How can I encourage my child to read and like books?...
How can I help my child with reading?
Springboard is a charity providing one-to-one support to improve reading and writing for children in schools. Click here to read ‘ A parents little guide to helping children read’ .
The British Dyslexia Association has some ‘Top Tips’ for spelling and reading on its website explained by a teacher and mum Julianne Miller. Watch the clips by clicking here
The BDA have some helpful pages with tips for reading, writing and spelling here.
Some people find reading pens helpful to manually track over the printed word or phrase to have
it read out loud: There is a useful demonstration video here.
Understood have free multisensory reading tools for teaching reading to try. Click here to take a look.
Tom McLaughlin, a dyslexic author of children’s books, has written an article that offers his supportive and beautiful tips to dyslexic children everywhere. If you read it to your child it may inspire them! Click here to read the article.
Barrington Stoke specialises in 'cracking reading', publishing super-readable children’s books that break down the barriers that can stop kids getting into reading. They bring together the very best children’s authors and illustrators in the UK with a host of unique accessibility features to offer cracking reads accessible to more children including those with dyslexia or visual stress.
Ela Lourenco a writer of young adult book series tailored for those with dyslexia and mother of a dyslexic child has written a guest post for Dyslexia Assist to help with reading, remembering that each child is unique. To read her post click here
Sally Collard at Dragonfly teaching has an excellent article to that might be helpful ‘Unconditional Support for the Struggling Reader’ click here to read more.
Sarah Fearn of Dysbooks.com provides information to support dyslexic readers and writers of all ages. One of her tips is not to forget comics, and graphic style novels.
Dekko comics have free online issues of their fun comic stories to help with tables and school topics - written and created by a dyslexic learner.
Bringing active learning for students Super Movers is a campaign from the Premier League and BBC to help get a generation of pupils up and moving while they learn English and maths topics for KS1 and KS2.
How can I encourage my child to enjoy books?
Audio books ....... Listening to beautifully produced recordings is a great way to encourage the love of books, without any reading difficulties. Here are some ways to get hold of recordings:
Local libraries: If you take written proof of your child's learning difficulty (e.g. a report or letter from the school) to your local library, you can update your child’s library card so that the loan of audio and visual material is free. There are no fines for children on overdue items. Some audio books come with a paper copy which then allows your child to follow the text whilst he/she listens. This really helps with reading development. You can also borrow directly to a tablet, computer or mobile if you register and get a pin from the library for their Overdrive or Borrowbox app.
The RNIB have made subscription to their Talking Book Service free with access to more than 30,000 unabridged titles. To be eligible, you must live in the UK and have an impairment that prevents or limits you from reading standard print. Dyslexia is an option that can be chosen when registering. Books are available for Digital Download to devices through RNIB Overdrive, CD and USB stick, delivered direct to your door. Register here.
Listening Books are a national charity with a huge online collection of audiobooks, including all your favourites for adults and children's. Best sellers such as Harry Potter and David Walliams, as well as a large collection of books to support the National Curriculum and well being. You can also access 1000's of newspapers and magazines for dyslexic adults and children, all which have a listen function. Membership fee's are £20 for the year, but if that is a barrier to joining there are also free memberships available (just tick the box on the application form). Register here
There’s a simple way to access audiobooks that can be downloaded and read out loud. The EasyReader app from Dolphin is the great way for dyslexic people with visual difficulties to browse, download and read titles on an iOS or Android device.
EasyReader offers access to a huge range of books and text books including epubBooks, RNIB Bookshare and RNIB Overdrive. Readers can then choose from a wide selection of fonts and colours, or can listen to audiobooks on their phone, tablet or computer. They can also copy text from anywhere on the web and paste it into EasyReader, where it will be displayed in their favourite dyslexia-friendly scheme.
The award-winning charity children’s literacy website, Storyline Online®, streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations. Readers include Oprah Winfrey, Chris Pine, Kristen Bell, Rita Moreno, Viola Davis, Jaime Camil, Kevin Costner, Lily Tomlin, Sarah Silverman, Betty White, Wanda Sykes and dozens more. Click on a book to listen on YouTube of Vimeo for free. There is also the option to purchase the book via a US site.
Calibre Audio is a national charity providing a free audiobook service for adults and children with sight problems, dyslexia or other disabilities who cannot read print. Titles range from classics to current bestsellers and can be easily streamed to your phone, tablet or computer. You can also choose to receive them on a USB memory stick sent via the postal service alongside a free return label. You can create a wish list and keep multiple books at a time so when you send it back there's no need to wait for the next one! For more details click here
• Perfectly synchronised audio and highlighted words to boost students' comprehension
• A range of dyslexia friendly fonts to choose from
• Reduced visual glare - students can optimise text, highlight and background colours
• Adjustable text size and line spacing for total reading comfort
Google has a kid-focused voice assistant named Diya as part of its new educational app for Android called Read Along. The Read Along app comes with a set of stories and word games for kids aged five and up. Diya monitors the child as they read, using Google’s speech recognition technology to spot mistakes and places where they are having trouble. The voice assistant can correct their errors as they read, as well as congratulate them on successes. The student can also ask Diya to pronounce words they don’t know how to say at any time. Parents can create individual profiles so that they can track individual progress. See google Kids Space for more details.
Yap Books is an innovative new reading app for android and iOS. Voice controlled books are used to encourage readers to read aloud into the microphone. The text appears at the bottom of the page and when it is read correctly animations appear in the graphics. This may help motivate struggling or reluctant readers. You can double click on a word to hear it read out. As you progress there are scores and badges to work with. Here are some book titles that the children who reading challenging have enjoyed:
Here are some book titles children have recommended and enjoyed.
