Supporting a child with dyslexia can be very difficult, trying to keep their confidence going whilst their friends around them are picking up books and just being able to read without seeming to put any effort in. And I know from Oliver’s perspective, he would come home from school and we would do reading practice and he would say to me, I’m a rubbish reader, Mummy. It’s very hard to try to explain to your child who’s only eight that he’s not a rubbish reader. He just has to learn how to read in a different way. And throughout all this, Oliver has shown so much perseverance, and all credit to him because he is now starting to read independently. It is great to hear him giggling away reading a book.
– Pippa, parent of Oliver, age 8¹  

The role of parents in supporting dyslexic readers is immense, and yet they usually receive no training! This article offers ten tips to help you in your vital, valuable role of supporting your dyslexic child in reading. 

1. Read to your child until he is 35

OK – maybe not 35…But it’s simply untrue that adults should stop reading to children as soon as they can read for themselves. On the contrary, it’s enormously beneficial for children, teens, and even adults. Listening to texts and stories enables children to hear and store language patterns that they can then use in their own speech and writing. It enables them to hear vocabulary that may not otherwise have been experienced. It also faciliates important connections: the connection between yourself and your child over a love of stories and books, and the connection your child makes between books and enjoyment. Read to them for as long as you possibly can.

2. Know your phonics

In early schooling, all children are taught to read through phonics. This is a system whereby alphabetic symbols, known as graphemes (in other words letters and groups of letters) are matched to sounds, known as phonemes. These sounds are blended together to decode (read) words. Learners with dyslexia often find phonics hard to grasp and will usually need continued support beyond first teaching. How can parents, who were not necessarily taught the same way, support this?

Firstly, make sure you are pronouncing your letters correctly, in their purest form. For a demonstration of how the alphabetic sounds should be pronounced, watch the free film “Articulation of Sounds” here. Next, you’ll need to know how sounds are blended together. To make the word plop, for example, we would say four sounds: “p – l – o – p”. But for the word coat, where two letters make one sound (oa) we would say three sounds: “c + oa + t”. If you’d like to know a little more, an affordable, short introductory course on the absolute basics of phonics is available for purchase here. 

3. Get the books right

For reading to be a purposeful learning experience, your child needs to read books that are not too challenging. It’s understandable for parents to want their child to move on through book levels quickly to be sure they are making progress. However, moving children on too quickly can be catastrophic if they have dyslexia. Consolidation, practice, repetition and over-learning are everything when it comes to reading and dyslexia. It’s great for your child to read books more than once, even multiple times, and to read books which may seem too easy to you. 

In England, children who are still acquiring phonics are expected to read decodable books. These are books which carefully follow phonics progression containing only words can be decoded by phonics. Dyslexics may need a number of books working on the same sounds in order to become secure. They may also need other books which are not purely decodable to develop depth and confidence. 

4. The 90% rule

Once children are secure in phonics, they move on to levelled books. A good rule for readability of a book is that at least 90% of words in a text should be read accurately by the child.  This means that if the child makes more than 1 mistake in 10 words, the book is too hard. Your child needs to develop fluency as well as accuracy; reading books that are too hard impedes this and may reduce motivation. For older readers still acquiring early reading skills, there are a lot of “higher interest lower level” reading books. A free catalogue of these can be downloaded here. 

5. Repeated and paired reading

If your child wants to read books she cannot decode or does not have the confidence to read without support, or if your child needs help reading with expression, repeated reading is a great strategy. In repeated reading, the adult reads and the child copies, whilst following the text with a finger. Paired reading is an alternative, and involves reading the text together, while your child holds the book and turns the pages. If your child feels confident to read a section by himself, he can tap your arm to indicate that he is ready to read. 

6. Check their comprehension

Talking about a passge or book is a really important part of reading, and often there isn’t time to do this individually in school. You can check comprehension in a number of ways. Try some of these:

• Ask him to give one word as a summary of what he has read
• Ask him to choose his favourite word in the text, or one that stands out the most
• Ask her to tell you what will happen next?
• Can he describe, or even draw, a character or setting
• Ask him to ask you a question about what he has read!
• Ask her the meaning of a word in the passage
• Can she make a comic strip of what she read?
• Ask him to draw as the story as you read.
• Encourage her to visualise what she is reading. She may need help with this – you can start by asking her to visualise as you read, word by word or sentence by sentence.

7. Communicate with the school

Schools love hearing from parents who want to read with their child! Ask for clarification of how reading is taught at your child’s school. Ask how books are chosen and how your child is doing, and if there are any class texts or topics coming up. Talk about any concerns you have as soon as you have them. If you have problems with reading yourself, don’t be afraid  to talk to the school about this. Dyslexia is a difference in the brain and it can run in families. It’s nothing to be ashamed of and there is help available. 

8. Use audio books

I’m a huge fan of these! Most libraries use apps which allow you to borrow a wide range of audiobooks for free, and there are of course some commercial providers too. For all readers, but especially those with dyslexia, audio books can be enormously helpful and enjoyable, whether it’s listening to class books, factual books to help with a project, or just listening for pure enjoyment.

9. Celebrate

Sometimes where dyslexia is present the steps of progress can be very small. If you’re reading with your child, there will be progress – but make sure you notice it and praise your child. 

10. Don’t push it

If your child is dyslexic, the chances are that school is exhausting for her, and she will need down time at home. Daily reading is great, but bear in mind all of the above tips which show you that it does not have to be a chore. If your child needs to read something easy, or for you to read to her, or just to relax with an audio book together, don’t worry. If he really can’t handle any book work some days, don’t push it. 

Your support and understanding is the most important thing to enable your child to succeed, and the mere fact that you have taken the time to get to the end of this article proves you have this in buckets. You’ve got this.

For more information and training about reading and dyslexia, Louise Selby offers a variety of courses on her training portal.

1. Pippa’s story on film as part of the Voices of Dyslexia project, and other stories, can be accessed on https://louiseselbydyslexia.com/voices-of-dyslexia-do-you-have-a-story-to-tell/ ↩︎