Dear ADDitude: Will My Dyslexic Child Ever Read for Fun?
“My child has been diagnosed with dyslexia. Motivating her to read during the school year is especially difficult; during the summer, it is downright impossible. Do you have any recommendations for motivating a child with weak language skills?”
Dyslexia and a love for reading seem like contradictory concepts when put together, but the truth is that it’s far from that. You can be dyslexic and develop a love for books and reading.
According to the International Dyslexia Association, structured literacy teaching is the most effective approach for children who experience difficulty learning to read and spell printed words. In addition to formal approaches, here are reader-recommended strategies to help make reading enjoyable for your child.
Fun and Games
If your child has dyslexia, then they would have trouble recognizing sight words like ‘said’ and ‘the’ and ‘from.’ They probably has difficulty with sounding out or decoding words, too.
For this, you can find fun games and activities on my Pinterest board titled Sight Words. I find these games can really motivate a child to practice their skills in fun ways.
Audiobooks are also very, very beneficial, especially if you’re listening to them together with your child. The key is interacting with your child and questioning as they’re listening to help them process the story and demonstrate what they understand. Say you’re in your car listening to an audiobook as a family. When you stop for gas, ask your child, “What do you think is going to happen next?” Or, “What just happened?” Or, “What was the best part?” “Whoa, can you visualize that scene? What does that guy look like? Where is he going to? How do you imagine it in your head?”
[Get This Free Download: Understand the Signs of Dyslexia]
Audiobooks will never impede reading. They will only advance reading by helping to develop their language, listening and comprehension skills. Listening to audiobooks really, truly develops a child’s vocabulary. The key to good writing is to listen to lots of good books, because good writers pick up the language. They pick up the structure. They pick up what they like that other authors do well that they enjoy. So, the more they read or the more they listen, the more advanced their writing skills will become.
– Answered by Sandra Rief, M.A.
Putting on a Play
One fun way to build up kids’ reading fluency is to rehearse and practice a play. I like to use ‘Readers’ Theater Scripts’, which are little scripts that are meant for kids of different ages. But you could create a play out of any book that your child is reading. “I take this character. You take that one.” This prompts them to read, and reread, and reread a text at their level. Another great strategy is to print out lyrics to songs and read that poetry.
In the end, the love of reading comes with the ease of reading. It’s the same for any subject – when our kids don’t know how to do it properly or effectively, they drift off or it’s so frustrating that they don’t want to do it. You can ease this frustration by saying, “Pick any book you want.” Don’t worry about whether your child is reading at a certain grade level; right now, their comfort level is more important.
It also helps to have a set “reading time” for everyone in the house. Bedtime may or may not work, depending on your child’s focus and medication. Regardless, they can choose to read a newspaper, a book, a magazine, even comic books. There are plenty of really great science magazines. Whatever is of interest. Start at 15 minutes and work up to 30 minutes. For some kids with ADHD, that amount of reading time is excruciating, so be sure to praise your child for what he’s done and his effort. Also, don’t be afraid to use audiobooks. If it’s possible, encourage your child to read along with the audiobook. This can improve skills because they’re learning vocabulary while getting a sense of how certain words are pronounced, the intonation, even punctuation, the pauses where they need to come. It’s a great way to learn.
– Answered by Jodi Sleeper-Triplett, ADHD coach
[Read: When Your Child Has ADHD and Dyslexia]
Read What You Want
Make sure your child can read whatever they choose. Take your child to the library and find books that they’d be interested in or excited about. Magazines and non-fiction count, too. It’s helpful for you to read to your child or to get audiobooks. Your child doesn’t have to be the one reading to get a benefit from it.
– Answered by Penny (ADDconnect Moderator, Author on Parenting ADHD, Mom to teen boy with ADHD, LDs, and autism)
Dyslexia in Children: Next Steps
- Read: The Dyslexia-ADHD Overlap
- Read: The Defining Signs of Dyslexia Too Often Ignored
- Read: How to Encourage Your Child with ADHD to Read — Willingly and Voraciously
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