One of the biggest challenges for parents of children with dyslexia is finding interesting, engaging ways to get their kids excited to read. The challenges faced by children diagnosed with dyslexia can make reading a frustrating task –especially in group-based school environments — and can sometimes exacerbate feelings of inadequacy, anxiousness or reluctancy towards reading.
Web-based learning resources, however, eschew many of these concerns by offering lessons and exercises in isolated learning environments, allowing children to practice their reading skills at their own pace, from the comfort of their own home. Many of these sites offer individualized approaches to learning, too, helping target specific academic problem areas, and feature the kind of digital interactivity and engagement that keep children motivated as they learn.
Below, you’ll find some of our favorite reading websites, which offer a range of services and content. We highly recommend parents of children with dyslexia look over the selections below and consider implementing one into an at-home learning regimen.
Online Resources for Parents of Children With Dyslexia
Smart Tutor
Smart Tutor is an online learning resource that assesses your child’s current reading level and offers steps you can take to address problem areas. The site covers various areas of reading, including phonics, phonemic awareness, sight words, vocabulary, and reading comprehension, with crafted literary activities targetting these key areas. The service is paid, though a free trail is available.
Mimio
Like SmartTutor, Mimio is another paid learning service (with a free trial) that covers academic content in-line with core curriculum standards. Mimio offers two different options for parents, with MimioSprout being for pre-school and ealry elementary, and MimioReading targeting older elementary children. An accompanying iPad app is available, and the service will report children’s progress as they complete activities to parents via email.
StarFall
This interactive website offers children a slew of activities that engage theior reading skills. Aimed at pre-school and early elementary children, the site is not as slick or comprehensive as SmartTutor or Mimio Reading, but offers a free option for parents to consider. Another similar free reading website worth mentioning is Story Place.
Sports Illustrated for Kids
One of the biggest hurdles to overcome when tryonig to encourage kids to read is the perception that reading is boring or no fun. For children interested in the world of sports, SPorts Illustrated for kids offers child-friendly content perfect for young sports afficianadpos. If your reluctant reader has a love of sports, use this site to provide entertaining content perfect for peaking an interest in reading.
National Geographic for Kids
If your child is more into the world of volcanoes and earthquakes than touchdowns and homeruns, National Geographic for Kids may be more up their alley. The site hosts a mind-boggling array of content for kids to explore, making it a viable tool for sparking an interest in reading. Try and seek out interesting articles for your child to read beforehand, and read up on the topics as well so your child has someone e to discuss topics with.
