People with Dyslexia find that the readability of a book or magazine article or an article on the internet will vary greatly depending on the font used to print the article. Font refers to the type face or the type style used to print. People with dyslexia have the tendency to be very sensitive to many of the typefaces used in print and on the screen today. One of the best aids that a school can provide is to use a font that is appropriate to meet the needs of the student with dyslexia.

Follow up:

Serif fonts are semi-structured with details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up words and symbols.  These little ticks and tails shown in red in the above illustration are found at the end of most strokes. They tend to hide the shapes of letters. Thus, most dyslexias prefer sans-serif fonts   without the ticks and tails. Sans-serif is widely used in traditionally printed material such as books and newspapers because the look is “cleaner.” However, studies of on-screen use of sans-serif are not as accepted. Low screen resolutions may make serifs more difficult to discern.

A number of web fonts have been made available by Microsoft with the aim of making reading on the screen more dyslexia friendly. Caution should be exercised as some of these fonts are really not meant for the dyslexia student.

Verdana is stated as dyslexia friendly. However, the descenders as in “p” and the ascenders as in “d” are short. The letters themselves are very professional and are clean and clear in all sizes and in all media.

Trebuchet MS is considered better than Verdana even though it still possesses the short descenders. The ascenders are reasonably long. Trebuchet MS has a small body size and generous line spacing.

There are literally thousands of fonts free on the web. Those that are distorted or strangely shaped are definitely unsuited for the dyslexic reader. Mac users are partial to Geneva while older Windows systems prefer Arial.

Many dyslexic adults find that Comic Sans is one of the most readable. It is found on Windows fonts. This blog is written in Comic Sans.  There are some people who find Comic Sans too bold, too childish or too informal.
To determine which is best for you or for the reader with which you are working, create a font page. Choose a font. Type at least three lines of sentences using the 12 point. Keep going through the fonts until the correct font is found for the reader. Try typing on colored paper or typing in colored font.

There are several fonts on the market that have been specifically designed for the student who has dyslexia. Here is a partial list:
Read Regular     www.readregular.com/english/regular.html
Lexia Readable  www.k-type.com (Free for individual use)
Tiresias   http://tiresias.org/fonts/fonts/ download.htm originally for visually impaired, (Free to download)
Sasson    www.clubtype.co.uk
Myriad Pro    www.myriadpro.com