Russian Scientists Develop Online Tool to Diagnose Dyslexia

A research team in Russia has created a digital tool to evaluate adult reading skills and measure the effectiveness of dyslexia correction programs.

Scientists at Russia’s Higher School of Economics have developed a digital diagnostic tool for dyslexia. Designed to assess adult reading skills, the tool also tracks the effectiveness of interventions such as speech therapy.

According to the university’s press service, the new method addresses a key limitation of existing tests: they often use a single fixed text, which patients may memorize over time. This can lead to skewed results. To solve this, the team created two linguistically balanced texts that share similar key characteristics but differ in content.

The texts were written manually, without AI assistance, to ensure precision in syntax, word length, and frequency. Maintaining narrative coherence and semantic integrity was crucial. Still, modern digital tools were used to control psycholinguistic parameters with high accuracy.

Over 100 adults took part in preliminary testing. The results showed no statistically significant differences in reading speed, accuracy, or comprehension between the two passages.

A digital version of the test is now available, and the team plans to develop adapted versions for children, with adjustments for age-specific language and cognitive development.