills, and general global awareness. But in this activity and others like it, there was a problem. Students with dyslexia and other issues with visual processing struggled with comprehension, and their progress was slow. Reading off a screen was hard enough as it was, but add in an odd font and dense paragraphs and things were made even harder. I encouraged them to copy and paste the article into Google Docs and change the font to something more readable, but this was not always possible, or even time-conscious. I wish I had known then what I know know: OpenDyslexic is a life saver.

OpenDyslexic is a Chrome extension that overrides all fonts on web pages and replaces them with the OpenDyslexic font, which is much easier for those with dyslexia to process and read. The video above outlines step-by-step how to download and utilize this awesome piece of software that is ENTIRELY FREE and easy to access for all Google Chrome users.

The best way to utilize OpenDyslexic is to inform students about it before they even need it. Inform students on the first day about this excellent tool available to them so that they can begin benefitting from it right away. Even those without dyslexia can benefit from this readable, clear font.

Comments

  1. Mary StaleyOctober 13, 2019 at 2:54 PM

    I have never heard of this tool. I do know that the choice of font and colors make things even more easily read or the opposite, cause problems with readability. Seems like this tool automatically makes it more compliant and easier to read. I see this tool being used by both students and teachers. Teachers can write out their assignments then plug them in to get modified before releasing them to the students. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rachel HellmanOctober 15, 2019 at 5:20 PM

    This is such a great resource to know about! I knew about the OpenDyslexic font in general, as it is an accessibility option in the ebook platform my public library system uses, but the fact that it is free and can be enabled in Chrome is a game-changer!

    ReplyDelete
  3. KennitaOctober 20, 2019 at 1:26 PM

    I had never heard of OpenDyslexic. I can't wait to share this tool with teachers, students, and even some of my friends and family members on social media. I'm not dyslexic, but not every font is easy to read, especially some of the fun or stylish fonts. I can't wait to give it a try!

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