Tips and Tricks for the Dyslexic Reader

I thought I'd Get off the gluten-free kick for a moment and show you some tips and tricks that I use to read with my dyslexic child.

The other day I had someone tell me how it's not good to label our children. Yet, society labels everything!

 "Don't label your child dyslexic, that will just hold her back."

But my philosophy is, if you label something then you can identify the problem areas and use tools and wisdom to help overcome that label. I happened to be a label over-comer myself. I am a successful homeschooling, stay-at-home mom, who also teaches homeschooling classes on the side, and diagnosed my own child with Celiac disease, (not the doctors.) I managed not only to figure out Gluten Free dietary issues, but also food coloring, soy, and other things that made my kid go cuckoo for cocoa puffs. And I did that, all while being labeled dyslexic. 

Now although the two of us are dyslexic, and we can sometimes struggle, that is no excuse to fail. I don't allow her or myself to use that as a crutch. Nor do we use the words "I can't." We are allowed to say things like "I'm struggling right now," or "this is difficult," but the phrase            

 I can't shouldn't be in our vocabulary, because God made everyone smart, we all just tick in different ways.

So on that note, I thought I would share with you some the things that I do at home to help my girl stay on track with reading.

First off I took her to the eye doctor and had her eyes checked, I speculated that she might need them. It turned out that she did need reading glasses, so we took care of that, and it has made a little bit of a difference.

I happen to have a snug-a-bug, who loves hugs and kisses and to be held constantly all day long. How does that work when you are homeschooling? Well when it comes to reading we both sit in the same chair. I sit behind her, while she kind of sits on my lap. I take my left arm and I wrap it around her, weighing her down, (remember she is ADHD and sitting still is very difficult for her.) 

You might say that's a little helicopterish mom of you. Lol! However she loves it! If I don't have my arm around her or even on her shoulder, she is not comfortable reading and she will often pull my arm back around her. This actually is a really great thing when you're dealing with an ADHD child. But it also helps a dyslexic child, it makes them feel secure because you are so near, right there helping them.

The next thing we do while reading is use a pointer, we use a princess wand, cause after all she's a princess ;). 

I hold the pointer and point to the words she needs to be reading. If we come across a word that she has miss read, I tap the word silently ( letting her know that she needs to retread it.) If I do have to say something, I try not to use words like, wrong or no. Rather I say, " try again" or "sound it out." I often have to redirect her to the first letter in the word. I do my best to use positive words that encourage her to know that she is more than capable of reading it. 

Other things that I have use to help her stay on track are colored layovers and a 3x5 card marked with a highlighted line. She also loves reading to her dolls, so I always allow one stuff toy or doll at the table that she reads to. 

We have a reward system in play as well. Kids need instant gratification. Every time she reads to me she receives a star. We read 3 times a day. Once she gets a total of 12 stars, she gets to pick from a list of prizes. So every couple of days she is being rewarded. I do this on purpose because I want her to love reading and love the rewards that she gets from reading. Right now the reward is tangible but later in life she will gain the knowledge and the imagination from reading and it will be a rewarding itself.

Example: 

30 min of TV

Face painted

Frozen yogurt

Prize from the prize box $1 store items

Video game time etc.

There are lots of different ways of helping your child, you just have to find the right niche that works for you and your child, so don't give up,. Just keep reading!