Living with learning difficulties may need the person or the people around them to ensure some easy strategies to bridge the communication gap. Even for messaging a few tips implemented can make communication successful.
When readers with learning difficulties type text, they might sometimes experience visual distortion. These symptoms vary in severity from person to person, but they can make texting difficult. The most common effects they may face are the River effect, the Blur effect, and The washout effect. With these impediments, reading or writing a text on a digital screen may need them to ensure a few enhancing strategies.
A gripping comprehension of the challenges that special people may face can determine appropriate solutions. Here we have listed out a few insights and tips to make texting effective and effortless to and as a dyslexic. Fascinatingly, these can be effortlessly employed, proving to be assistive for you.
Texting a dyslexic person?- Here are strategies that succor!
There are a few tricks you may find effective to make your writing more accessible to dyslexics.
1. Write short, simple, and easy-to-understand sentences:
To begin with, compose short, uncomplicated sentences. Keep your sentences concise and to the point. Straightforward words should be used instead of sophisticated terms, also subject-verb-object pattern is preferable. If you’re creating a set of instructions, make fragments out of it, no matter how simple they are. In pointer form, try to keep your paragraphs brief.
2. Avoid Irrelevant abbreviations
Avoid employing acronyms that aren’t essential. Special pupils may have a hard time remembering abbreviations; therefore, minimizing them is a good idea. This type of writing is both tedious and unpleasant to read. Nonetheless, in other circumstances, the long-form is inconvenient, or the acronym is more widely used than the original name. It’s considerably easier to use ASAP than its universal full form, i.e As soon as possible. When you encounter these cases, feel free to use the abbreviated version.
3. Interletter spacing
Readability is improved by decent inter-letter spacing. The spacing between words may preferably be at least 3.5 times the gap between letters. Underlining and italics may be avoided since they might make the text appear to run together and produce crowding. Use bold for emphasis since it will draw the reader’s attention to the content. Avoid using uppercase/capital letters and small caps in your content because they are less recognizable to the reader and more difficult to read.
What color text is best for dyslexia?
In regard to individuals with learning difficulties, the significance of colours in readability has been thoroughly examined. According to a study, people with dyslexia typically prefer lesser brightness and colour contrasts between text and backdrop compared to the average reader.
For those with dyslexia, the colour combinations of black and white or blue and white may be pleasant. These are also the most widely used colours. The pairs of brown & dark green and blue & yellow were included in the study because special aspirants may prefer them since the duo of brown & dark green has less colour contrast. When colour pairs have lower contrasts, these readers read faster. For example, they may like a combination of black and creme.
What aspects of texting does dyslexia affect and what can they do differently?
Individuals with a learning difficulty may need to be versed with textism to ensure identification in today’s digital world. Accordingly, comprehending the need to master spelling/writing pattern to use them effectively may be obligatory. Dyslexia appeared to influence the child’s choice of contractions, symbols, and mixed words in texting. The nature of these textism categories is L-S (logography to semantics).
Here are a few strategies to ameliorate people with learning difficulties while they send or read a text:
1. Voice typing
As we now know, typing can be challenging for persons who have difficulty reading. As a result, voice typing is an option. So, what exactly is voice typing?
Voice typing, as defined by Google, is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and computational linguistics that translates voice to text. It is being used by an increasing number of students. Students can use this technology to dictate ideas to a computer, which then types them for them. Today, most of the popular texting apps come with voice typing options, making it convenient for special individuals.
2. Considering screen readers
Screen readers, as the name suggests, convert text on the screen to voice for easy inferencing. While not all the options may be accurate enough, choosing a fitting one is crucial. Further, these softwares often go by regulations of the language grammar. Consequently, the sender may need to be careful while drafting. Say, irrelevant punctuation may impact the intent and meaning of the message.
3. Spelling Checker apps
Learning to type and text may be appreciable. Nonetheless, spelling mistakes may be often evident. To assist with the same, some spelling checking apps may be employed to enhance the quality of messages effortlessly. This practice may also assist the sender to master grammar over time.
Further, having apps that can convert hand scribbles to letters may let them easily make out messaging information.
Summing lines
Texting a message to someone with dyslexia shouldn’t be that much of a difficult task, especially when appropriate strategies are ensured. It is acceptable that they may feel it strenuous at the beginning. With alternative plans of action like typing or changes in size and font may make it manageable for them.
Further, communicating with others about their condition may also assist in the long span. Check out the above insights to make sure minor facilitating traits make communication easier with or being an inclined learning individual.
An engineer, Maths expert, Online Tutor and animal rights activist. In more than 5+ years of my online teaching experience, I closely worked with many students struggling with dyscalculia and dyslexia. With the years passing, I learned that not much effort being put into the awareness of this learning disorder. Students with dyscalculia often misunderstood for having just a simple math fear. This is still an underresearched and understudied subject. I am also the founder of Smartynote -‘The notepad app for dyslexia’,