How to Make Your School Newsletter Dyslexia-Friendly

Roughly one in five people has some form of dyslexia, a reading difference that makes text harder to process when formatting works against it. In any school community, that means parents, guardians, teaching assistants, and family members who rely on your newsletter are likely struggling to read it if the formatting is not set up to support them.

Dyslexia-friendly formatting is not a special accommodation. It is good design. The changes that help dyslexic readers also help every reader, especially on mobile screens.

Font choice matters, but size matters more

Many schools default to small, elegant fonts at 12px because it looks professional. For dyslexic readers, that combination is genuinely difficult to process. Use a clean sans-serif font (Arial, Verdana, Calibri, or Helvetica) at 14px minimum. Body text at 16px is better.

Avoid serif fonts like Times New Roman or Georgia for body text. The decorative strokes on serif letters can blur together for readers who process letterforms differently. Sans-serif at adequate size is the baseline.

Line spacing and paragraph length

Set line spacing to 1.5 minimum. Single-spaced text with no visual breathing room is one of the most common barriers for dyslexic readers, because lines run together visually. In an email newsletter, this typically means setting the CSS line-height to 1.5 or 150%.

Keep paragraphs to three or four sentences maximum. A paragraph that runs six or eight sentences creates a wall of text that dyslexic readers often abandon. When a topic needs more space, break it into two paragraphs with a blank line between them.

Left-align all body text

Justified text, where both the left and right edges of each line are aligned, creates uneven word spacing that is especially hard to read for dyslexic readers. The spaces between words change unpredictably from line to line, disrupting reading rhythm.

Left-aligned text keeps consistent word spacing throughout and gives readers a predictable left edge to anchor their position. This applies to both the main body and any callout boxes or sections in the newsletter.

Sentence-level writing changes

Formatting choices help with visual processing. Writing choices help with comprehension. For dyslexic readers, both matter.

Short sentences are more readable than long ones. One idea per sentence, not three. Avoid nested clauses that require tracking multiple conditions at once. Write in active voice where possible. "The field trip is on Friday" is easier to process than "Students will be participating in a field trip, which is scheduled for Friday, weather permitting."

Use structure to allow navigation

A newsletter that can be navigated by headers is easier for dyslexic readers than one that reads as a continuous document. Use H2 headings to label each section clearly. A reader who finds one section hard to read can skip to the next and still get the information they need.

Bullet lists also reduce reading load. If you have three reminders, a bulleted list takes less processing than three sentences in a paragraph. This is not just an accessibility choice; it makes the newsletter faster to read for everyone.

Testing your newsletter for readability

If you want to check how your newsletter reads for people with dyslexia, two methods work well. First, read every paragraph aloud. If you run out of breath before finishing a sentence, the sentence is too long. Second, use a readability checker (the Hemingway app is free) and aim for a grade 6 to 8 reading level. That is not dumbing down; it is writing efficiently.

If any parents in your community have disclosed reading differences, ask them directly what makes the newsletter work better for them. Specific feedback from actual readers is more useful than any checklist.