Designing an Accurate Reading Skills Test: Why Parallel Texts are Important in Dyslexia Diagnosis
Researchers from the HSE Centre for Language and Brain have developed a tool for accurately assessing reading skills in adults with reading impairments. It can be used, for instance, before and after sessions with a language therapist. The tool includes two texts that differ in content but are equal in complexity: participants were observed to read them at the same speed, make a similar number of errors, and understand the content to the same degree. Such parallel texts will enable more accurate diagnosis of dyslexia and better monitoring of the effectiveness of interventions aimed at addressing it. The paper has been published in Educational Studies.
Reading is a fundamental skill essential for learning, working, and navigating the world. However, even adults may struggle to read at a typical pace, with letters seeming to jump around and word meanings slipping away—leading to frustration and fatigue. Such symptoms are often overlooked, but they may signal dyslexia—a specific reading disorder that begins in childhood and can persist into adulthood without proper intervention, despite normal intelligence, good education, and no vision or hearing impairments.
Accurately diagnosing dyslexia in adults remains a challenge in Russia—one specialist may identify the disorder, another may disagree, and yet another may detect additional issues in the same patient. This inconsistency stems not from a lack of professional expertise but from differences in diagnostic approaches and tools—and more broadly, from the absence of standardised assessment tools for reading skills in Russian-speaking adults.
As a result, without a reliable diagnosis, it is difficult to objectively evaluate the effectiveness of interventions—typically measured by administering a reading test before and after the treatment. However, using the same text before and after an intervention risks the patient memorising it, while using a different text with unknown properties makes it unclear whether any change in reading performance reflects the intervention or merely variation in text complexity.
To address this problem, researchers from the HSE Centre for Language and Brain developed and tested two texts that differ in content but show no significant differences in key linguistic features, such as word length and frequency, sentence syntactic structure, readability according to the Flesch Reading Ease score, and other factors. The researchers hypothesised that these texts would be equally complex for adult native Russian speakers. The final versions were tested on a sample of 111 students.
Yana Kokoreva
'We composed the texts manually, without using neural networks—carefully monitoring sentence syntax, word length, and frequency, while striving to create coherent and meaningful stories. This would not have been possible without the tools provided by our colleagues: we relied on the StimulStat lexical database and the Textometr text complexity analyser, which enabled us to precisely control the psycholinguistic parameters of the texts,' comments co-author Yana Kokoreva, Research Assistant at the HSE Centre for Language and Brain.
The results confirm that both texts can be read with no statistically significant differences in speed, accuracy, or comprehension. This means they can be used to assess reading skills before and after dyslexia interventions, allowing for informed conclusions about their effectiveness. Building on the original paper-based test, the team at HSE’s Centre for Language and Brain has developed a digital version, now available for download.
Svetlana Dorofeeva
'The test can now be used both to diagnose dyslexia in adults and to assess progress following remedial sessions. Our study confirmed that these linguistically validated parallel texts are indeed equally challenging for readers. This means the methodology can be scaled up, allowing new texts to be created for repeated testing of adult readers based on established parameters. The same principles can be applied to develop reading tests for children, provided the parameters are adapted to their age,' says co-author Svetlana Dorofeeva, Research Fellow at the Centre for Language and Brain.
The study was conducted with support from HSE University's Basic Research Programme within the framework of the Centres of Excellence project.
See also:
Scientists Test Asymmetry Between Matter and Antimatter
An international team, including scientists from HSE University, has collected and analysed data from dozens of experiments on charm mixing—the process in which an unstable charm meson oscillates between its particle and antiparticle states. These oscillations were observed only four times per thousand decays, fully consistent with the predictions of the Standard Model. This indicates that no signs of new physics have yet been detected in these processes, and if unknown particles do exist, they are likely too heavy to be observed with current equipment. The paper has been published in Physical Review D.
HSE Scientists Reveal What Drives Public Trust in Science
Researchers at HSE ISSEK have analysed the level of trust in scientific knowledge in Russian society and the factors shaping attitudes and perceptions. It was found that trust in science depends more on everyday experience, social expectations, and the perceived promises of science than on objective knowledge. The article has been published in Universe of Russia.
Institute for Robotics Systems Established at HSE University
As decided by the HSE University Academic Council, a new Institute for Robotics Systems will be established at HSE, and with a strong fundamental base. It will cooperate with relevant departments across the university and engage students and doctoral candidates in research and development (R&D). First Vice Rector of HSE University and Director of the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge, Leonid Gokhberg, discussed the expected practical results and the framework for cooperation with an industrial partner.
Scientists Uncover Why Consumers Are Reluctant to Pay for Sugar-Free Products
Researchers at the HSE Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience have investigated how 'sugar-free' labelling affects consumers’ willingness to pay for such products. It was found that the label has little impact on the products’ appeal due to a trade-off between sweetness and healthiness: on the one hand, the label can deter consumers by implying an inferior taste, while on the other, it signals potential health benefits. The study findings have been published in Frontiers in Nutrition.
IDLab: Fascinating Research, Tough Deadlines, and Academic Drive
The International Laboratory of Intangible-driven Economy (IDLab) was established at the HSE campus in Perm 11 years ago. Its expertise in data processing and analysis allows researchers to combine fundamental studies with applied projects, including the development of risk and cybersecurity models for Sber. The head of the laboratory, Professor Petr Parshakov, and Senior Research Fellow Professor Mariya Molodchik spoke to the HSE News Service about IDLab’s work.
HSE Lecturers Awarded Yandex ML Prize 2025
The Yandex ML Prize is awarded to lecturers and heads of educational programmes who contribute to the development of artificial intelligence in Russia. This year, 10 laureates were selected from 300 applicants, including three members of the HSE Faculty of Computer Science (FCS). A special Hall of Fame award was also presented for contributions to the establishment of machine learning as an academic field. One of the recipients was Dmitry Vetrov, Research Professor at the HSE FCS.
HSE Tops Ranking of Universities Participating in Priority 2030 Programme
The Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education has published an updated list of participants in the Priority 2030 programme. A total of 106 universities will receive support this year. HSE University was included in the first group and topped the ranking.
HSE University and Banking and Finance Academy of Uzbekistan Sign Memorandum on Scientific Cooperation
The partnership aims to foster academic collaboration in the fields of global economics, sustainable development, and Islamic finance. Strengthening academic ties with Uzbekistan represents a promising direction for scientific exchanges and the implementation of international projects in sustainable development.
HSE Psycholinguists Launch Digital Tool to Spot Dyslexia in Children
Specialists from HSE University's Centre for Language and Brain have introduced LexiMetr, a new digital tool for diagnosing dyslexia in primary school students. This is the first standardised application in Russia that enables fast and reliable assessment of children’s reading skills to identify dyslexia or the risk of developing it. The application is available on the RuStore platform and runs on Android tablets.
HSE Scientists Optimise Training of Generative Flow Networks
Researchers at the HSE Faculty of Computer Science have optimised the training method for generative flow neural networks to handle unstructured tasks, which could make the search for new drugs more efficient. The results of their work were presented at ICLR 2025, one of the world’s leading conferences on machine learning. The paper is available at Arxiv.org.