How To Support Children With ADHD & Dyslexia
Neurodiverse conditions often co-occur, and current research would suggest that 50% of children and young people with ADHD will also be affected by specific learning challenges such as Dyslexia, Dysgraphia or Dyscalculia. This article and webinar, delivered in partnership with The ADHD Foundation Neurodiversity Charity, offers ideas and strategies to support your child.
To support children and young people who have ADHD & Dyslexia, there are three key things to consider: engagement, presentation and memory.
Engagement is everything
Many children and young people with ADHD and Dyslexia often find the idea of reading and writing, especially at length, quite demanding. Indeed, reading and writing avoidance is quite common. Build their interest before you start. If you are reading a book with your child, engage in pre-reading activities before you open the book. Talk about the title, the front cover or any illustrations inside. If the reading is fiction, explore with your child what they think the story is about and predict what might happen. If you are supporting your teenager’s homework, talk about why this reading or writing is necessary and how it links to other work they are doing in school. Your aim here is to encourage your child’s interest in the text. The more interested they are, the more likely they are to give it a go.
Think presentation
What does the text look like that you want your child to read? A lot of dense black on white text with little visual interest can be discouraging for your child. In some cases, this can cause visual stress which will make reading quite difficult. If you are reading on a device, consider experimenting with adapting the presentation, for example, coloured overlays can be helpful for some Dyslexic readers. Try a range of colours until you find the one that works for your child. However, always remember that not every Dyslexic child will need this. If you can, explore changing the font, the letter sizing and spacing and breaking up the text with wider spaces between paragraphs, using text boxes or bullet points to add visual interest. If you want certain sections of text to stand out, don’t underline, use capitals, italics or a different font, put this section in bold.
Think Memory and take a break
This isn’t just about giving your child a rest, which is important of course. Taking a break allows your child to have the space to consider what the text is communicating. One of the features of both ADHD and Dyslexia are working memory challenges. When we read or write successfully, we use a lot of Working memory. We are constantly holding in our memory, for example, what is happening in the story? which pieces of information might be important to remember as the story progresses? For teenagers, you might want them to consider specific facts or details or even the style and tone of a text. That’s a lot to remember. You can support your child, be discussing this in the breaks and maybe writing their thoughts down so that they have a reference to look back on as they continue to read.
Watch the webinar
Click below to watch the full webinar delivered by Colin Foley, National Training Director from The ADHD Foundation Neurodiversity Charity.