How Microsoft's Immersive Reader tackles Dyslexia head on

Image Credit: Microsoft

Dyslexia affects 5 to 10-percent of the world's population with more an estimated one in five children afflicted in the U.S. Dyslexia does non affect intelligence. Renowned physicist Albert Einstein had dyslexia. Pop culture likewise addressed the stigma of Dyslexia when fictional grapheme Theo Huxtable from the popular 80'south sitcom The Cosby Prove was diagnosed with the condition.

Dyslexia impacts men and women equally and is found among all demographics and across all social-economical levels. It has a more profound impact, however, in low social-economic communities resulting in higher reading failure rates due to insufficient support. Many school districts don't have the resources or (in my experience equally a special education abet) prefer non to tackle Dyslexia due to the cost of supporting students if the disability is acknowledged.

Microsoft's Immersive Reader, which is incorporated in Microsoft'south products and services and found on other platforms, gives schoolhouse systems and parents the support they need for students with dyslexia without the costs traditional methods would incur.

Related: How fathering a son with disabilities helped Microsoft's CEO transform the company

What is Immersive Reader?

Microsoft's Principal Product Manager for Education, Mike Tholfsen is passionate virtually didactics and embraces Microsoft'south inclusive design ethos. He believes products should exist designed from conception forrad with all users in mind, not provided with tacked-on solutions to serve an initially neglected demographic.

Immersive Reader was born from a 2022 Microsoft hackathon project that focused on bringing a dyslexia-focused extension to OneNote. It has since been interwoven into the online, universal, Mac, iPad and desktop versions of OneNote, the online, desktop, Mac, iPad and iPhone versions of Give-and-take and the online and desktop versions of Outlook.

Today, Microsoft Learning Tools and Immersive Reader are beingness used by more than than xiii one thousand thousand people around the earth, a substantial increase on the 100,000 just last year. It is being used in over twoscore languages and has been embraced past eager teachers and students.

Immersive Reader has improved reader fluency, boosted readers confidence and provided text-decoding solutions for people with dyslexia. It has also improved the skills of readers who don't have the challenges students with Dyslexia or other attention disabilities face.

Microsoft's Immersive Reader advocates for parents

Microsoft Master Production Manager for Education, Mike Tholfsen, Right Image Credit: Microsoft

Every year millions of students with dyslexia have needs that are not directly addressed as cash-strapped school systems create adaptation plans that prove that they're doing "something" while not doing exactly what is needed for the pupil. More than appropriate and costly supports, like an Orton Gillingham tutor (trained to help students with Dyslexia) and other methods are often bypassed ultimately resulting in schools failing to give these students a free and appropriate pedagogy (FAPE).

Many parents, after leaving a Planning and Team Meeting (PPT) where support for their child are discussed with teachers and school administrators, feel powerless when unyielding administrators don't provide the tools their kid needs.

Microsoft with Immersive Reader plays the role of an advocate, or mediator, betwixt families and schools by providing a cost-effective solution that is also effective in addressing the needs of students with Dyslexia.

With Immersive Reader everyone wins

The profound touch on of the intersection of technology and life that Immersive Reader has on students, families and school systems cannot be overstated. It's a solution where all parties, to some extent, win.

By being integrated into a range of Microsoft and cross-platform tools schoolhouse districts can, without incurring additional costs, use it seamlessly with solutions they may already be using. Parent's can back up their child easily at home with the aforementioned tools. And students with learning challenges can utilize the aforementioned tools their peers are using, merely with integrated support, without enduring the stigma of using a tool that makes them stand out in class.

Immersive Reader immerses anybody involved in the process of teaching young people of all levels not only how to read, but to love reading. The millions of readers around the world that this tool has impacted testify to this fact.