Helping Families to Support Children With Dyslexia

Introduction

    One of our roles as educators is to help families with finding ways to support their child's learning beyond the classroom.  This home-to-school connection is especially important for students with reading difficulties like dyslexia.  In this blog, we will introduce and discuss ten possible resources and materials that educators can share with families of students with dyslexia.  These resources will include descriptions of how they help their child with literacy learning, where they can find or make the materials needed, citations, visuals, and links.  The list of resources and materials to share with families can be viewed below.     

Name of Material/Resource

Heart Word Magic

How does this help my child?

This website provides videos of irregularly spelled high-frequency words using the strategy called Heart Word Magic.  This strategy breaks down high frequency words into their decodable parts and the parts that need to be learned "by heart".  For example, the word from has the sounds /f/, /r/, /u/, /m/.  The parts of the word that have letters that match directly to their sounds are f, r,  and m.  The /u/ sound in this word will need to be learned "by heart" since it is spelled with an o, making it irregular.  Students with dyslexia will benefit from this resource because they can reinforce the letter-sound knowledge that they are learning in the classroom by looking at the decodable parts of the word, and providing them a way to only have to memorize small parts of the word instead of the entire word as a whole.    

How do I find or make this? 

Heart Word Magic Videos can be found one the Really Great Reading website.  Parents can use this with other irregularly spelled high frequency words at home by using paper and pencil.  Write down a word on a piece of paper and have your child identify the letters and sounds that "match".  Any sounds that do not match correctly to a letter can have a heart drawn around them to remind the child that that part must be learned "by heart".

Visual or link

https://www.reallygreatreading.com/heart-word-magic 

Name of Material/Resource

Novel Effect app

How does this help my child?

The Novel Effect application can be accessed on Apple and Android devices.  This app allows for readers to listen to music and sound effects as they read stories aloud.  The app is voice-driven, so the effects will play as the reader reaches certain words in the story.  This resource is helpful for families of children with dyslexia by providing a fun, engaging way to practice reading fluency in the home.  For younger readers, parents can model, or show, what effective fluent reading looks like by reading stories aloud to their children while using the Novel Effect app.  Readers who are ready to try reading the stories on their own can practice their own reading fluency by reading the text and activating the effects on the app.  

How do I find or make this? 

This app can be downloaded for free on the Apple App Store or on Google Play. 

Visual or link

https://noveleffect.com/

Name of Material/Resource

Whisper Phones

How does this help my child?

Whisper phones are a useful tool for young readers to be able to hear individual sounds and parts of words when reading or participating in phonological awareness activities like rhyming and blending sounds.  The whisper phone is shaped much like a traditional phone receiver and allows for children to hear their own voices producing sounds and words.  The amplification of the sounds can help children to differentiate sounds easier.  For example, a whisper phone can help a child to better differentiate the m and n sounds which could easily be mixed.  Older readers can use whisper phones when practicing reading fluency.  Whisper phones can help children to listen to their pacing and prosody while reading a text.  

How do I find or make this? 

Whisper phones can be purchased by searching for them on the internet, or they can be easily be made with PVC pipe like in the image below.  

Visual or link

https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/learning-at-home/encouraging-reading-writing/whisper-reading-what-it-is-and-how-it-works

Name of Material/Resource

Nursery Rhymes

How does this help my child?

Reciting and singing nursery rhymes with young children can help them to understand the phonological patterns of rhyming words and word families.  Parents can emphasize the words that rhyme in nursery rhymes to help their children to identify and produce rhymes.  

How do I find or make this? 

Nursery rhyme books can be purchased in any major bookstore or online.  The Cocomelon YouTube channel also provides access to nursery rhymes in a video format that is visually engaging for young children. 

Visual or link

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbCmjCuTUZos6Inko4u57UQ

Name of Material/Resource

Concrete objects for blending sounds

How does this help my child?

One way parents can work to reinforce phonological awareness skills at home is by counting and blending individual sounds in a word using concrete objects.  Objects can include pennies, rocks, pasta, buttons, etc.  Using concrete objects can help children with dyslexia to visualize the sounds that they are hearing in words without using letters.  This skill is important to use without letters in order to develop a strong foundation in listening to sounds in words, before working on the letters that match those sounds. 

How do I find or make this? 

Parents can use many different kinds of objects such as pennies, rocks, pasta, buttons, etc. to count the sounds used in everyday language.  It may be easier for students to start with words that have 2-3 sounds then increasing in difficulty with more sounds. 

Visual or link

 http://dyslexia.yale.edu/resources/parents/what-parents-can-do/developing-a-foundation-for-reading/

Name of Material/Resource

17 Activities to Support Kids with Dyslexia

How does this help my child?

This article gives parents 17 activities to do to support their child with dyslexia. Included are fine motor activities (cutting, coloring, beading), word-building activities (cut out letters or make them out of playdough), and phonological awareness activities (identifying beginning/final sounds). In addition, there are activities for improving comprehension, working memory and visual processing. There are even online resources provided for parents. 

How do I find or make this?

https://parentingpod.com/dyslexia-activities/ 

Citation

Visual or link (if applicable)

Name of Material/Resource

A New “Fireside Chat” with Dr. Sally Shaywitz

How does this help my child?

Dr. Shaywitz gives parents ideas on how to improve fluency by reading with their children. Dr. Shaywitz explains the importance of children with dyslexia reading aloud in order to get feedback and correction. One example of this is paired readings, first the parent reads to the child,next they read together, and last the child reads to the parent. This will take approximately 15 minutes per night and it is important to find a book that the child likes or is interested in. Dr. Shaywitz also talks about doing poetry readings, readers theatre and even songs together in order to improve fluency. 

How do I find or make this? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY4FtF-2BUk

Citation

Visual or link (if applicable)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY4FtF-2BUk

Name of Material/Resource

10 Cool Board Games for Kids with Dyslexia 

How does this help my child?

This article lists and describes good board games for children with dyslexia to play in order to develop skills in following directions, strategic planning, and basic reading. Board games are fun ways for children with dyslexia to engage in play while gaining skills. Games are great ways for children to practice social skills which in turn helps their social-emotional development. These board games can be played with peers or parents which helps to foster confidence in social interactions. 

How do I find or make this? 

All the board games are available to purchase on Amazon.

Citation

Visual or link (if applicable)

https://numberdyslexia.com/10-cool-board-games-for-kids-with-dyslexia/ 

Name of Material/Resource

Heggerty

How does this help my child?

This site gives examples of ways to build phonemic awareness through various word play activities. Parents and children play together with letters to form words or name the beginning sound of words found in books. Using letters for various activities helps children learn the names of letters and the corresponding sound it makes. Parents and children playing with letters they purchase or make gives them the opportunity to practice that letter/sound connection.

How do I find or make this? 

Parents can purchase magnetic letters or they can make them by drawing the letters and cutting them out. 

Citation

Visual or link (if applicable)

https://heggerty.org/parents/

Name of Material/Resource

Fun Ways to Develop Phonological Awareness

Building Blocks

How does this help my child?

Children can help identify words in a sentence by using a building block to represent each word they hear. The parent says a sentence: My cat is black and white. The child uses building blocks to build a tower by adding a block for each word. This activity helps children recognize and identify each word in a sentence. 

How do I find or make this? 

Building blocks are great for making a tower to represent each word in a sentence. Legos, beads or buttons could also be used to represent each spoken word. 

Citation

Visual or link (if applicable)

https://blog.allaboutlearningpress.com/phonological-awareness/