In this talk, I will present the design of an assistive reading tool that integrates read-aloud technology with eye tracking to regulate the speed of reading and support struggling readers in following the text while listening to it. This tool has been assessed in a controlled experiment with 20 children with a diagnosis of dyslexia and a control group of 20 children with typical reading abilities. The results show that children with reading difficulties improved their comprehension scores.
The tool is an example of how technology may properly help users by making a given task more difficult rather than simplifying it. This approach may suggest intriguing new opportunities of design, in particular in the field of Artificial Intelligence.