IReST – International Reading Speed Texts

Highly calibrated for reproducible results across all languages

Easy to use

Easy to handle

Easy to measure (by stopwatch)

Easy to calculate (normal values and formula included)

Characteristics: 

Comparability between languages for international studies

Natural conditions: newspaper print, meeting the demands of everyday life

Applications:

For normal subjects

For patients with low vision (monitoring of disease, effect of treatment and rehabilitation)

For patients with developmental dyslexia (severity of reading disorder, effect of training, etc.) – for juveniles and adults

Low Vision patients

Disease monitoring in AMD, especially in treatment studies

After refractive surgery

After multifocal intraocular lenses

Neurological reading disorders

Developmental dyslexia

Studies with normal subjects

User groups:

Ophthalmologists and neurologists

Optometrists and ophthalmic opticians

Orthoptists and low vision specialists

Teachers and psychologists

All reading researchers

The IReST differs from prior text charts that used single sentences by employing linguistically standardized paragraphs. They close a gap in the diagnostics of reading performance. The paragraphs are designed to resemble everyday life situations of reading continuous text, such as in books or newspapers. The level of difficulty corresponds to sixth grade reading (10–12 years), which is comprehensible for teenagers and adults. Due to lower variance, measuring reading time of a complete paragraph rather than a single sentence or random words is more reliable. Furthermore, it can provide some information about fluency, fatigue, and mistakes.

Article of Interest: Effects of home reading training on reading and quality of life in AMD – a randomized and controlled study