Assistive System for People with Dyslexia
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Masaryk University Faculty of Informatics DysTexia: Assistive System for People with Dyslexia A dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D.) RNDr. BcA. Tereza Pařilová, DiS., MBA Brno, 2018 Declaration Hereby I declare that this paper is my original authorial work, which I have worked out on my own. All sources, references, and literature used or excerpted during elaboration of this work are properly cited and listed in complete refer- ence to the due source Tereza Pařilová Brno Abstract Assistive technology to support reading and understanding of a text has not yet been invented for dyslexia. Dyslexia is known as a specific learning or cognitive disorder. Some dyslexic users benefit abundantly from using screen readers, as well as passive aids, such as coloured filters. Games that can reveal dyslexia in children before starting school are also available, although just for a limited number of languages. However, none of these solutions represents a suitable approach to dyslexia itself. Dyslexia is known for its complexity and the de- pendence on a particular type of a language, which leads to the problem of in- dividuality and subsequently to the problem of finding a suitable and satisfac- tory solution for as many individuals with dyslexia as possible. The dissertation thesis approaches the individual nature of the symptoms (problems) from different perspectives and presents the proposed solution for considering the individuality and individual needs as far as the adjustment of texts is concerned. Furthermore, the dissertation proposes a comprehensive so- lution for customising both online and offline text. The dissertation thesis con- tains original test results of the designs, which were published as a user study in expert articles, and which contributed to a better understanding of the whole issue concerning the development of assistive technology intended for dyslex- ics. The first part of the dissertation thesis addresses the issue of dyslexia and the needs of specific assistive technology. The hypotheses of the emergence of dyslexia, its neurological nature and the results of clinical trials using various stimuli, which we consider to be important information for developing ade- quate technology, are also explained here. A description of the results and benefits of this work are dealt with in the next part of the dissertation. Research questions are defined here, as well as the proposal for their solution, which is then further described. First, the original proposal of tests, which we designed in order to uncover individual symptoms of dyslexia are presented. Based on these tests, our comprehensive DysTexia solution customises the text itself. This alone brings the results of our original observations carried out in the dyslexic population (volunteers participating in our research) and practical recommendations for the future development not only of our assistive technology. We also present a tailor-made online text edit- ing method, the Google Chrome extension, DysHelper, and the DysTexia Web Application that allows the modification of different offline text formats. Both solutions form the so-called “DysTexia system”, the design of which represents the main part of the dissertation thesis. This dissertation both benefits the development of assistive technologies for dyslexics and proposes the use of processed data on the progression of symp- toms using the fuzzy approach. As it is based on the degree of membership in certain predefined categories with fuzzy borders, it is perfectly suited for pro- cessing and representing the development of symptoms over time, as these symptoms vary individually and in young individuals and children in particu- lar. The work in this regard presents the results of the tested sample and the way of categorising the user’s symptoms (the degree of membership in individ- ual categories). This we define in a professional publication for the first time. The research questions which we answer in this dissertation and the original results presented here move the knowledge of the individual needs of dyslexic users and their demands on assistive technology forward. They are also de- signed so that they can be modified for other languages. Other advanced meth- ods and research projects can also be built on them. Contents List of Figures .................................................................................................... 12 List of Tables ..................................................................................................... 13 Background and Theory ....................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 16 2 DYSLEXIA ................................................................................................. 22 2.1 Neurobiological Nature of Dyslexia ...................................... 25 2.1.1 Genetic Origin of Dyslexia ........................................................... 25 2.1.2 Principles and mechanism of reading. Saccades and fixations. 26 2.1.3 Visual and Phonetic Theory of Dyslexia Incidence .................... 28 2.2 The Role of Linguistic Attributes .......................................... 30 2.3 Other Diseases Connected to Visual Acuity ............................ 31 3 OVERVIEW: EXISTING APPROACHES .............................................. 36 3.1 Impact of Digital Text on Reading Skills ................................ 37 A) Approaches to Predicting and Diagnosing Dyslexia .......................... 3.2 Dytective Web Based Game ................................................. 38 3.3 Včelka .............................................................................. 40 3.4 iLearnRW Game ................................................................ 41 B) Technological Approaches and Tools ........................................ 3.5 Eye Tracking ..................................................................... 42 3.6 Text-to-Speech Systems ....................................................... 45 3.7 Screen Readers .................................................................. 49 3.8 Text Segments Highlighting ................................................. 50 3.9 CASSA ............................................................................. 52 3.10 Fox Replace ....................................................................... 53 3.11 Color Lenses and Color Filters ............................................. 55 3.12 Letter Spacing.................................................................... 56 3.13 Open Dyslexic ................................................................... 57 3.14 Summary of State-of-the-Art Approaches .............................. 59 The Proposal of New Dyslexia Accessibility Solution: DysTexia ..................... 4 THE IDEA, LANGUAGE AND TECHNOLOGY ................................. 62 4.1 Specificities of Complex Languages .................................... 63 4.1.1 Czech Grammar Pitfalls ................................................................... 64 4.1.2 Nordic languages .......................................................................... 65 4.2 Research Question .............................................................. 65 4.2.1 Finnish principles of Teaching Reading ...................................... 67 4.3 Text Generator for Testing Procedures................................... 68 4.4 Prepilot Testing ................................................................. 70 5 DysHelper .................................................................................................. 75 5.1 Individual Tests ................................................................. 77 5.2 Testing DysHelper ............................................................. 80 5.2.1 Design ............................................................................................ 80 5.2.2 Participants .................................................................................... 82 5.2.3 Results ............................................................................................ 83 5.3 Research Question Resumé for DysHelper ............................. 86 6 DysTexia WEB APPLICATION .............................................................. 89 6.1 Analysis ........................................................................... 90 6.1.1 Functional requirements .............................................................. 90 6.1.2 Non-functional Requirements ......................................................... 96 6.2 Design .............................................................................. 98 6.2.1 Overall Architecture Design ........................................................ 98 6.2.2 Deployment ..................................................................................... 101 6.3 Collecting Data and (inter)national Legislation ......................104 7 FUZZY APPARATUS TO CATEGORIZE DYSLEXIC INDIVIDUAL SYMPTOMS......................................................................................................... 107 7.1 Previous Fuzzy Approach and Dyslexia ...............................108 7.2 Application of Fuzzy Logic in the Case Model .......................109 7.2.1 Motivation and Benefits ............................................................. 109 7.2.2 Principles ........................................................................................