5 Tips for Homeschooling a Child with Dyslexia

By Michelle Horn, Author And Homeschooling Mom

Dyslexia is often identified when a child has difficulty reading and has had adequate instruction. It is a common learning disability that according to the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity can occur in up to 1 in 5 children.

In either school or home, dyslexia can be challenging for a parent because it is about more than just reading and spelling. It also affects memory, rapid recall, speech & language processing, self-esteem, and emotional regulation.

Here are five tips for homeschooling a child with dyslexia that I discovered when we were homeschooling our youngest.

Use multiple senses:

Education approaches that use more than one sense help increase retention and recall—and this is the foundation for how dyslexic students learn to read using programs such as Orton-Gillingham, the Wilson Reading System, and the Barton System.

It is easy to incorporate multiple senses for any instruction. Examples could be a song with clapping to remember the days of the week, hopping from number to number on a giant number line as you shout the number, tracing letters in sand, or setting skip counting to a song that’s paired with a video.

A focused placed to work:

One of the great things about homeschooling is how flexible it is. There were times when we homeschooled in the library or outside in the back yard.

A child with dyslexia often seems a little scattered, forgetting and losing things they should remember or seeming not to focus. Having a consistent place to work can help them stay organized and minimize distraction.

For example, the desk could be where you have headphones so there is a quiet place to work. The headphones always stay at the desk so they are easily found. You could hang a bulletin board with an alphabet strip on it above the desk to remind them how to form a letter.

Or maybe you can put a piece of glass on the desk and tuck a hundreds chart under it. The child can reference these as they do schoolwork without having to rely on rapid recall and memory.

Each time they look at these things for information, it’s a form a studying in small bits and reinforces learning. Since these items don’t leave the workspace, no one has to interrupt the lesson and spend time searching for them.

Clear reward for efforts:

A child with dyslexia works very hard and often feels they fall short. A teacher (or automated program) looks at what the student produces when determining what the grade should be. But grades don’t tell the whole story. While it isn’t about giving someone all A’s, grading should take into account that there’s a gap between what they know and how they can show it.

For example, a child could use a program to learn to read and spell while doing grade-level work in other subjects. He has a lot to say for an essay prompt or worksheet. But he can’t type it yet, and the spelling is really bad. He could use a speech-to-text dictator to get his ideas out so he can receive grading and feedback on his content. Or maybe he could answer orally or make a video.

The praise sandwich—honest praise first, constructive criticism second, honest praise last—empowers them to see what they do well and how they can build on it beyond a simple grade.

Use reading technology:

There are many reading tools today, such as text-to-speech readers that are embedded in Word processing programs (like Microsoft Speak) or in apps (like Speechify).

But perhaps the greatest ally is audiobooks, and in a home school, you have the flexibility to decide to use them. (Ignore people who say audiobooks are useless because they aren’t reading.) Most textbooks today come with a read-aloud. If a child with dyslexia has an official diagnosis, they may qualify for free audiobooks (including textbooks) from Bookshare.org. You can also get free audiobooks from your library, and Amazon offers them with print books and through Audible.

They were a game-changer for my child, who loved stories and quickly outgrew the “baby” books that were used to teach reading. An Amazon Kindle can be a powerful tool: It offers reading rulers to focus on a single line of text at a time, adjustable fonts and colors, a built-in dictionary, and a note app.

As long as the child are also learning to read using a program for dyslexia, these tools are going to support the child, not be a crutch.

Have a consistent schedule:

While flexibility has to be part of your day when you’re homeschooling a child with dyslexia, it is important for them to have a simple, consistent schedule they can count on.

Children with dyslexia often don’t have a strong sense of how time passes—when 15 minutes is or when two days from now is—so they struggle with time management, organization, and anxiety.

Using a visual schedule with pictures or colors that correspond to an event above their workplace can reinforce what’s supposed to happen when, giving time structure.

A predictable schedule helps them feel less overwhelmed and more engaged in learning. In time, it can also foster independence.

Homeschooling offers a lot of flexibility in how we interact with a child and teach them. We have many choices and can soften some of the things they struggle with in a school setting.

Dyslexia can be challenging if you don’t know what to expect or how to help, but it is incredibly rewarding to make this journey with your child.