This is one rule that I wish had flexibility. Visually, for students with reading disabilities, two spaces separates the sentences more distinctly. White space on a page can be extremely beneficial for some students. Digital text is manipulable. For example, You can easily enlarge the font, change the color, double or triple space it. There's no easy way to add a space or two after each period to isolate sentences for easier reading.

(i varied the spaces between sentences in my response to help make my point. Is there a difference?)

I think it's always okay to make thoughtful and intentional exceptions like the one you describe for students with reading disabilities, Karen. But as a general default... [I have doctoral students that argue with me about this!]

Uh oh...I have it ingrained in me to use 2 spaces...don't know how to stop!

Uh oh...I have it ingrained in me to use 2 spaces...don't know how to stop!

I remember being traumatized in college for NOT using two spaces. Having never "learned to type," I had no idea this was a rule. Now I can't quit!

I followed your link and read the article and several comments. I briefly investigated the claim that APA 6th edition recommends two spaces at the end of sentences. Further research is necessary, but the claim appears to be true. I chuckled. I took typing in the early 1970s. We were taught to use two spaces. When I started college in 2004, I discovered the existence of MLA and APA. Both made my life miserable for the next four years. Changing from two spaces to one was easy using find/replace. Citations were the big time waster. I spent as much time citing my papers as I did writing them. Hours of class time were consumed discussing things like whether or not Reading Recovery is a proper noun that required capitalization of both words. Points were deducted for spaces or absence of spaces, misplaced commas, etc. I think the purposes of citations are to give credit and allow the reader to find the source. Neither of those are affected by spaces or commas. At a time when we are pushing for changes in education that prepare students to thrive in the world they will live in, it seems to me that the rigid, yet ever=changing, rules of form detract from the function.

You will take my second sapce after the period from me when you pry it from my cold, dead hands! :)

Thank you for posting this. I learned this years ago as a difference between mono0-spaced fonts like a typewriter and variable space fonts like most on a computer.

I think we'd get more mileage for special needs by adjusting line spacing and margins than spaces after a period.

Anyway, Thank.