Dyslexia is a specific learning disorder manifested by reading difficulties such as errors in spelling and decoding words which consequently complicates the reading process and text comprehension (Gabrieli, 2009). Nowadays, a large amount of information is presented in a text form, which influences the knowledge uptake and further vocabulary expansion (Rello & Ballesteros, 2015). Repeated failures in reading can lead to reduced motivation, problems with behaviour and anxiety in children with dyslexia (Spafford & Grosser, 1996). For this reason, early diagnosis of dyslexia is crucial, which would also allow early selection of an appropriate therapy method. This would subsequently improve the pupil's adaptation to the school environment, not only in terms of the pupil's overall school performance but also in terms of the individual's social and emotional development (Nilsson Benfatto et al., 2016).

Several theories try to explain the neurobiological origin of dyslexia and some of them are closely related to the visual perception and eye movements (e.g., magnocellular theory or cerebellar theory) while reading (Jošt, 2011). Eye movements can be measured via eye-tracking. Eye-tracking is a device that can provide eye movements recordings while reading. Current research shows that dyslexics have different eye movements (saccades and fixations) during reading compared to ordinary readers (e.g., Rayner, 1998; Hutzler & Wimmer, 2004). However, eye movements are not registered during the diagnostics of dyslexia in the Czech environment. The analysis of eye movements of dyslexic pupils can bring new knowledge into the field of diagnosis, possible prediction of dyslexia and also can provide a selection of appropriate therapy.

The main aim of this paper is to present the results of the eye-tracking pilot study focused on eye movements aspects of dyslexic children during reading syllables and consistent text and to verify the research methodology of this study.

This paper presents the results of the pilot study which is focused on eye movements in dyslexic children during reading. The main aim of the paper is to verify the feasibility of this study and present the first results responding to the main research question: “What are the differences in eye movements between dyslexic children and ordinary reading children?”. The pilot study uses the quantitative and experimental methodological design. The research was realized in collaboration with the Psychological Centre in Brno which provided the selection of appropriate participants. A primary school pupil aged 9-10 years who was diagnosed with dyslexia, was considered as an appropriate participant. The control group consisted of primary school pupils aged 9-10 years who did not show any symptoms of dyslexia. Data collection was performed in September 2021. For the data collection, we used a standardized diagnostic set created by Psychological Center in Brno which was adapted for the eye-tracking measurement, eye-tracker SMI RED 250, screen and chinrest. The eye-tracking experiment consisted of verbal and non-verbal tasks. The verbal (i.e., reading part) part was comprised of two main parts that will be discussed in this paper, a) loud syllables reading and b) consistent text reading. Due to the complexity of eye-tracking recordings, the analysis of the reading part of the experiment will be completed during the spring of 2022.

Based on previous research in the field of eye movements in dyslexic readers (e.g., Hutzler & Wimmer, 2004; Prado et al., 2007), we expect significant differences in specific parameters of saccades and fixations between dyslexic children and ordinary reading children. According to Rayner (1998), readers with dyslexia show higher fixation duration and higher number of fixations, shorter saccades and a higher number of regressive saccades than ordinary readers. With increasing word length also grows the total number of fixations in dyslexic readers (Hutzler & Wimmer, 2004). Eye movement analysis of dyslexic pupils from the Czech environment can bring new knowledge into the field of diagnosis and possible prediction of dyslexia and provide a selection of appropriate therapy in regard to dyslexia. Subsequently, proper therapy methods could help the dyslexic children with adaptation to the school environment and dyslexics’ social and emotional development.

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