Dyslexia Treatment:
 Hints and Tips for
 Parents

  Dyslexia Parents Resource

Tell us about ways in which you help and support your dyslexic child

Dyslexia Treatment: This page is your page, so please send us methods, little tricks you have developed, and other hints and tips you find helpful in dealing with your dyslexic child. (You may choose to be anonymous.)

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Cookie dough - When my dyslexic son was struggling to learn the alphabet at 6 years old. We made cookie dough, divided it, added different food colors, chocolate chips, sprinkles etc. We then formed the dough to make the letters of the alphabet starting with uppercase letters. We then baked them and ate them. This helped him learn the letters and isolate them so they would not move so much on the page. (J.J., Louisiana, USA )

Confidence building exercise - The majority of dyslexic children have come to the conclusion that they are stupid! In any school in any week of the year a dyslexic child experiences a huge amount of failure. With sequencing difficulties, any form of writing or math/s is going to present severe problems, and the dyslexic child cannot fail to notice that almost all of the other children are able to do the work which he or she finds so hard. Why can't he read and spell? He must be dumb, thick, stupid. It's the conclusion that anyone would reach in similar circumstances, and it badly needs changing before any corrective teaching is going to be effective. Confidence building exercise. (John Bradford, World of Dyslexia )

Rabbit Keyring Game - When I noticed my daughter's difficulty remembering and following instructions, I created a family game in an effort to try to improve this particular ability.  In the game,  I hide a candy or a small favorite toy.  I then describe where I hid the object and based on my description, they would locate it.  On this particular occasion, I hid a small rabbit keyring. 
I asked her to go into my bedroom, turn right, look in my closet, find my red jacket and look in the bottom pocket and bring me back the keyring. 
She had tremendous difficulty with this and was unable to complete the task as she kept forgetting the next step of the instructions.  She had been taught before that she writes with her right so she took a long time trying to figure out the directions. 
She eventually figured this out without assistance from me but forgot the next step after she arrived at the closet.  Realising that this may have been a task that was too complex for her, I broke the task down to one step at a time.  We have since moved up to two and sometimes three steps at a time. (A. K. B., St Vincent, a student on the Dyslexia Certificate course )

Reading 'big kid chapter' books - My dyslexic 9 year old often feels he is the only one who can't read or who struggles with trying to sound out a word. He hates the 'baby' books he often has to read at school, so at bedtime he wants the 'big kid chapter' books (Harry Potter stuff). Most of the time I read them to him and when it comes to a big word I stop and sound out the letters or ask him for help. Whether he gets it right isn't the point, it is knowing that even his mum needs to keep trying and ask for help. Watching his heart swell is the greatest boost of all! (Kimberley, Ottawa, Canada)

Books with audio tapes - I have just discovered children's books with an audio tape of the story that my dyslexic daughter (aged 9) can follow. She loves it! It means that she can read books at a higher level than usual, and she enjoys following the text while she listens. I'm sure that it's improving her reading! (Maureen, Los Angeles, CA)

Used to hate reading - My dyslexic 9 year old used to hate reading, but since getting terrific support from school, reading is starting to become pleasurable instead of torture. What we do for fun reading e.g. Harry Potter (rather than school stuff) is for him to read the words he can and then I fill in the big/difficult words for him, this way he practices his reading while hearing a story for pleasure and fun (Kim, London, UK)

Using rewards - My dyslexic 10-year old son is having so much trouble with spelling, but things have improved a lot since I started giving him reward points for learning his spellings at home (even if he's forgotten them by the next day!). I bought a packet of silver stars which I stick on a little card. When he's got ten, we organize a small reward for him - usually staying up late to watch a video on a Saturday, or her can ask a friend round for a couple of hours. It makes it all a lot more positive for him. (Helen, Liverpool, UK)

Tying up shoe laces - Velcro is a godsend! If he has lace-up shoes for church, I just tie them myself. He can learn to do it when he's older - it's just not worth all the frustration. (H.L., MA, USA)

Getting shoes on the right feet - Have a hard time getting shoes on the right feet? On the inside soles of each foot put lips if the child is young or dots if the child is older and have them remember to have the shoes "kiss" when they put them on and almost like magic the shoes are on the right feet. (S.H., College Station, Texas)

Left and right - I used to go mad over my dyslexic 9-year old daughter's trouble with following directions. 'Come out of the church and turn left' just did not work. But she's starting to find things easier now that she's wearing a bracelet on her left hand. She calls it 'Leftie' ! (Janice, Edinburgh, Scotland)

Reading - I used to have a terrible time hearing my dyslexic son read. I would stop over every word he could not read and make him say the sounds of the letters. I'm afraid that it usually ended in tears and anger! Anyway, I've now changes all that. If he comes to a word he cannot read, I just tell him, and we're both really enjoying reading now. And his reading is definitely improving, as well as our relationship. (Liz D, California, USA)

Proud to have a dyslexic - My husband and 10 year old daughter are dyslexic. Before I knew they had dyslexia I used to always be angry at them because I thought that they just didn't care about spelling. Once I found out how difficult reading was for them I started to search out books that had large print and illustrations for them to be able to stay interested in books and stories. Now my daughter illustrates her stories because she loves to write(even though the spelling is not perfect) and I am proud to have a dyslexic that is gifted at art and story writing. (Kelly, Chalfont, PA)

Both dyslexic - Mom and 8 year old are both dyslexic, so lots of patience is needed.
• If doing home work I have an alphabet available for her to see and refer to if needed.
• She loves Mary Pope Osborn 'Magic Tree House' books.
• To tell right from left, hold your left hand up: all fingers together pointed up and thumb pointed out makes the shape of an 'L' for the left hand.
• Encourage and be proud of the things they do well. She is showing excellent drawing skills and is very athletic. Many times she needs a school advocate to come to her side. I am no longer quiet about her needs.
• We laugh at our mistakes also. I kept putting her shoe on the wrong feet when she was young. I remind her often and kid her: "Aren't you glad you are old enough to put your own shoes on?" when she is feeling blue. I know she will do well because I have dyslexia and I am a Registered Nurse. Dyslexia has not stopped me.
• Feed on their interests and the sky is the limit. Dyslexia has a lot of advantages. Seeing the big picture is wonderful. Keep the encouragement coming. (Bobbi, PA)

Classical music - Our dyslexic son (now 13 years of age) uses a headset playing classical music when doing seat work both at school and at home. This seems to help block out distractions and minimize the confusion. He tried this at home for about 6 months and could see such an incredible difference in his work that he now uses this method at school. (Dale, Simcoe, Ontario, Canada)

Correcting errors - My dyslexic son has a bad habit of writing a correction on top of the error, instead of erasing it and writing it clearly. The result was a real mess until we bought him two or three ink and pencil erasers. This has made a big difference to the appearance of his homework, though he still needs reminding sometimes! (Jo, PA, USA)

Digital watch - Someone on your site mentioned using a watch to differentiate the left hand from the right hand. This worked but my son couldn't tell time well. He was proud of the watch but put on the spot when people stopped to ask him the time. I purchased a $25 dollar digital watch with a large, simple face and large easy to read numbers. Now he knows what time it is. (D.A., Washington, DC )

Homework box - My dyslexic 11 year old could not keep up with a pencil or eraser at home. So when it came homework time, she did not have the supplies she needed. We have created a homework box with a snap lid. She now keeps duplicates of all the supplies that she uses at school for her homework in this box. And all supplies that she has used out of her homework box goes straight back in. She always has what she needs for homework at the house. (Joy, Frisco, Texas )

Videos and books - I use videos of classic and/or historic literature, such as: A Christmas Carol, Johnny Tremain, Daniel Boone, Treasure Island, Heidi, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Moby Dick, King Arthur, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and so much more, to allow my four middle-school aged children to not only enjoy the video, but be able to follow along and compare it to the book, gaining a better perception of the time period of history, government systems, themes of geography, etc. My children are dyslexic and Language Processing Disordered. I call them "Creative Learners." (DJ Thomas, USA)

Keeping appointments - My children often couldn't keep an appointment I made with them. Things like "I will pick you up after school on the yard/playground, at the car-parking etc. Most of the time they were waiting for me at the wrong place. So I made them picture the spot in their mind when I made the appointment with them. "I will pick you up at 14.00 hours at the car-park of the school" Do you see the clock on 14.00? Do you see yourself waiting for me at the car park. Make a mental picture. This way they never forgot an appointment anymore! (Mieke, Basel, Switzerland)

Add a bubble - To help my dyslexic son with letters 'b' and 'd', I would ask him "If you add a bubble does it make a 'B'?" so if he had 'b' and adds a bubble on top, it does not make a 'B'; if not then it must be a 'D'. Now I just have to say "Add a bubble" and he know what I'm referring to. (Monica, Frisco, Texas)

Earobics - computer program to learn to differentiate the sounds. Cost is only $60. It worked for my dyslexic son along with my tutoring for one summer. (R.M., USA)

X and Y axis on a graph - My dyslexic daughter used to have trouble remembering which was the X and Y axis on a graph. "X is across (a cross)" has solved her problem. I passed this on to a college lecturer who seemed to be having the same problem! (Jackie, Letchworth Garden City, UK)

Digital recorder - Our dyslexic 11 year old had a terrible time getting homework instructions written down from the board quickly enough. What he did copy down was often illegible. He also had a tough time writing stories or reports as he would forget his ideas before he could write them down. He now uses a small discreet digital recorder and records homework instructions to be written in his agenda when he gets home. He can also use this recorder at home for capturing his story and report ideas before they are lost. (Fay, Ottawa, Canada)

Colored overlays - I heard about using different colored transparencies over the reading text. Every child is different but for my daughter it was blue. When I asked her what the difference was between reading from the white page and reading with the blue transparency, she said: "The words have spaces between them and don't mush all together." (Courtenay, Visalia, CA)

Spelling homework - Spelling homework was always a nightmare. Buying magnet letters and using the side of the fridge was a breakthrough. He can make two, three or twenty attempts, without having to worry. I can leave him good morning messages, showing I need to use the fridge too. (Paula, UK)

Spelling words - Our dyslexic 11 year old had a horrible time with spelling at the beginning of this year. I used the computer to make crazy pictures of his favorite things and people - with a short phrase to depict the spelling words. We have a scanner and a color printer. To save time, I print things or scan and use the old-fashioned cut and paste with scissors and tape. The crazier the picture the more he remembered. I also asked for a couple more study days from the teacher. Spelling grades went from the 40's to the 90's in a matter of week. He's now a happy camper! (D.A., Washington, DC )

Colored letters - When my son was in 4th, 5th, and 6th grade, I used a large font technique. I would retype the spelling words in at least a size 72 font. I also learned that it seemed helpful to change the color of the letters for the part of the word he was having trouble with. For instance, if he was spelling "friend" as "freind," then I would change the color of the "ie" to red. I reasoned that he knew how to spell the rest of the word, so he should concentrate on that "ie" part. It seemed to help. If he had themed spelling lists, I sometimes even changed the font colors depending on what the words were emphasizing. So "station" would have the "ion" in red, while "patient" would have the "ien" in blue, because they sound similar but are spelt differently. (E.S. New Jersey, USA)

Essay writing - My dyslexic daughter, 11, has such a hard time spelling that it takes her forever to write a report or essay at school, especially if she is constantly looking through the dictionary. Two things that helped were:
(1) A very small 40,000-Word list book - it has just the words, not the definitions, and
(2) A Franklin electronic speller.
With the latter, she can enter a word phonetically, and it comes up with a list of correctly spelled options. She can choose the option she thinks is correct, and a definition pops up to ensure it is the correct word. This was so helpful that four other children in the class purchased one, too. Rather than having her spelling problem being a stigma, the other kids like her cool gadget! (R. F., Boise, Idaho )

Clay letters - My dyslexic son is 8 years old and has difficulty with writing spelling words for his test. We did some research and found that molding letters out of clay helped tremendously. He seems to learn better with visual or 3D aides. We form each letter in clay and make the spelling words. He spells it out loud forward, backwards and forward again. So for it is working. (lexus443, Louisiana)

Turning the text sideways - (either way). For some reason my 13 year old dyslexic daughter does great. She says the words don't move and she can see them separately for a change.(PWL, Memphis, TN)
(Editor's note: seeing the words move or become fuzzy can be a sign of Irlen Syndrome, and she may need to wear tinted glasses prescribed by a certified Irlen specialist.)

Certificate Creator - create and print out your own certificates online to improve your dyslexic child's self-confidence.

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