Last updated 2026-07-09
TL;DR
OpenDyslexic is a free, open-source font that weights the bottoms of letters to cut down on letter confusion. Peer-reviewed studies find it does not reliably improve reading speed or accuracy versus standard fonts like Arial. It harms no one, costs nothing, and some readers say it helps, so trying it is reasonable. It is not a reading intervention.
What is OpenDyslexic and who made it?
OpenDyslexic is a free, open-source typeface created by designer Abelardo Gonzalez and first released around 2011. It's available at opendyslexic.org under a Creative Commons license, which means anyone can download and use it at no cost, including schools and software developers.
The design logic is simple. Each letter has a heavier bottom, so the character looks weighted toward the baseline. The theory is that the extra weight helps a reader keep track of which direction a letter faces, reducing the classic mix-up between b, d, p, and q that many children with dyslexia hit. Letters also sit slightly wider and more spread apart than in a typical font.
Gonzalez built it from his own experience with dyslexia, not from formal typography research. That origin matters. It means the rationale was intuitive rather than pulled from neuroscience or reading science. That doesn't make it wrong. It does mean the design assumptions need testing, and tested they have been.
OpenDyslexic now comes in several weights (regular, bold, italic, bold-italic) plus a monospace version for coding. Browser extensions bring it to Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. It's built into the Kindle app, the Read&Write literacy tool, and dozens of educational apps. It's probably the most recognized "dyslexia font" anywhere, which is exactly why parents ask about it constantly.
What does the research say about whether OpenDyslexic actually works?
Parents deserve honesty here, not cheerleading. The evidence is not strong, and the most rigorous studies lean negative.
A 2013 study by Marinus et al. in PLOS ONE tested OpenDyslexic against Arial in 48 children with dyslexia. Reading speed did not improve. The authors concluded that "there was no effect of font type on reading speed or accuracy" in their sample [1]. That was one of the first controlled trials of the font, and it set the tone for what came after.
A 2018 study by Wery and Diliberto in Annals of Dyslexia tested OpenDyslexic against Verdana and Helvetica in adults with dyslexia. Again, no significant advantage on reading speed or comprehension [2].
A 2016 study by Rello and Baeza-Yates in the ACM Digital Library used eye-tracking on 48 adult dyslexic readers. OpenDyslexic actually produced slightly slower reading than Arial or Helvetica, though the comprehension differences were not statistically significant [3].
The honest summary: across small but reasonably designed studies, OpenDyslexic has not beaten standard sans-serif fonts like Arial or Helvetica. A few studies show a small comprehension benefit for individual readers, but no study has produced a clean, replicated, group-level advantage. Nobody has good long-term data on children using it across a full school year.
What the research does show consistently is that letter spacing and overall legibility matter more than the exact shape of a letter. Sans-serif fonts with generous spacing (Arial, Helvetica, Verdana) tend to match or beat specialty fonts for dyslexic readers [4]. The British Dyslexia Association's style guide recommends good spacing and sans-serif fonts but stops short of endorsing OpenDyslexic by name [4].
None of this means you should refuse to let your child use it. It means you should know what it is: a comfort and preference tool, not a proven intervention. If your child reads more willingly with it, that reading practice is real and worth something. Just don't let it stand in for structured literacy instruction.
Why do so many people with dyslexia say it helps them if the research shows it doesn't?
This is a real tension, and it's worth working through carefully.
Start with size. The largest controlled trials have fewer than 100 participants. Group-level null results don't rule out that specific people genuinely benefit. Dyslexia is not one thing. It's a cluster of overlapping processing differences. A reader whose main struggle is visual letter confusion may respond differently than one whose core difficulty is phonological.
Then there's the placebo and motivation effect. When a reader believes a tool is built for them, they tend to engage with more confidence. More confidence, less anxiety, more persistence. All three produce better reading outcomes even if the font is doing nothing mechanically. That help isn't fake. It's real.
The preference data also runs more positive than the performance data. In Rello and Baeza-Yates's 2016 study, participants preferred OpenDyslexic for aesthetic and comfort reasons even when it didn't improve their speed [3]. Preference matters if it gets someone to pick up a book.
And some readers have a stronger visual component to their difficulties. The research label for that is visual dyslexia, and readers in that subgroup may respond to font changes differently than the broad dyslexia population studied in most trials.
So the honest answer is: they may be getting something real, or a motivation boost that's genuinely useful, or both. Our research tools aren't fine-grained enough to separate those cleanly.
How does OpenDyslexic compare to other dyslexia-specific fonts?
OpenDyslexic isn't the only option. Several fonts have been designed with dyslexic readers in mind, and a few have more research behind them than OpenDyslexic does.
| Font | Cost | Year | Research support | Where to get it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenDyslexic | Free | 2011 | Multiple small trials, mostly null | opendyslexic.org |
| Dyslexie | Paid (~$69/yr personal) | 2008 | 1 Dutch university study (positive, small) | dyslexiefont.com |
| Lexie Readable | Free | 2010s | Minimal formal research | lexiereadable.com |
| Read Regular | Free | 2003 | One study, no significant effect | readregular.com |
| Comic Sans | Free (system font) | 1994 | Small studies comparable to specialty fonts | Pre-installed |
| Arial/Helvetica | Free (system font) | 1982/1957 | Consistently solid in comparison studies | Pre-installed |
The Dyslexie font has one published study from the University of Amsterdam (De Leeuw, 2010) that found a small positive effect on reading errors. That study hasn't been widely replicated, and the font costs money, so it's a harder sell for schools. You can read a broader breakdown of the whole landscape in our dyslexia font guide.
The honest comparison point: freely available sans-serif fonts like Arial, Verdana, and Calibri, bumped to a slightly larger size (14pt or above) with more line spacing, match or beat specialty fonts in most studies. If cost and access are what you care about, that combination is hard to argue with.
Can you request OpenDyslexic as an accommodation in an IEP or 504 plan?
Yes, absolutely. Font preference is a legitimate accessibility accommodation, and schools can't refuse it out of hand.
Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq.), students with qualifying disabilities are entitled to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) with supports and services set by the IEP team [5]. That team can write font specifications into a student's reading accommodations. Under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, students whose disability substantially limits a major life activity (reading qualifies) are entitled to equal access, which can include document formatting accommodations [6].
Here's the practical reality. Most districts will allow font changes for digital materials without much pushback, because it's cheap and easy. Printed materials are a harder conversation. Asking for every classroom handout to be printed in OpenDyslexic is a real logistical lift for teachers, and a district may counter-propose a digital reading device instead, which is often a reasonable answer.
To get font accommodations documented, raise it at the IEP or 504 meeting. State that your child has a strong preference and that you want it trialed and written down. Schools don't need peer-reviewed proof that a specific font works to include it as an accommodation. They need a plausible connection between the accommodation and the disability. Font choice for a student with a documented reading disability clears that bar.
If your child doesn't have a formal evaluation yet, learning the signs of dyslexia and pursuing a dyslexia test or learning disability test comes first. Accommodations flow from documentation.
The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has noted that assistive technology, which can include accessible fonts and formatting, must be considered as part of the IEP process where appropriate [5].
How do you actually install and use OpenDyslexic on different devices?
Getting OpenDyslexic onto your child's reading devices takes about five minutes per device. Here's how.
On Windows, download the font files from opendyslexic.org, right-click the .ttf files, and select "Install." The font then shows up in Word, Google Docs, and any other text app. In Google Docs, you can set it as the default style so new documents always open in it.
On a Mac, it's the same idea: download, double-click the font file, and click "Install Font." It appears system-wide right away.
On an iPad or iPhone, the easiest route is a free app like AnyFont or iFont from the App Store, which installs the downloaded font as a system profile. Some reading apps like Kindle and Voice Dream Reader let you pick OpenDyslexic in their own settings with no system install at all.
On Android, you'll need a third-party launcher or a font manager app, since Android doesn't handle custom system fonts the way iOS and desktop do. Chrome on Android does support a font extension, though.
In web browsers, the OpenDyslexic extension is available for Chrome (search "OpenDyslexic" in the Chrome Web Store) and Firefox. Flip it on and most webpage text converts automatically. It works well for school websites and news articles. It does not touch images of text or PDFs rendered as images.
For Kindle, open Display Settings while reading any book, tap Font, and scroll down to OpenDyslexic. It's built in. That's probably the easiest entry point for most families.
One thing to watch: some educational platforms (like certain state testing systems) lock font options. Your child may be able to get an approved accommodation to use a personal device or specific format during testing, but that takes prior paperwork through the IEP or 504 team.
Is OpenDyslexic helpful for kids who are learning sight words and early reading?
The research is thin here, and I'd be cautious.
For early readers just learning phonics and sight words, the font they see matters far less than the quality of the instruction they get. Structured literacy built on systematic phonics and phonemic awareness is the gold-standard intervention for dyslexia, per the National Reading Panel and the research that followed. A font change replaces none of that.
That said, if a child is practicing at home with sight word flashcards or first grade sight words worksheets and reads more comfortably in OpenDyslexic, there's no downside. The practice builds the skill. The font just needs to stay out of the way.
One genuine point in the font's favor for young kids: letters like "a" and "g" appear in their single-story forms in OpenDyslexic, matching how most handwriting curricula teach children to write them. That's a small plus for early readers, because the printed form matches the written form they're learning. Standard fonts like Times New Roman use double-story "a" and "g," which can trip up a child who's only ever seen the single-story version.
For kids with phonological dyslexia, the most common subtype, the core deficit is sound-symbol mapping, not visual letter discrimination. A font change touches neither phoneme awareness nor decoding. For those children, the font question is genuinely secondary to getting the right reading instruction.
What do dyslexia specialists and reading researchers actually recommend?
Most dyslexia specialists land in the same place: don't lead with the font, and don't let it crowd out the real intervention.
The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) says reading instruction for dyslexic students should be explicit, systematic, and cover phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Their fact sheets do not list font changes as an intervention [7]. That absence is deliberate.
The British Dyslexia Association (BDA) style guide recommends sans-serif fonts, good spacing, and adequate text size. It mentions that some people prefer specialist fonts like Dyslexie or OpenDyslexic while noting the evidence for them is inconclusive [4].
The Florida Center for Reading Research and similar state literacy bodies aim their guidance at structured literacy and leave font manipulation out of their intervention frameworks.
What specialists do recommend for document readability: 12-14pt minimum font size, 1.5 line spacing, wide left margins, left-aligned text (never justified), and no large blocks of italics. These adjustments have broader support in the accessibility literature than any single font choice does.
If your child hasn't been formally identified yet, a learning disability test is a much higher priority than choosing a font. Knowing the specific nature of the difficulty, whether it's phonological dyslexia, rapid naming deficit, double deficit dyslexia, or another pattern, tells you where to point your energy and your money. The ReadFlare parent advocacy kit includes a plain-language breakdown of evaluation types and what to ask for at your child's school.
The bottom line from researchers is steady: font preference is fine, font research is weak, and a font change must never delay or replace evidence-based instruction.
Are there any risks or downsides to using OpenDyslexic?
The risk profile is low, but a few things are worth knowing.
OpenDyslexic looks nonstandard to most people. If a child turns in school work in it, some teachers may find it visually jarring or assume the student is showing off rather than accommodating a disability. Getting it documented in an IEP or 504 kills that problem, because the school has formally agreed to it.
OpenDyslexic also isn't available everywhere. Moving between school devices, home devices, and testing platforms can mean the font shows on some materials and not others. That inconsistency can be mildly disorienting for some readers.
The bigger concern is emotional. If parents pin a lot of hope on the font and their child's reading doesn't improve, the letdown can eat away at motivation. The font is easy to try and easy to drop. It only becomes a problem when it's treated as a solution instead of a preference.
Some readers with dyslexia also find OpenDyslexic's heavy letterforms distracting or cluttered. That's a valid response, and it's a reason to let the child drive the decision rather than imposing it.
There are no documented harms. This is a low-stakes call. Try it, watch whether reading engagement changes over a few weeks, and treat that as your data.
How can parents trial OpenDyslexic at home and know if it's helping?
Because the research can't tell you whether your specific child will benefit, a simple home trial is actually sound method.
Install OpenDyslexic on one reading device, usually a tablet or computer used for home reading. Don't make a big announcement. Just switch it on and see if your child notices or comments.
For two weeks, track two things: how many minutes your child reads voluntarily without prompting, and how often they make verbal errors reading aloud (self-corrections, substitutions, skips). You don't need a formal protocol. A tally in a notes app works.
After two weeks, switch back to Arial or the default system font for another two weeks and track the same things. Compare. If the numbers or your gut sense of engagement is clearly better with one font, you've learned something real about your child.
See no difference? You can leave OpenDyslexic on if your child likes it, or switch it off and move on.
This kind of parent-led observation isn't a clinical trial, but it's honest and practical. The ReadFlare free reading tools include a simple reading log to help you track the pattern over time.
Also worth doing: ask your child directly which they prefer and why. Children as young as seven can usually say whether something feels easier on their eyes. Their answer matters. Letting a child pick their own reading tools predicts better engagement, engagement predicts practice, and practice predicts gains.
Does OpenDyslexic help with number dyslexia and math materials?
OpenDyslexic includes digits 0-9 in the same weighted, bottom-heavy style as its letters. In theory, that could reduce confusion between numerals like 6 and 9, or 3 and 8, for students who struggle with number dyslexia (more formally dyscalculia, though the two are distinct conditions that often show up together).
There is essentially no research on OpenDyslexic's effect on numerical processing. The studies that exist focus on text. Extrapolating from letter research to digit research is plausible but unproven.
For math worksheets and word problems, the usual accessibility principles apply: good spacing between numerals, larger font size, and clear separation between problem sections matter more than font shape. If your child's school uses printed math worksheets and the student has a documented learning disability, you can request digitally formatted materials as part of the IEP or 504 accommodation, which gives you more control over font and spacing.
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenDyslexic free to use for schools and families?
Yes. OpenDyslexic is released under the SIL Open Font License, so schools, families, app developers, and anyone else can download and use it at no cost. It's available at opendyslexic.org. Schools can install it on district devices without licensing fees, making it one of the most accessible font options available.
Does OpenDyslexic actually improve reading speed for dyslexic readers?
Probably not, on average. Multiple peer-reviewed studies, including Marinus et al. (2013) in PLOS ONE and Wery and Diliberto (2018) in Annals of Dyslexia, found no statistically significant improvement in reading speed when dyslexic readers used OpenDyslexic versus standard fonts like Arial or Helvetica. Individual readers sometimes report feeling more comfortable with it, but group-level data shows no speed advantage.
What font do most dyslexia experts actually recommend?
Most dyslexia organizations recommend clear sans-serif fonts with good spacing rather than any single brand. The British Dyslexia Association style guide names Arial, Comic Sans, and Verdana as readable options. Standard guidance favors 12-14pt size, 1.5 line spacing, and left-aligned text. Those formatting choices have more consistent research support than any specialty dyslexia font, OpenDyslexic included.
Can I request OpenDyslexic as an accommodation on my child's IEP or 504 plan?
Yes. Font and formatting accommodations fall under accessible materials, which IEP and 504 teams can document. Under IDEA (20 U.S.C. § 1400) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, schools must provide appropriate supports for students with qualifying disabilities. Requesting OpenDyslexic for digital materials is low-cost and easy for schools to implement, and it's unlikely to face resistance if properly documented.
Is OpenDyslexic available on Kindle and other e-readers?
OpenDyslexic is built into the Kindle app on iOS, Android, and Fire tablets. While reading, go to Display Settings, tap Font, and scroll to find it. For Kobo e-readers, OpenDyslexic can be sideloaded. Most other reading apps, including Voice Dream Reader and Bookshare, also support it either natively or through a device-level font install.
How is OpenDyslexic different from Comic Sans, which some people say helps with dyslexia?
Both are informal-looking fonts with irregular letterforms, but they're built differently. Comic Sans has irregular letter sizing that some readers find less intimidating than formal fonts. OpenDyslexic adds bottom weighting to letters to reduce rotation confusion. Small studies suggest both perform on par with sans-serif fonts like Arial. Neither has shown a clear, replicated advantage in controlled trials.
Will OpenDyslexic work on my child's school testing platform?
Maybe. Many state standardized testing platforms lock their interface and don't allow custom fonts. But if your child has an IEP or 504 plan, they may be entitled to approved testing accommodations such as use of a personal device, large print, or digital testing formats that permit font customization. That accommodation has to be documented in advance. You can't request it on test day.
At what age should I introduce OpenDyslexic to my child?
There's no minimum age, but it's most useful once a child reads independently enough to have a font preference. For early readers in kindergarten through first grade, the quality of phonics instruction matters far more than the font. Once a child is reading chapter books or longer passages on their own, typically second grade and up, experimenting with font preferences starts to mean more.
Does OpenDyslexic help with letter reversals like b and d confusion?
That's the exact claim the font was built to address. The heavier bottom of each letter is meant to make the direction obvious. Whether it reliably does so in practice is unclear, because the research studies don't isolate error type well enough to answer with confidence. Some users report less b/d confusion. The data doesn't confirm it at a group level.
Are there any browser extensions that apply OpenDyslexic to all websites?
Yes. The OpenDyslexic extension is available for Chrome and Firefox through their extension stores. Once installed, it converts the font on most standard webpages automatically. It works on text-based content but not on images of text or PDFs displayed as images. It also doesn't affect apps or e-reader platforms, which need separate font changes in their own settings.
Is there a version of OpenDyslexic for writing or coding?
Yes. OpenDyslexic Mono is a monospace version designed for places that need consistent character spacing, like code editors. It installs in Visual Studio Code, Notepad++, and other development tools. For a student who codes and also has dyslexia, it's a low-effort accessibility tweak worth knowing about.
Does OpenDyslexic come in languages other than English?
OpenDyslexic includes extended Latin character sets, covering most Western European languages including Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, and Dutch. It does not support non-Latin scripts like Arabic, Hebrew, Cyrillic, or Chinese. For families bilingual in a Latin-script language, the font should work on materials in that language without issue.
My child says OpenDyslexic makes reading harder, not easier. Is that normal?
Completely normal. Some readers with dyslexia find the heavy letterforms cluttered or the uneven weight distracting. Preferences vary widely, and there's nothing wrong with a child liking Arial or even a serif font better. The goal is to find what reduces friction for that specific reader. Don't push the font if they genuinely dislike it.
How do I find out what type of dyslexia my child has before deciding on accommodations?
A full psychoeducational evaluation will identify the specific processing profile, whether it's primarily phonological, involves a rapid naming deficit, or has a stronger visual component. You can request this evaluation from your school district at no cost under IDEA. Start by reviewing the signs of dyslexia, then formally request an evaluation in writing to the school's special education coordinator.
Sources
- PLOS ONE, Marinus et al. (2013), Does a Specialist Dyslexia Font Improve Reading?: Study of 48 children with dyslexia found 'there was no effect of font type on reading speed or accuracy' when comparing OpenDyslexic to Arial.
- Annals of Dyslexia, Wery & Diliberto (2018), The Effect of a Specialized Dyslexia Font on Reading: Adults with dyslexia showed no significant reading speed or comprehension advantage using OpenDyslexic compared to Verdana or Helvetica.
- ACM Digital Library, Rello & Baeza-Yates (2016), Good Fonts for Dyslexia: Eye-tracking study found OpenDyslexic produced slightly slower reading than Arial or Helvetica; participants preferred it aesthetically despite no performance gain.
- British Dyslexia Association, Creating a Dyslexia Friendly Workplace Style Guide: BDA recommends sans-serif fonts with good spacing and notes evidence for specialist fonts like OpenDyslexic is inconclusive.
- U.S. Department of Education, IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), 20 U.S.C. § 1400: IDEA entitles students with qualifying disabilities to FAPE including assistive technology considerations as part of the IEP process.
- U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973: Section 504 entitles students whose disability substantially limits a major life activity such as reading to equal access, which can include document formatting accommodations.
- International Dyslexia Association, Dyslexia Basics Fact Sheet: IDA defines dyslexia and specifies that evidence-based instruction must be explicit, systematic, and phonics-based; font changes are not listed as an intervention.
- OpenDyslexic, Official Project Site and License Information: OpenDyslexic is released under the SIL Open Font License, making it free for personal, educational, and commercial use.
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Report of the National Reading Panel (2000): Systematic phonics instruction and phonemic awareness are identified as the core components of effective reading instruction; font type is not addressed.
- U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), IDEA Regulations: OSEP guidance specifies that IEP teams must consider assistive technology devices and services for each student with a disability.
- Florida Center for Reading Research, Florida State University: FCRR intervention frameworks focus on structured literacy components and do not include font manipulation as a reading intervention.