How to help a child with dyslexia in their reading journey

Firstly, if your child is having difficulty learning to read, start by chatting to their teacher. Learning how to read IS difficult, but if your child is lagging behind their peers, don’t ignore it.  Reading is one of the most vital skills and early intervention is best.

Neurodivergent is a non-medical term that describes people whose brains develop or work differently for some reason.  This means the person has different strengths and struggles from people whose brains develop or work more typically.  Dyslexia and ADHD share several characteristics, such as  both disorders can make learning, reading, paying attention or organising your thoughts more challenging.

Dyslexia impacts on literacy and the ability to process and remember information – which is why reading, writing and spelling are tricky. Most importantly, dyslexia is not linked to intelligence, and a child with dyslexia is often very bright. They may be able to explain things verbally but battle to get their ideas on paper.  With growing awareness of dyslexia, no child should be left behind in the classroom.

We’ve rounded up eleven top tips to guide your dyslexic child’s reading journey.

11 TOP TIPS

1. First, build their self-confidence.  Dyslexia is a challenge AND a super power.  Let your child see all the famous and successful people with dyslexia for inspiration. The world is finally opening up to valuing dyslexia, and ‘dyslexic thinking’ has recently been listed as a vital skills choice on Linked In profiles. Dyslexics find new ways of doing things that ultimately put them way ahead of their peers in other areas.  Literacy is just one hurdle and evidence shows that dyslexic children can and will learn how to read. The key is to treat dyslexia as one of the many things that makes us all different and interesting.
2. Dyslexia makes reading hard work. So if your child is going to all that effort, make sure it is something they will enjoy. Find the books they WANT to read.  See what they are interested in and find books about these interests, then read them together in paired reading. This will inspire them to keep reading.
3. IS it dyslexia? Some children experience visual difficulties. These can be visual-spatial disorders, such as tracking, scanning, and perceiving spatial relationships, which can impact reading comprehension and fluency, or visual memory deficits, which means they struggle to remember and recall visual information. Visit a specialist opthamologist (specialising in learning difficulties like dyslexia) to see if your child’s eyesight is an issue. Some children benefit from using tinted lenses. Fluorescent lighting and the colour of the blackboard can also be issues. Check with your specialist to see if Irlen lens may be a solution.
4. Get the school on board. Make sure your child’s teacher understands what dyslexia is.  It’s not that children with dyslexia can’t learn to read, it’s that they need a specific type of reading instruction, which may not be the method their school uses to teach reading. It is helpful to have your child assessed by an educational specialist so that you understand the nature of the dyslexia and any other underlying issues. Dyslexia is not one size fits all.
5. Dyslexics can’t be rushed. They often require more time to read a class book, take tests, or complete work, due to their differences in processing information and reading speeds.  For exams, ask the school to apply for the special accommodations and concessions for children with learning issues. (The application has to go through the school)
6. Get technical. Once you have had your child assessed, find out about the best adaptive technologies (like using the Dyslexie font) to make reading and learning easier.  Try audio books. Listening to stories keeps children entertained and interested in reading. It also helps develop listening and concentration skills and builds their vocabulary and grammar skills.  Look for audio book apps like Speechify, that highlight the text on screen as it is being read, which can help your child identify words. Some dyslexic people find the reading apps for mobile phones and e-readers, like Kindle, make reading easier as the text can be split into several pages, and you can adjust the font type, size and spacing, and the brightness of the screen.
7. Find books that talk about dyslexia and books with characters who have dyslexia to normalise it.  Here is a comprehensive list for both parents and children.  As a parent, you may want to start with the bestselling The Gift of Dyslexia by Ronald D Davis.
8. Keep reading to your child everyday, for at least 30 minutes. This is vital for all children but particularly helpful for children with dyslexia. See point 5 above for the benefits.  Try to make your child see this reading as special time together. Get some tips here.
9. Find the many resources that are out there to help and guide you and your child on the dyslexia journey. We love the short movie, Mical, a true story about a young dyslexic boy and how his mother found a way to teach him how to read.  That boy is Mike Jones, now one of the founders of Nessy, an award winning global educational company that specialises in early literacy.  Play games that help with word repetition, phonics and sentence building.  Look out for the Orchard Toys range – see a recommendation for the best ones here.
10. Phonics are the building blocks of words. This is a system in which letters and groups of words are matched to sounds. These sounds are blended together to read (decode and understand) the words.  At home, make sure you pronounce words clearly and chat to your child’s teacher about how you can help, using flashcards and games, to teach phonics.  We like the Peppa Pig Phonics set.
11. There are so many reading and writing support tools available. For example, using a blank notecard to underline the line of text being read while covering the text below.  Coloured overlays can help isolate text and make it easier to read.  You can find these and other tools at companies like Autism Resources and Inclusive Solutions. It’s important to first find a good occupational therapist to help assess which tools – if any – will help with your child’s issues.  Again, dyslexia is not one size fits all.
12. Make lots of rhyme time. Books with rhymes, even nursery rhymes, help children to see the link between sound groups like ‘dog, fog, hog, log, cog’. Reading them repeatedly also makes words familiar, so children can hear which word might come next.  “The cat sat on the ….” Play games where you have to think of all the words that rhyme. “I say pig”, “you say dig”, “I say fig”, “You say big” etc. We love Rhymezone for ideas on all the words that rhyme.

“Look into a child’s eyes and talk to her. Talk to her about cake or playgrounds or trains or maps. Find what makes her eyes light up, and when you do, you will be able to ignite her mind on any topic through the channel she shows you.” Gertrude Webb, founder of the Webb Innovation Centre For Dyslexia

Podcast

Listen to our Podcast here, where we talk to Annelize Clark, an Occupational Therapist and Foundation Phase Teacher at Bellavista SHARE with a Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Intervention, all about how to help your dyslexic child.

 A great book series about a boy with Dyslexia: Here’s Hank and Hank Zipzer. 

A wonderful rhyming book: There’s a Bear in my Chair by Ross Collins.

Poor Mouse! A bear has settled in his favourite chair and it just isn’t big enough for two. Mouse tries all kinds of tactics to move the pesky Bear but nothing works and poor Mouse gives up. Once Mouse has eventually gone, Bear gets up and walks home. But wait – is that a Mouse in Bear’s house?!