Abstract:

Developmental dyslexia is a specific learning disorder manifested by various reading difficulties and text processing. Nowadays, a large amount of information is presented in text form. Reading, which is intensively developed since primary school, is essential. Dyslexia negatively affects children’s vocabulary expansion and further knowledge uptake. Reading is related to eye movements, which differ in children with dyslexia. For these reasons, it is necessary to start early diagnostics, but eye movement measurement is not included. The analysis of eye movements can bring new knowledge to the diagnostics and consequent therapy of dyslexia. Based on this theoretical background, we realized a pilot study which consisted of a loud reading task adjusted for children in the 4th grade in elementary school (dyslexic readers and intact readers). Based on previous research in this field, we expect significant differences in the saccades and fixation parameters, such as saccadic amplitude, number of saccades and regressions, number of fixations and fixation duration. The main aim of this paper is to present preliminary results from a pilot study which consisted of a short loud reading task. Our conclusions can bring new knowledge for teachers and practitioners in the field of dyslexia children's education.

Keywords:

Dyslexia, eye tracking, eye movements, reading.