Parents can help children with dyslexia by providing multisensory learning, using assistive tech like text-to-speech, working with schools for structured phonics, encouraging reading for pleasure (audiobooks, graphic novels), and building self-esteem by focusing on strengths, creating routines, and managing emotional ups and downs with patience and understanding. Early intervention with specialized tutors and advocating for accommodations are key steps for success, notes the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) and Yale Dyslexia.
One of the best ways to support a child with dyslexia — or any child who is struggling — is to encourage those activities that they like and feel good at, whether it is music, joining a sports team or anything else that helps build their confidence.
5 things not to say to your child about dyslexia
Provide a laptop/computer for typing up work. Give students with dyslexia extra time on tasks/homework. Give students extra time to read text in class. Provide study buddies to help dyslexic students with reading and writing.
Types of Evidence-Based Interventions
Currently, no medications treat dyslexia. Instead, educational interventions can teach effective new ways to learn and read. Children with dyslexia may work with a trained specialist to learn new reading skills.
Understanding and supporting individuals with Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, and Dyspraxia is essential for fostering an inclusive and effective learning environment. These disorders can also coincide with other conditions such as ADHD and Autism, requiring a comprehensive approach.
The recommended seven hands-on learning strategies that can promote learning and support for struggling readers during literacy instruction include Build the Words, Feel the Words, Whole Body Letters, Five Finger Retell, Sight Word BINGO, Elkonin Boxes, and Word Swat.
Kinesthetic learning, such as using wood or plastic letters or writing symbols in the air, can help young learners link sounds to symbols and build their awareness of written language. Teachers at all levels can help students by including elements of tactile learning in their instruction.
Guided Reading Activities for Children with Dyslexia
Dyslexia does not worsen over time. However, the demands of adult life—more complex reading, multitasking, or workplace expectations—can make its effects more noticeable. With continued support, individuals often learn to manage their challenges and build on their strengths.
Common Misconceptions about Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a sign of low intelligence: Dyslexia does not impact your child's intelligence in any way. As a matter of fact, many dyslexic students are super intelligent and bursting with talent. The only challenge they have is that their brains process language differently.
Five key characteristics of dyslexia include difficulty with accurate and fluent reading, problems with spelling and writing, trouble retrieving words or mixing up sounds, avoiding reading/writing tasks, and challenges with sequencing (like days of the week or times tables), often stemming from difficulties with phonological processing (connecting sounds to letters).
Both mothers and fathers can pass dyslexia on to their children if either parent has it. There is roughly a 50% – 60% chance of a child developing dyslexia if one of their parents has it.
Using games is a fun way to help your child develop areas in their learning that they can struggle with. These areas of weakness have an impact on the child's ability to learn and include: working memory (visual and/or auditory), poor ability to order and sequence information (visual and/or auditory) and.
Dyslexia results from individual differences in the parts of the brain that enable reading. It tends to run in families. Dyslexia appears to be linked to certain genes that affect how the brain processes reading and language.
There are four types of dyslexia in common those are; Phonological dyslexia, surface dyslexia, rapid naming deficit, and double deficit dyslexia.
Bill Gates, one of the richest people in the world didn't let his dyslexia hold him back.
Schools have a range of ways to help struggling readers catch up. There might be a period of extra phonics teaching or extra reading practice 1:1 or in a small group with a teacher or teaching assistant. Lots of research has shown that children can catch up and keep up when they get the right help.
The 3-2-1 teaching strategy is a simple, versatile formative assessment tool where students reflect on a lesson by listing 3 things they learned, 2 things that interested them or they want to know more about, and 1 question they still have, helping teachers gauge understanding and engagement by checking responses or discussing them as a class. It's used as an "exit ticket" to summarize learning, check comprehension, spark discussion, and plan future lessons, with variations for specific subjects like science or literature.
During reading, the teacher may:
Ask questions that keep students on track and focus their attention on main ideas and important points in the text. Focus attention on parts in a text that require students to make inferences. Call on students to summarize key sections or events.
Three dimensional thinking and making connections
Many people with dyslexia demonstrate better skills at manipulating 3D objects in their mind. Many of the world's top architects and fashion designers have dyslexia.
According to UMHS, the following conditions can present similar symptoms and difficulties to dyslexia: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Executive Dysfunction. Memory Impairments.
Famous actors like Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom all have dyslexia. Pablo Picasso's teachers described him as “having difficulty differentiating the orientation of letters”.