How To Support Children With Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a learning challenge that primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent reading and spelling. Characteristic features of dyslexia are difficulties in phonological awareness, verbal memory, and verbal processing. This article, written in partnership with The ADHD Foundation Neurodiversity Charity, outlines idea for supporting dyslexic children.
Read to your child and read out loud together
Reading to your child will instil a love of words and stories. Also, by reading to your child, you can discuss words, their meanings and sounds while enriching their vocabulary. Reading aloud together may sound counterintuitive as it takes more time for a child with dyslexia to read aloud, but reading aloud helps your child understand how sentences flow.
If your child reads to you, remember that black letters over white paper can be difficult to decrypt, and some fonts are easier to read than others. Look out for dyslexia friendly books and fonts.
Overlearning
Read and re-read the same text. You may get bored of it, but repetition is an ally, as it reinforces understanding and familiarity with words.
A multi-sensory approach
Have a multisensory approach to learning spellings. Who says words have got to be written down? You could use wooden blocks of letters, air writing, wax crayons on A3 coloured paper or even 'acting out' letter combinations. Practise spelling patterns with your child, highlighting complex letter combinations with coloured pencils or highlighters e.g. words like 'receive' and 'autumn'. It’s been proven that learning spellings by heart is counterproductive with dyslexic children.
Embrace technology
In today's technological world, there are so many free programs on our computers, tablets, and smartphones that can make a massive difference to young people with dyslexia.
In particular, the ones to look out for are 'text-to-speech' programs, which read out written words on the device; 'speech-to-text', which allows your child to dictate their work to a device; and 'advanced spelling and grammar checkers'. All the big technology companies have these features now, and you will find lots of information about how to use them to support dyslexic learning.
Learning to 'touch type' is one of the big skills that we find helps young people with dyslexia in education and on into the workplace.
Whilst they might not necessarily enjoy reading books, young people with dyslexia often take to listening to audiobooks and find a love of literature that way. Many audiobook companies even offer free children’s books. This would be a fabulous activity to do as a break from other learning or at the end of the school day.
Praise and encouragement
One of the most effective acts you can do is to provide plenty of praise and encouragement. Not only for when they’re completing a writing or reading task, but also the effort they have put in. It’s not easy for them, and sticking to it is fantastic. Follow your child’s pace, as it will take your child longer to process the information they read.
Be the role model
Embrace your power as a role model. Create a culture in your home for daily reading. It doesn’t have to be for hours - regular and engaging is the most effective way you can build your child’s enjoyment of written text. Children copy the adults in their lives and if they see you enjoying a good book daily, then they may be motivated to have a go. Consider where the reading materials are in your home - can books be stored or displayed in places where your family relaxes? Bedtime is usually considered to be the ideal time for reading together, but it doesn’t have to be. Look for alternatives if bedtime isn’t the right time for your child.
Engage your child
Engaging your child’s interest in what they are reading or about to read is key to encouraging their motivation to read. Have pre-reading discussions about what your child thinks the text is about, talk about any images on the front cover if it’s a book, and ask your child to imagine what might happen. Play detectives and ask your child questions that can only be answered through reading the text. Whilst reading, remember to pause and talk about what your child thinks o f the text so far - what have they learned and what are they thinking now compared to before they started?
Support your child’s working memory
When we read, we continuously hold information from the text in working memory so that we can understand the whole text as we read through it. Many dyslexic children will focus on getting through the text word by word or sentence by sentence and may not be holding the important information in their working memory. Help them to do this by creating the time for them to do this through talking.
More Advice & Support On Dyslexia
For more advice on supporting children with ADHD & Dyslexia, click below.