How to design a dyslexia reading program

Achieving high academic performance as a person with dyslexia can be incredibly challenging. Fortunately, there are special programs to help dyslexic children master decoding, phonics, and other essential language elements. These allow them to develop and improve their reading comprehension skills.

However, designing a reading program in school or home for a dyslexic person can be equally challenging. This article will provide a few tips to point you in the right direction.

Examples of dyslexia reading programs

There are many programs for helping children alleviate challenges associated with learning disabilities. For children with dyslexia, these programs focus on improving reading fluency and other vital skills.

Good plans should also set kids up for success by rebuilding their confidence through practice. They can come in various forms.

For instance, you can use computer programs or apps on iOS or Android smartphones. Dyslexia-specific reading programs may include lessons that follow particular methods. Other examples include teacher-led programs that help students reach various reading levels.

Here are three of the most widely-known dyslexia programs:

• Barton Program – The goal of this program is to help children with dyslexia approach reading differently. It aims to raise kids’ phonemic awareness and the relationship between phonemes and letters. It’s great for homeschooling, but it’s also helpful for adults.
• Wilson Reading System – This system mainly targets adolescents and adult learners. It’s a multi-sensory approach that combines kinesthetic, visual, and auditory techniques to improve spelling and reading skills. Private tutors commonly use this to help struggling readers with customized lessons.
• Davis Program – The International Dyslexia Association recommends using multiple methods when creating dyslexia programs, including this one. It helps children discover what they’re good at to increase their motivation to learn, resulting in more autonomy.

Tips for creating a dyslexia reading program

Teaching reading to dyslexic children is challenging, but there are ways to make the process easier.

Create a quiet area

Dyslexic learners need a quiet learning environment to sharpen their focus. Many solutions can help you lower noise, such as carpeting the area. If you’re a special education teacher, you can also move them away from noisy peers to minimize distractions.

Use visual aids

Providing visual aids helps improve the children’s memory and keeps them immersed. You can increase their comprehension by combining this content with written and audio reading instructions.

Offer choices on how to engage in tasks

It’s not a good idea to force children to engage in tasks they don’t like. This especially holds for reading out loud, which can make dyslexic individuals anxious and frustrated.

The only situation where it’s fine to let them read aloud is if they volunteer. Even then, don’t overwhelm them with demanding instructions. Instead, let them read a few paragraphs at a time.

Create a spelling station

Children with dyslexia often have trouble spelling words. To alleviate their struggles, you can use “spelling stations.” This method helps kids in all grade levels hone spelling skills with verbal, auditory, visual, and writing repetition stations.

You can set up various stations at home or school, depending on the resources available. Here are a few options:

• Puzzles – Word searches and crossword puzzles written on spelling worksheets can help enhance word recognition.
• Letter magnets – This exercise requires children to spell words using magnetic letters on a metal surface.
• Word art – Learners spell and decorate words with markers, glitter, and crayons to match the spelling to their artistic expressions.

Organize Scrabble days

Traditional lessons require intensive work that involves syntax, prefixes, suffixes, syllable types, phonics instructions, and other grammar elements. Dyslexic children need to reinforce the concepts and the best way to do so might be through games.

For instance, you can organize a Scrabble tournament with your kids’ friends. The game tests their ability to spell complex words in a competitive environment, making them more motivated to practice reading and spelling skills.

Most importantly, your kids are more likely to memorize your direct instructions with social and interactive lessons.

Use simple sentences

Processing and listening to words is a major issue for dyslexic children, especially if you require them to memorize your explicit instructions. Therefore, slow down the speech and use simple sentence structures.

Besides straightforward constructions, you should also use San Serif fonts, Arial, and other dyslexia-friendly fonts. They help prevent letter swapping and mirroring, allowing children to keep up with your lessons.

Also, ensure enough space between the letters in the resources to prevent the characters from blending and reducing readability. Underlining words or using italics is another bad idea since it can be confusing.

Leverage the Orton-Gillingham approach

The Orton-Gillingham approach is a match made in heaven for struggling readers with dyslexia. It teaches children the connection between sounds and letters. It can help kids elevate their reading comprehension, but that’s not the primary goal of this method.

The main goal is to teach dyslexic individuals how to use multiple senses when learning. For instance, it can encourage children to learn letters by seeing them, saying their name, and pronouncing it while writing them in their notebooks.

This reading program can be incredibly beneficial by helping children understand the patterns and rules of this activity.

Speechify – A text to speech tool for dyslexic people

Dyslexic children need lots of practice with reading. Fortunately, you can optimize your reading intervention with Speechify, a convenient text to speech (TTS) platform.

Speechify is perfect for practicing reading skills. It narrates the content using immersive voices and highlights key phrases to help your kid focus as they follow along. This TTS tool will also help develop and improve word recognition, spelling, reading, and vocabulary. You can also use the app to read your step-by-step instructions aloud and make them easily digestible.

Try Speechify today and test its dyslexia-friendly design.

FAQ

What reading program is best for dyslexia?

Many consider the Orton-Gillingham approach the best reading program for dyslexia.

What instructional programs are designed to support dyslexia?

Many evidence-based instructional programs support dyslexia, such as All About Reading, Logic of English, Reading Horizons, and Orton-Gillingham.

How do you modify a lesson plan for dyslexia?

You can modify a dyslexia lesson plan by making the classroom quieter and introducing a multi-sensory approach.

What are the benefits of a dyslexia reading program?

Dyslexia reading programs improve the affected individuals’ phonological awareness, reading, spelling, and writing.

What is the best way to teach reading and writing to dyslexic students?

There are many ways to teach reading and writing to dyslexic high school students, like using technology and enabling children to choose how they wish to learn.