Tips To Help A Child With Dyslexia Build His Or Her Reading Skills
Posted on: 10 February 2016
If you are a parent of a child with dyslexia, chances are good that you have noticed that your child struggles with reading. This could be frustrating and scary for you because you want to be sure that your child has as many chances for success as possible, but you might not know how to help your child through his or her dyslexia. Here are some tips for helping your child with dyslexia build his or her reading skills.
1. Don't Stress About Spelling
Your child might fail every spelling test while he or she is elementary school. This is okay. Spelling, although a necessary skill, can be assisted with the use of technology, including the ever-evolving developments in the realm of spell-checkers. Reading and writing go hand in hand, and if your child feels that he or she is competent when it comes to writing and expressing his or her ideas in words, then he or she will be more motivated to read. Try to downplay the anxiety that your child might have about language arts by not stressing out about spelling tests and being willing to proofread any papers that he or she writes before turning them in. Finally, consider giving your child full access to a word processor for papers so that he or she can learn how to use spell check early on.
2. Read Aloud To Your Child
Regardless of whether your child is in middle school or in elementary school, try to read aloud with your child. If you have a child in elementary school, grab picture books because the most important thing is going to be matching the feelings and actions described in the language with the pictures so that your child can learn to memorize patterns in the letters. If you have an older child, make sure that you choose material that he or she is interested in, such as young adult novels, and trade the book back and forth, with each of you reading a paragraph.
3. Encourage Accuracy Over Speed
Your child might read really slowly. This is also okay, as long as he or she is taking the time to understand what he or she is reading. Encourage your child to draw a picture of the action every sentence or two as he or she is reads a picture book, and every chapter as he or she reads a chapter book. If your child is reading aloud, pause every few minutes and ask your child to rehash what's going on in the story in his or her own words. Finally, be sure that you don't hurry your child. Your child will read faster when he or she is ready.
For more information, talk to a company that specializes in dyslexia assessments.
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