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Dyslexia Font and Text to Speech

Table of Contents

  • Open Source Dyslexia Fonts
  • Chrome Text to Speech
  • Mac Text to Speech

Open Source Dyslexia Fonts

OpenDyslexic and Dyslexie are unique fonts designed to increase readability for those who have Dyslexia. They are characterised by a heavy base line, alternating tail lengths on letters, large letter openings, and a slight slant. These qualities provide each letter with a unique form more easily recognizable than many standard typefaces.

These typefaces do not work for everyone. In fact, if you have a critique or suggestion, both publishers are continually updating and improving their designs based on reader feedback.

  • For instructions on adding a font to your computer, check out the MacOS Font Boook article on the Knowledgebase. 
  • To add a font to your web browser, go to OpenDyslexic: Get It Free and select the Browser extension for example Chrome. You will be prompted to "add an extension"; when you are ready to use it, click on the extension icon in your browser, enable the extension, and save your changes. This will allow your browser windows to be viewed in the OpenDyslexic font. 

Chrome Text to Speech

If you have trouble reading text on your screen on webpages, the Google Chrome search engine allows you to highlight text and have it read to you.

  1. Highlight the text you want read and right click (2 finger click).
  2. In the options, scroll down and hover over “Speech.”
  3. Select “start speaking.”

Mac Text to Speech

If you have trouble reading text on your screen, you can have your Mac speak text that’s on the screen when you press a key or set of keys.

  1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences
  2. Click Accessability
  3. Click Speech 
  4. Select the “Speak selected text when the key is pressed” checkbox
  5. By default, speaking is enabled when you press Option-Esc. To choose a different key, click Change Key, press one or more modifier keys (Command, Shift, Option, or Control) together with another key, then click OK.
  6. To have your Mac start speaking, press the specified key. To stop the speaking, press the key again.
  7. If text is selected when you press the key, the selected text is spoken

 

If you have any questions contact Teaching and Learning Excellence at tale@mcad.edu

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