How to help a child with dyslexia at home

What helps most at home?

Three things matter most: keep your child's love of stories alive, give short regular practice that matches school, and protect their confidence. You don't need to be a teacher. A calm adult and a few minutes a day go a long way.

• Read aloud to your child every day, even if they are older.
• Practice reading skills for 10 to 20 minutes, most days.
• Use audiobooks so your child can enjoy books at their thinking level.
• Talk about books, words and ideas at meals and in the car.
• Praise effort and progress, not just right answers.

Why keep reading aloud to an older child?

Because your child's ears are ahead of their eyes. A child with dyslexia may be ready for a long chapter book in ideas and vocabulary, but only able to read an easy book on their own. Reading aloud lets them keep learning new words and facts while their reading catches up.

Pick books your child chooses and enjoys. Stop to talk about new words. Let them follow along with their finger if they want to, but don't turn read-aloud time into a test.

What should home practice look like?

Short, calm and matched to school. Ask the teacher which sounds and patterns your child is learning right now. Practice those, using words and short books the teacher sends home. Ten focused minutes beat forty tearful ones.

What can you say when your child gets stuck on a word?

If your child still can't work out the word after a try, just tell them and move on. Getting stuck for a long time builds frustration, not skill.

How can you help with homework?

• Read directions aloud so your child can focus on the task.
• Let your child tell you answers out loud while you or a speech-to-text tool writes them.
• Break long assignments into small parts with short breaks.
• Set a time limit, and write a note to the teacher if work takes much longer than expected.
• Ask the teacher about reduced reading loads or audio versions of textbooks.

Homework should practice what your child can do, not show what they can't. If homework turns into a nightly battle, talk to the teacher, because that's important information they may not see in class.

Which tools can help?

Audiobooks, text-to-speech and speech-to-text tools are now built into most phones, tablets and computers. They let your child read and write at the level of their thinking. Using them is not cheating. They are like glasses for someone who can't see well.

Your child still needs reading teaching, though. Use tools for learning content and enjoying books, and keep short daily practice for building reading skills.

How do you protect your child's confidence?

Many children with dyslexia start to believe they are stupid. Tell your child plainly that dyslexia has nothing to do with being smart. Help them find things they are good at, like sports, art, building or talking about ideas, and make time for those.

Share stories of people with dyslexia who did well. If you or another family member had reading trouble, talk about it. Knowing they're not alone can mean a lot to a child.

How do you work with the school?

Ask what your child is learning, how progress is measured, and how you can help at home. Ask to see progress graphs. Share what you see at home, too, especially if homework is taking a very long time or your child is upset about school.

If you think your child may have dyslexia and they haven't had an evaluation, you can request one in writing. Only a qualified professional can identify dyslexia.

What should you avoid at home?

• Long practice sessions that end in tears.
• Making your child read aloud to relatives or guests.
• Comparing your child with a brother, sister or classmate.
• Taking away fun activities as punishment for slow reading.
• Flash cards of whole words to memorize without looking at the sounds.

If practice keeps ending badly, stop and change the plan. Shorter sessions, easier books or a different time of day often fix it, and the teacher may have ideas too.