There have been huge advances in technology over the past decade, allowing for increasingly powerful assistive software to be created to help people overcome literacy difficulties. Sometimes however, the most effective tool that can be used is not complicated software, but instead something much simpler.
One example of this applies to people who suffer from Visual Stress. A condition that makes black text on a white background difficult for a person to read. The words may seem to blur out of focus, or move around on the page. Consequently reading takes much longer and requires a much higher level of concentration, often leading to tiredness and headaches. It is an ailment that affects a wide range of people, but most of the individuals that we encounter with this particular complaint suffer from it as a result of Dyslexia.
Reading rulers are a perfect example of how a simple and inexpensive product can successfully overcome a complex difficulty such as the one described above. Reading Rulers are a colored transparent ruler that is placed over text that a person is reading, changing the background colour of the white page to that of the coloured ruler. It also has the additional benefit of providing a guideline of what part of the page a person is reading. This may seem like a menial addition. But it can make a huge difference to dyslexic readers who easily find themselves losing track of where they are on the page.
There is a range of products that allow the same process to happen whilst a person is using their computer. But one of the biggest appeals of Reading rulers is the fact that a great deal of material an individual needs to read is still printed. Reading rulers offer a solution to this. One that combines effectiveness with simplicity.