For children dealing with the challenges of dyslexia, it’s important that parents provide other ways for them to practice skills in phonics, phonetics, spelling, and vocabulary outside of the classroom. Kids who have been diagnosed with dyslexia might need extra reinforcement in these particular areas. Games for kids with dyslexia not only help to keep them engaged, but can employ essential positive reinforcement strategies to ensure they stay motivated.

World games are prevalent on today’s mobile devices, and can offer casual ways for kids to practice and reinforce basic reading and spelling skills. The way in which word games simultaneously entertain and teach make them an attractive option for parents of children with dyslexia who are looking for viable ways to supplement classroom learning at home. Consider downloading some of the options below and incorporating them into your child’s Play Diet.

Great Games for Kids with Dyslexia:

Words With Friends:

One of the most popular mobile words games, Words With Friends is an extremely useful tool for kids who have trouble with associating letters with words. It functions much like Scrabble, where kids take turns placing letters — one at a time — on a virtual grid. Once they form a word they will be awarded points. After they other player takes their turn, kids will use another combination of their seven letters to increase their score. The game ends when one player runs out of letters. Because kids have to form their words one letter at a time, it helps them to improve their spelling, allowing to work towards building longer, higher scoring words later in the game.

Ruzzle:

Letters are displayed at random on a 3×3, 4×4, or 5×5 grid in this mobile game. It’s a great alternative for kids with dyslexia because they are tasked with creating as many words as possible by connecting letters horizontally, diagonally, or vertically. The more difficult the letter is to use in a words, the more points kids will earn if they use it. Gameplay is timers, so kids must work quickly to scan the board and make words that have higher point values. Because the order of letters is randomized, kids with Dyslexia can take Ruzzle playtime as an opportunity to improve their vocabulary, spelling, and recognition skills.

Puzzlejuice:

Puzzlejuice combines the falling-block puzzle genre and word-building into a single game. Kids are presented with a series of blocks which they must arrange in rows by color. Once three or more blocks of the same color are combined, they turn to letters. Kids must then make words from the letters in order to permanently get rid of the blocks. But the blocks fall quickly, and kids must methodically form words or else the game will end when the rows of blocks read the top of the game screen. Kids can work to develop stronger skills in word creation and identification, which ultimately improves reading proficiency. It’s an essential game for kids with dyslexia.

WordsWorth:

To succeed in WordsWorth, kids must utilize similar gameplay strategies to win in Ruzzle. The game is timed, as kids combine randomized letters to form as many words as they can. Longer words garner more points — although there are a few different obstacles to overcome during play. For example, letters with red outlines must be used faster than tiles without an outline. One the red border fills up, the game will end. Because there is more strategy involved in Ruzzle than the majority of the other games for kids with dyslexia, it may be more suited for children who are a little older, as the multifaceted gameplay may be difficult to master at a younger age. Nonetheless, it’s still a great game for fine-tuning the skill set required to decode, identify, and formulate words.