Sources

These are the sources behind the choices in Mentekit. Next to each one: what it says and how we used it.

Italian laws and guidelines

Law 170 of 8 October 2010: recognises dyslexia, dysgraphia, dysorthographia and dyscalculia and gives the right to support tools and adjustments. This is where the reading tools and the printables come from.
Ministerial Decree 5669 of 12 July 2011 and its guidelines: they list support tools (text-to-speech, tables, formula sheets, mind maps). These are our “Read aloud” and “Printables”.
Italian National Institute of Health (ISS), guideline on specific learning disorders (2022) and guidelines on autism (2023).
SINPIA ADHD guidelines (on the ISS EpiCentro site). Italy does not yet have an up-to-date national ADHD guideline, so we also cite international ones.

NICE NG87, ADHD (2018, updated 2019): routines, organisation, environment. This is where the timer and “One thing at a time” come from.
World Federation of ADHD, International Consensus Statement (2021).
Steinbrenner et al. (2020), NCAEP: visual supports and social stories are among the evidence-based practices for autism. This is where the visual schedule and the stories come from.
W3C, WCAG 2.2 and “Making Content Usable for People with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities”: the accessibility rules this site follows.
British Dyslexia Association, Dyslexia Style Guide: sans-serif fonts, generous spacing, off-white background, no italics.

Zorzi et al. (2012), PNAS: extra-large letter spacing improves reading speed and accuracy in children with dyslexia. This is the “Wide spacing” in “My settings”.
Wery and Diliberto (2017), Annals of Dyslexia and Rello and Baeza-Yates (2013): the OpenDyslexic font does not improve reading speed or accuracy. We offer it as a comfort, not a cure.
Griffiths et al. (2016), systematic review: coloured overlays and lenses cannot be recommended for dyslexia. The coloured backgrounds in the reader are just a preference.
Carol Gray, Social Stories 10.2 criteria: sentences that describe and few sentences that coach. Our stories follow this rule and check it while you edit them.
Barkley: for ADHD, external supports “at the point of performance” help: visible time, short lists, visual reminders.
Flesch (1948), Reading Ease score: the basis of the English “Easy read” readability score.

Pictograms: Sergio Palao. Source: ARASAAC (arasaac.org). Licence: CC BY-NC-SA. Owner: Government of Aragon (Spain). The pages that use them are free and non-commercial.
3D images: 3dicons by Vijay Verma (3dicons.co), CC0.
Fonts: Atkinson Hyperlegible, Lexend, OpenDyslexic, Plus Jakarta Sans, SIL Open Font License.