A condensed summary of research by Patricia J. Henery, M.Ed., Susan Courey, Ph.D., and Mary Ann Chin Ng, M.A.

The following is a short, accessible summary of a research study examining how adjusting the visual presentation of written text may reduce decoding errors for dyslexic readers. The original research was conducted by Patricia J. Henery, Susan Courey, and Mary Ann Chin Ng.

For decades, most approaches to helping dyslexic readers have focused on training the reader—building phonemic awareness, practicing decoding, and strengthening language processing. But what if part of the solution lies not only in the reader, but in the text itself?

A research study led by Patricia J. Henery explored this question by examining whether adjusting the visual presentation of written text could help dyslexic students make fewer decoding errors when reading.

Why Look at Text Instead of the Reader?

Dyslexia affects approximately 15–20% of the population and is commonly associated with difficulty in accurate or fluent word recognition, spelling, and decoding. While much of the research and instruction around dyslexia focuses on phonological processing, growing research suggests that other factors—such as visual attention, eye movement control, and spatial processing—may also influence reading performance.

Yet most reading instruction assumes that printed text should remain fixed:

• standard fonts
• standard spacing

standard line length

Historically, this made sense—printed text could not easily be altered. But with modern digital technology, text can now be customized to suit the visual needs of individual readers.

Henery and her colleagues set out to test whether these kinds of adjustments could reduce reading errors for dyslexic students.

The Study

The research team conducted a pilot study with 137 students in grades three through five from four private elementary schools in Northern California. Participants included:

• students diagnosed with dyslexia or specific learning disabilities
• low-achieving readers
• typically achieving readers

Students read passages from the Analytic Reading Inventory in two formats:

1. Standard text
2. Adjusted text

The adjusted text was presented on an iPad, allowing researchers to easily modify visual features of the passage.

Researchers then recorded reading miscues such as:

• omissions
• insertions
• substitutions
• reversals
• repetitions
• total reading errors

What Was Different About the Adjusted Text?

The adjusted text included several visual changes designed to make words easier to distinguish:

• larger font size
• increased line spacing
• greater spacing between words
• expanded letter spacing
• hyphenation of multisyllabic words
• confusable letters (b, d, p, q, h, y, f, t, w, m, n, u) changed to uppercase

These changes aimed to reduce the kinds of visual confusion dyslexic readers often experience.

What the Researchers Found

The results were encouraging.

Students with dyslexia in third and fourth grade showed significant reductions in reading errors when reading adjusted text compared to standard text.

Key improvements included reductions in:

• omissions (skipping words)
• reversals (confusing letters like b and d)
• total reading errors

In fourth grade particularly, dyslexic readers showed significant reductions in omissions, insertions, substitutions, and overall errors when using the adjusted text.

Interestingly, the adjusted text had little effect on proficient readers, suggesting that the changes primarily helped those who struggled most.

What Happened in Fifth Grade?

By fifth grade, the benefits were less consistent. Researchers believe this may be because older struggling readers have already developed strategies for coping with traditional text formats. When the visual presentation changes, those strategies may initially conflict with the new format.

This raises an important question:

Would earlier exposure to adjusted text produce stronger long-term benefits?

Why This Research Matters

The findings suggest an important shift in thinking.

For centuries, readers had to adapt themselves to the printed page. Today, digital technology allows us to explore the opposite approach—adapting the page to the reader.

The research conducted by Patricia J. Henery and her colleagues suggests that customizable text may become an important complement to traditional reading instruction, particularly for dyslexic learners.

Looking Ahead

As technology continues to evolve, tools that allow readers to personalize how text appears may play a growing role in helping struggling readers access written language more successfully.