creative writing for dyslexic students

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• Know what is involved in the writing process and how to break down each part to make it easier
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Unblock your writer’s block ... and unlock the creative writer in you!

Writing is a complex process. It involves multiple steps that are constantly changing and mental flexibility that translates clearly to the written page.

Writing requires:

• staying on topic by keeping the ideas and thoughts in mind
• appropriate sequencing of ideas
• connecting relationships between ideas
• having strong spelling and editing skills

The writer needs to coordinate a lot of different variables. Sometimes this can feel overwhelming and as a result writing becomes a less than enjoyable task. It is important to remember that good writers draft, edit, evaluate, and edit until they’re pleased with the final product.

As a way of keeping yourself motivated, use a reward system. For example, you may hate to write a term paper, but you know you have to do this if you are to pass English class. You also want to go to the movies: use going to the movies as your reinforcement after you have achieved a goal toward completing your term paper.

Below is a list of strategies, activities, and software that we have found to be useful to help you face writing head-on and feel confident.

How do you approach a writing assignment?

There are 3 necessary stages in the writing process: Plan, Draft, and Edit .

Step 1: Plan: Getting the plan together

• Establish your timeline! Work back from the due date.
• Set goals & establish purpose.
• Consider: Topic, Form (i.e., medium of writing), Audience, and the Role you will take as the writer
• Generate ideas and keep your topic and goals in mind
• Generate as many ideas as possible through: reading, listening, webbing, researching, outlining, and discussing
• Consider using graphic organizers or visual webs to assist with improving complexity, content (e.g., plot and theme), and form (e.g., spelling and mechanics—apostrophes, quotation marks, etc.). These tools are excellent ways to create templates of outlines.

Step 2: Draft: Getting it down!

• Be prepared to mark up your paper!
• Your first draft should not look pretty after you revise and edit!
• Is this good?
• This doesn’t sound right, so will I need rewrite or add more?
• This is not what I intended to say, so will I leave this part out?
• People may not understand this part, so should I change the wording?

Step 3: Edit and Revise: Getting it right!

• Do the subjects and verbs in my sentences agree?
• Did I use complete sentences?
• Did I indent the first line of each paragraph?
• Did I end each sentence with the correct punctuation?
• Did I use commas and semicolons correctly?
• Did I capitalize all proper nouns correctly?
• Did I begin each sentence or direct quotation with a capital letter?
• Did I read aloud slowly to monitor for cohesiveness and staying on topic?
• After you have revised your first draft, consider having someone else read your draft.
• Tell him your objective with the piece.
• Is it clear?
• Do I make my point succinctly?
• Is my grammar and spelling correct?
• Was there anything you didn’t understand?
• How can I make it more interesting or compelling?
• Write every day! (Set aside 10-15 minutes each day).
• After an outing, describe the event by creating and filling out a fact sheet (what, where, when, with you, why). Write sentences about where you went and what you did or what you saw.
• Watch short video clips from YouTube and write a short paragraph.
• Look at an old photo album. Write a paragraph about some of the places you have visited in the pictures.
• Watch your favorite sitcom and write a paragraph about what happened. Try to write another paragraph about what you think may happen in the next episode.
• Keep a daily journal – either handwritten or online.

On this website we have created a list of various software programs that we have found to be successful for dyslexics. The list is categorized to make it as easy as possible to find the assistive technology that may best help you.

You have now had the writing process broken down into a step-by-step process as a few effective strategies, functional activities, and list of assistive technology to try.

The demands for writing only increase as you advance in school. If you are able to implement at least some these strategies throughout the school year, not only will the writing process feel more comfortable, but you will be academically ahead, your anxiety reduced, and you will achieve the results you want. Success starts here!

in this section

• Learn about Dyslexia
• Self-Advocacy
• Dyslexia at Home
• Know Your Rights
• Test-Taking Strategies
• Dyslexia in College
• Dyslexia On-The-Job
• Structured Literacy
• Overcoming Dyslexia
• Leveraging Technology
• Letters to a Dyslexic

Featured Success Story

Ben worthington.

A brief story of how a guy with dyslexia turns so-called deficits into veritable strengths.

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6 Writing Strategies for Students with Dyslexia

Does Dyslexia Affect Writing?

Reading and writing go hand-in-hand, and research shows that there is a reciprocal relationship with reading and writing . In other words, instruction in reading helps support students’ writing skills, and attending to students’ writing helps improve their reading. Reading and writing share underlying processes, so students with dyslexia who struggle with reading oftentimes show difficulty in writing as well. Some characteristics of difficulties exhibited in their writing may entail poor spelling, poor handwriting, lack of organization in their writing, and lack of a robust vocabulary.

What Is Dysgraphia?

Dysgraphia is a condition that impairs one’s ability to write letters by hand (or handwriting) and is characterized by students’ difficulties in writing. Dysgraphia can occur in students with or without dyslexia and may co-occur with other learning disabilities. Because students may not always receive a dysgraphia diagnosis, they may not receive the instructional support needed to improve their writing difficulties that manifest itself in poor handwriting, spelling, and overall writing skills. Therefore, providing explicit instruction and scaffolded support to students with dyslexia who exhibit writing difficulties and those with dysgraphia throughout the course of their writing development is crucial.

Early Indicators

In the early years, as students become emergent readers and are learning how to crack the alphabetic code, effective reading instruction incorporates students writing and forming each letter and letter patterns to build words. Sometimes, we begin to see difficulties in students’ forming the letters correctly, and handwriting difficulties may emerge. Words can sometimes run together as long strings of letters in a sentence, are illegible, or sentences are written above or under the writing lines. Oftentimes, students only practice with tracing letters one letter at a time. It is beneficial to extend the practice and have students trace whole words while providing scaffolds such as guided tracing activities and reference models for whole sentences. As the tracing and copying scaffolds are removed, have students put one finger between each word for proper spacing, and two fingers at the end of each period. This also reinforces to the students that words are distinct, that each carries a meaning or function, and that they can take longer pauses at the end of the sentence when reading.

Having writing paper that has a bolder line at the bottom with two lighter lines colored differently for the middle and top lines allow students to bring their attention to form the letters on the appropriate line. As students get older and use loose leaf paper, highlighting every other line as writing lines is helpful for those students who continue to write off the lines.

In addition, spelling difficulties may persist throughout elementary and into secondary school for many students with dyslexia. First and foremost, providing evidence-based phonics instruction is essential to teaching students how to decode and encode words. Teach spelling rules in an explicit and systematic manner. Reinforce the letter-sound correspondences with complex vowel and/or consonant combinations, the six syllable types , and lessons on morphology that teach students prefixes, suffixes, root words with various Latin and Greek meanings.

Writing Strategies for Your Classroom

1. Provide explicit instruction on good writing .

As with any good instruction, begin with explicit teaching of what good writing entails. Provide students with good models using a relevant or high-interest topic. Have students highlight and notate what makes the model example a good paragraph or essay. As students identify the elements of good writing, show an example of a writing piece that needs improvement. Work through the paragraph or essay together, identifying where and why it needs improvement.

2. Begin by writing sentences.

Before writing longer paragraphs or essays, begin on the sentence level. Practice writing sentences that distinguish sentences from sentence fragments. More words do not always entail a complete sentence. Then, build those sentences so students can write different types of sentences, such as compound, complex, or compound-complex sentences. Have students practice both writing these sentences and identifying them. In addition, have students practice adding descriptive words to short sentences. For example, students can change a simple sentence (e.g., It was sunny ) to a more illustrative one (e.g., The sun’s rays glistened on a humid summer afternoon .).

3. Write paragraphs one sentence at a time.

As students begin to write various genres (e.g., informational, narrative, and persuasive writing), instruct students on how to write each paragraph sentence by sentence. In other words, what does an effective introductory sentence look like? How does a conclusion sentence restate the main idea? What elements should each sentence in the body entail? Break down the paragraph one sentence at a time, and then have the students piece them together. In addition, include a list of transition words that help tie the sentences together.

4. Teach writing compositions as a multi-step process.

As students transition to longer 3-paragraph or 5-paragraph essay writing, teaching the writing process as a multi-step process is essential. In this way, reading and writing skills are distinct. For example, one goal of reading is fluency with the aim of having students read at an appropriate rate on their first read. However, sometimes students erroneously think that the writing process should also be an easy process that they can complete on the first draft. Explicitly teach the steps of writing, which often entails writing one piece over several days and sometimes several weeks.

• Select your topic. Have students choose their topic of writing from a selection of writing prompts. Depending on the genre of writing, this may also require conducting some research on the topic.
• Organize the ideas. As students gather information on the topic, it is essential to organize these ideas, thoughts, or factual information in a cohesive manner. Use various graphic organizers appropriate to the writing type. For example, an O.R.E.O. graphic organizer can be used for opinion writing (Opinion, Reason, Evidence, Opinion). Students can use Venn Diagrams for compare and contrast writing. Particularly for students with dyslexia, this phase of arranging ideas into graphic organizers is essential so that students can visually see how the sentences and ideas piece together.

• Write . Once all the ideas are written down and organized cohesively, have the students bring all the sentences and paragraphs together. Include a writer’s checklist or a rubric so that students can determine whether they have all the elements of the writing assignment.
• Revise and edit. Have the students re-read their writing multiple times with a specific purpose in mind. During the first review, check to see whether any mechanics of their writing needs improvement (e.g. spelling, sentence fragments, punctuation, etc.). Then, have the students re-read the writing to see if any words can be replaced with stronger academic vocabulary (e.g. replace good book with an intriguing novel ). Ensure that transition words are appropriately used so that the sentences and paragraphs are effectively woven together. Provide additional text evidence or citations to make the writing more compelling.

5. Practice writing frequently. As with reading, students with dyslexia need ample writing practice in order to become masterful writers. Therefore, provide frequent, if not daily, opportunities for writing. Have the students keep a writing journal so that they can see their progress from the beginning to the end of the year. Shorter but frequent writing practice allows students to get into the sheer habit of expressing their thoughts on paper, which entails a more laborious process than speaking. Provide a variety of writing types and offer open-ended, engaging writing prompts so that students are exposed to the different characteristics of each genre of writing and can improve their writing skills.

6. Provide writing supports and accommodations using technology

For students whose writing difficulties or handwriting and spelling issues persist throughout elementary school, encourage them to type their assignments becomes critical. Writing an essay by hand may take some students longer than others, and students begin to lose their train of thought as a writer because they are expending more energy on the physical act of writing. Also, there is an expectation that students and many careers require efficient keyboarding skills. Therefore, providing effective keyboarding instruction after second grade when writing assignments begin to get longer will become important.

Various editing software such as spell-checks and grammar-checks that help correct students writing also plays a critical role in helping improve their mechanics of writing. Students can instead concentrate on the higher-order skills of how their ideas flow and transition from paragraph to paragraph. Additionally, in some cases, using various text-to-speech software capabilities embedded in the computer or available as add-ons can help students get their thoughts on paper in order to formulate their writing into a polished final piece.

As we develop fluent and proficient readers through evidence-based reading strategies, it is just as essential to nurture students with dyslexia with evidence-based writing strategies to become capable writers who express and craft their thoughts in an engaging, persuasive, and compelling manner.

To take a deeper dive into topics such as structured literacy , oral reading fluency and optimizing fluency instruction for students with dyslexia, read more on HMH’s blog, Shaped.

Check out the AI-powered Amira Dyslexia Screener , an intelligent reading assistant that can screen an entire group for dyslexia in less than five minutes. Get a free demo here .

Support all readers on a path to proficiency with our dyslexia curriculum .

Get our free Reading Intervention eBook today.

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The Joy of Learning

• Mar 22, 2022

How to Help Your Dyslexic Child with Writing

Updated: Mar 29, 2022

by The Joy of Learning

When a dyslexia practitioner hears a parent say, “My child has trouble writing.” One of the first questions asked is “What do you mean by writing? Writing stories and reports? Handwriting? Spelling?

Dyslexic students can have trouble with all of these. not to fear… there are ways to help. this post will focus first on suggestions to grow narrative and expository writing skills. watch for follow up posts that will tackle handwriting and spelling. stay tuned..

Did you know students with dyslexia are typically creative and use imagery as a method for memory? They can use these skills to become excellent writers!

Fun fact: the author of captain underpants and dog man, dave pilkey, is dyslexic. he struggled in school due to dyslexia. now he considers it “his superpower”. other famous authors with dyslexia include john irving, f.scott fitzgerald and agatha christie., watch this video to see how dave pilkey’s learning differences helped him create captain underpants and dog man., https://www.understood.org/articles/en/video-dav-pilkey-creator-of-captain-underpants-on-growing-up-with-adhd-and-dyslexia.

Your child may or may not become a famous author. Regardless, they can learn to communicate well in writing. Here are some tips and tricks to help your child with writing stories.

Use pictures and visualization. pictures can help dyslexic students describe what they are trying to write. they can use rich, descriptive vocabulary to describe characters, story critical objects and character actions., provide word banks. brainstorm words to describe the story critical characters, objects and actions. students gain confidence in their writing when they can use “delicious” words. “delicious” words are more specific. they create a rich image, but may not be easy to spell. for example,…which sentence creates a vivid image, the sun was hot., the sun was sweltering ., if you struggle with writing, wouldn’t it be great not to labor over spelling a few “delicious” words remove the burden of spelling by giving these words to the budding author..

Use graphic organizers. The writing process should be broken down into pieces. Students can write using a road map. Providing a graphic organizer will help the learner keep the story focused and on track. These are two of my favorite organizers. The first is for narrative writing (fiction). The second is for expository (nonfiction.

Https://www.google.com/urlsa=i&url=https%3a%2f%2fstrategiesforspecialinterventions.weebly.com%2fstory-map.html&psig=aovvaw359bgyp_vc-gx-whd-ndqs&ust=1647090995253000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0casqjrxqfwotcjjh-j6svvycfqaaaaadaaaaaba7, https://ecdn.teacherspayteachers.com/thumbitem/expository-flee-map-3769259-1524055083/original-3769259-1.jpg, orally rehearse what they want to say. students can touch and tell each idea before writing it. here is a simplistic example for a young student writing about halloween. the student can touch the “setting box” in the narrative graphic organizer. they might say, “it was a cold, damp night in october. then they can touch the character box and say, “ my sister and i were wearing our costumes. my sister was a clown and i was a pirate.” talking out the story while touching each box, helps keep writers on track. it’s an easy road map for them to refer back to..

Dyslexia is a language-based disorder and impacts reading and writing. It is quite common to notice a big difference between what a student thinks and can orally tell versus what they can put on paper. Remember to break the task into smaller pieces. Provide word banks, graphic organizers and orally rehearse prior to writing. Don’t forget to offer positive feedback or praise. Help the learner understand that their thoughts are worth sharing.

Side note: these tech tools are also available and you might find them helpful. for more information, click the link. http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/tools/software-assistive-technology, need help with your child's reading, the joy of learning provides engaging, 1-on-1, evidence based instruction in reading, writing, and math, for students with diverse learning styles, taught by highly qualified learning specialists. we teach in person in the boulder, denver, and sf bay area, and virtually at any location. interested to learn more book a free consultation here ., you can also sign up for our mailing list below to receive valuable tips about supporting your unique learner., recent posts.

How is Dyslexia Diagnosed? Should I Get My Child Assessed?

How to Know if your Child is Reading at Grade Level; The Importance of Early Intervention

What is the Importance of Vocabulary in Reading Comprehension?

Studying with dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties

• Tips for studying with dyslexia, dyspraxia and AD(H)D

Why is writing difficult for students with Specific learning difficulties?

Tips for writing, our guides and videos on writing.

• Tips for reading and note-making
• Tips for getting organised
• Tips for lectures and seminars

Useful links for students with specific learning difficulties

• Study Advice Helping students to achieve study success with guides, video tutorials, seminars and one-to-one advice sessions.
• Maths Support A guide to Maths Support resources which may help if you're finding any mathematical or statistical topic difficult during the transition to University study.
• Information for users with disabilities (Library) Making the Library's resources accessible to all students.
• Disability Advisory Service Support and guidance for students with disabilities and specific learning difficulties.
• Dyslexia Foundation Includes targeted guidance for university students.
• British Dyslexia Association General information and advice.
• Dyspraxia Foundation General information about living with dyspraxia.
• ADDERS ADD and AD(H)D information.

Writing is perhaps one of the most important skills to develop at university.  Writing for assignments (and exams) is a principle means of assessment and of deepening subject-knowledge and understanding.  Writing also helps to foster transferable skills such as research-, critical thinking- and communication- skills.  Developing writing takes time, practice and perseverance, particularly if you are a student with an  SpLD - but it is well worth the effort as it will save you time, and enable you to achieve better grades in the long run. 

According to Price (2007), writing is difficult for students with dyslexia/SpLD because:

It involves planning and working interchangeably between large- and small-scale levels of writing. (Large scale refers to the  overall structure of the text, its form or genre, and the writing process as a whole. Small-scale, on the other hand, refers to the components of text, such as paragraph and sentence structure.) 

• The writing process is not linear, but the outcome looks linear;
• It involves multi-tasking,
• Changes to one aspect require changes to be made elsewhere.

This complexity is especially challenging for students with dyslexic/SpLD's.  For example, a fragile working memory can make it difficult to hold in mind and manipulate large amounts of information at any one time. Processing differences may also make multi-tasking and sequencing difficult. According to Godwin (2012) if you are dyslexic:

• Getting ideas down on paper may seem impossible,
• You may avoid writing by reading a lot;
• Ideas may flash or tumble in and out of your mind, or compete for your attention;
• You may be unsure how to order or develop ideas;
• Your work may lack structure and/or analysis.​· 

Writing at university can take many different forms, from discursive essays to informative reports, brief summarising paragraphs to dissertations of ten or even twenty thousand words.

Whatever the genre, the topics you are writing about are always likely to be more complex than any previous writing you have done. So it's even more important that your writing is focused, clear and controlled if you want to successfully communicate your understanding to your reader.

Tips for focused, clear and controlled written communication:  Make a plan: ​Even in exams, you will find that spending a little time on planning will make a big difference to your writing. You won't have to stop and think what to write about next and you'll make sure that you don't forget anything important. Plus you'll have a chance to consider how to make your strongest argument.

Note that in university essays, it is best not to use an 'all the arguments for, then all the arguments against' structure. To properly discuss more complex topics, you need to use a thematic structure. Look for themes or headings to group your points under, and choose no more than four to give you enough space to develop your ideas properly.

Write in paragraphs: A paragraph is a unit of information, at least three sentences long. It should develop your discussion of a single point. Start with a sentence that states the point and shows its relevance to the overall topic. Then develop this point with analysis that shows:

• how it links to the overall topic
• how it helps us to understand the overall topic
• any other information and arguments relating to it or criticising it.

Make sure you have references to show where you got your ideas from. Any idea that comes from your reading needs to be referenced, even if you don't use a direct quote.

Write shorter sentences : Use plain language - you don't have to search for a more "academic-sounding" word when a simple one will do. Markers are looking for clear and accurate expression of ideas, not jargon or confusing language. Shorter sentences are usually clearer than long complex ones, but make sure it is a whole sentence and not just a clause or phrase.

Keep a list of referencing examples : Referencing can be confusing and difficult to remember. But it's tedious to have to keep looking up how to reference things. Early in the term, before you have a lot of assignments to do, make a list of examples. Choose one example of each of these most common formats:

• a journal article
• a chapter in an edited collection

Check the style of referencing you are expected to use for each department you have modules in (it will be in the Course Handbook on Blackboard). If they are different, make more than one list of examples but mark them up clearly so you know which modules they apply to.

Look out for common mistakes : If there's a word you know you often get wrong, or something you frequently get comments on from markers, make a note. Keep a list and use this as a first checklist when you are proof reading.

Proof reading and editing:

• Identifying your own mistakes and correcting them is an important part of academic writing: this is what you do when you proofread.
• Ideally leave a day between finishing your essay and proofreading it. You won't be so close to your work, so you will see your errors more easily.
• Try reading your essay aloud, as this will slow you down, make you focus on each word, and show you when your sentences are too long.
• If you often get comments on your sentences, try working on one paragraph at a time, and putting each sentence on a new line. This will make it much easier to spot common errors, for instance, sentences which depend on another sentence for their meaning, or are missing parts. Once you've checked it, you can join all the sentences back up in the paragraph again and move on to the next.
• It can help to have a friend read through your work but developing your own proofreading skills is better. Your friend won't always be available!
• While you're proof-reading, also check that all your references are complete, accurate and consistently formatted.
• Academic writing guide Guide to what you need to know about writing appropriately and correctly for UK higher education, including information on effective proof-reading.
• Essay writing LibGuide Our guide to planning, writing and developing your essays.
• Video tutorials on essay writing Video tutorials by Study Advice on writing essays at university
• Report writing LibGuide Our guide to writing different kinds of reports at university.
• Finding a structure for your report (video) Watch this brief video tutorial for more on the topic.
• Dissertations and major projects guide
• Video tutorials on dissertations A suite of video tutorials by Study Advice on different aspects of dissertations and major projects.
• Literature reviews LibGuide Our guide to researching and writing literature reviews at university.
• Doing your literature review (video) Watch this brief video tutorial for more on the topic.
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Dyslexia & Me: Dyslexia, Creative Writing and Mental Health

There’s a powerful link between creativity and mental health: for many of us, indulging in a creative pursuit actually generates some form of stress relief and helps us process and come to terms with our mental health on a more holistic level. It can effect relaxation, help us explore our memories and experiences, and even just help us feel better physically and mentally – but when it comes to mental health and dyslexia, we might be taking a bit of a reductive view.

Creativity can come in thousands of forms – painting, drawing, photography, drama, working with textiles, exploring sound and soundscapes, creating ceramics and models to name but a few of them- but one of the most common ways that many of us tend to relax creatively is in the act of writing. But if you take a quick look online, when it comes to lists of mental health-boosting creative activities for people with dyslexia, we tend to miss this one out. Why?

Dyslexia can impact on reading and writing skills: this one is a given, and they’re one of the most common symptom areas that we associate with the condition on a global level. Somebody with dyslexia might find it more difficult than their peers to write an essay in class or even something as simple as a shopping list, and their writing skills might develop at a different rate to those of the people around them. This can lead to writing feeling stressful, awkward or even just taking more mental energy then an individual feels like they have to spare – so how do we approach the idea of creative writing for mental health for people with dyslexia?

The thing is, many people with dyslexia do write – and very well, too. There are actually a large number of bestselling authors with dyslexia who top out the charts every year, from children’s books to thrillers, to cookbooks, to those cheesy vintage romances your mother always takes on vacation. Writing as an act relies on a number of sub-sets of skills like motor skills, working memory, transcription and executive function, and some people’s dyslexia manifests in a way that has an impact on these, but it certainly doesn’t mean that writing as a creative avenue is closed to somebody with dyslexia – so here’s how people with dyslexia write novels (and other things, too).

• Everyone is different. Dyslexia has a whole range of signs and symptoms, and one person with dyslexia might actually find writing much easier or harder than somebody else with dyslexia does. It’s a very personal thing, and if you’re one of those folks with dyslexia who don’t tend to struggle that much with the act of writing, then you might find that writing creatively for mental health comes more naturally to you – but even if writing feels arduous, there are a couple more things you can try.
• Dictation software is used by people all over the world to accurately translate their thoughts to real-life words on a page. It might take a bit of getting used to in terms of how you use it, but a lot of people with dyslexia find that removing the middle steps of actually having to write or type things can help boost their creative process and allay anxiety, and allow them to get more words out in the same period of time. It’s also great for capturing your thoughts and your notes that you might make prior to writing – and you can get hold of dictation software or actual physical devices for pretty cheap prices online as well as using the ones that sometimes come built into your devices.
• SPaG Checking Software has a role to play – whether you’ve sat down to type something out yourself or even if you’re using a dictation mechanism, SPaG checking software is the cornerstone of any writing arsenal. It generally means that you don’t have to bother reading through and self-correcting as you’re writing, and it can allow you the freedom to get into a better flow with things as you don’t really have to worry about catching mistakes.
• The role of a proofreader or editor is important to remember, too. If you’re writing for business or professionally, a lot of organizations will have a dedicated editorial team whose job it is to proof and tweak your writing so that it fits in with the pre-established guidelines of your publication or style. You can also hire these people independently, and many work freelance or on short contracts, so it’s easy to find qualified, experienced professions who can help you out with even the smallest of text tasks.
• Specifically when it comes to novel-writing, there are a lot of ‘breakdown’ methods that are designed to make the writing of an extended piece of text more manageable by ‘chunking’ it down into manageable tasks. Take a look at The Snowflake Method or The Pomodoro Technique for different ways of breaking up your time and exploring how you work best.
• The pressure is off with a lot of creative writing – it’s a far cry from the writing you were probably expected to do in school. You’re not being marked, the red pen is staying firmly in the pencil case and there isn’t going to be an exam – and taking a little time to process and realise this can help a lot of people get back to the idea of writing and move past the anxiety. But this isn’t universal at all- some people’s experiences with their dyslexia and the acts of reading and writing in school are so negative that they can result in long-term writing anxiety and even PTSD, so it’s important to realise that it’s only writing for mental health if it makes you feel good. Don’t force yourself to do anything you don’t want to, or might stoke negative feelings or self-image.
• We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again for the folks in the back – spelling isn’t that important. It really, really isn’t that important. If you’re writing a story or a poem to read aloud, something to send to a friend as a gift, or even just something to pass the time, what impact does spelling make? Not a lot. If you’re writing something that’s going somewhere important enough for spelling to matter, there’ll probably be an editor or a proofreader there to fix it. Detach from the idea that weak spelling makes you a bad writer, because it so doesn’t.
• The pressure is off with a lot of creative writing – you might find that you impose certain expectations on yourself, or you might even be lucky enough to have a someone who wants to publish your work in the sidelines, but it’s a far cry from the writing you were probably expected to do in school. You’re not being marked, the red pen is staying firmly in the pencil case and there isn’t going to be an exam – and taking a little time to process and realise this can help a lot of people get back to the idea of writing and move past the anxiety. But this isn’t universal at all- some people’s experiences with their dyslexia and the acts of reading and writing in school are so negative that they can result in long-term writing anxiety and even PTSD, so it’s important to realise that it’s only writing for mental health if it makes you feel good – don’t force yourself to do anything you don’t want to, or might stoke negative feelings or self-image. It’s all about personal choice.

We always talk about creativity as being great for an individual’s mental health, but the reality of it is that a lot of creative supplies cost money and a lot of time investment. Writing is one of the cheapest out there, and it’s pretty easy to pick up and put down if you’re fitting it around other commitments. As creative hobbies go it’s pretty simple to pick up.

You may not feel like writing is for you – and that’s fine. Many people find it arduous and stressful and don’t want to spend their free time doing something they don’t find productive or relaxing. And let’s face it, for a lot of people with dyslexia it may bring up bad memories of writing in school and the less-than-helpful ways in which you may have been treated because of it. But if you do feel the urge to write- or you simply fancy trying something new for your mental health- check out some of the tips above that might make it easier and help you think more about the stories you’re telling rather than your spelling.

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A dyslexic author's writing tips for dyslexic kids

Tom McLaughlin, who has always had a weird relationship with words, offers his supportive and beautiful writing tips to dyslexic children everywhere (and those who know them)

Also see Tom Palmer’s top 10 books for dyslexic and reluctant readers

Would you like to do a piece offering some writing tips for dyslexic children they said. Sure, I said, I mean, how hard can it be? They it dawned on me, isn’t that like asking someone who’s colour blind for decorating advice?

Tip 1: sometimes the things we struggle with can be the most rewarding. Although I’ve only just started this article, so let’s not pat ourselves on the back just yet.

I’ll level with you, I have a weird relationship with words, mostly I love them, but sometimes, just sometimes they drive me round the bend. Between them falling out of people’s brains and landing on the page, something happens, the become lost or begin to dance around on the paper.

Tip 2: never be afraid to think visually.

It’s like I’m seeing them for the first time. The strange thing is this comes and goes. I have good days and bad. One minute I can be reading the most complicated thing in the world, I feel like I’m surfing along on every sentence, the next minute, I struggle to read the most simple of picture books to a child. Sometimes one I’ve actually written myself. I know, it’s embarrassing.

Tip 3: Try not to get annoyed and throw a book/custard pie/tantrum at anyone who corrects your reading* .

*That one’s more of a general life-style tip.

Despite all this, as a kid I loved stories, I loved jokes, and I loved TV (an author is allowed to say that out loud, right?) I used to read the same books over-and-over again. I still do that. I mean you wouldn’t listen to an album once right?

Tip 4: don’t be afraid to surround yourself by what you love.

I’m going to say something that’s going to shock you now. You might want to sit down, no, go on, really sit down. Spelling isn’t important. It really isn’t, people get hung up on it. Being able to spell has nothing to do with being a good writer. Being able to know how a car engine works, doesn’t make you a racing driver. It’s about having something to say. It’s about feeling the wind in your hair.

Tip 5: if anyone goes at your work with a red pen, grab it off them, snap it in two and throw it out of the window, then ask them to read what you have written, rather than correct it. Corrections can come later, when you have bought them a new red pen.

Give poetry a try. What I hear you cry?! I know some of you think that poetry is lame, but it’s not. If someone as cool and bad ass as me likes it, then it’s okay for you to like it too. Poetry can be anything, it can be an emotion, and idea, a joke, a thought. Whatever pops into your head.

Tip 6: poetry often works to a structure, you know that a certain line rhyme with another, it makes you think about words. It’s like the foundations of a house are laid out in front of you, and you have to add the walls and roof.

If you’re not feeling particularly wordy somedays, write without any. Use pictures. Comic strips are stories, they have a beginning, middle and end, they just don’t need any words.

Tip 7: don’t be scared of a blank piece of paper, it’s the best thing in the world. At some point everything started out as a blank piece of paper, from your favourite book to the computer I’m typing on, they all started out as nothing and became something.

You should never be afraid to talk about being dyslexic, whenever I tell people, they’re mostly interested, and I get asked all kinds of question. In fact the more I talk about it, the more it feels like I’m getting to know myself a little bit more.

Tip 8: learn about what dyslexia is, read about it, you’ll find yourself going “I totally do that!” quite a lot. There are many others like you, all of them probably have felt isolated, stupid, like they didn’t belong at some point too.

Don’t ever worry about being wrong. getting things mixed up. I’m going to shock you again now, but teachers are pretty lovely, I know they hide it well, but they are. They will always help.

Tip 9: writing is about you, they are your thoughts, the things you have to say, and those can never be wrong.

Being dyslexic is who you are, and who you are is brilliant.

Tip 10: stop reading this and go write something amazing.

• Tom McLaughlin’s latest book is The Story Machine , a story about the power of drawing and story telling.
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Teaching Writing to the Dyslexic Student

by Marianne | Jul 23, 2014 | By The Subject | 8 comments

Dyslexia is known as a reading disability but it also impacts writing ability. Let’s look at some ways we can teach writing to the dyslexic student .

Before we look at how to find a good writing curriculum for the dyslexic student, we need to identify the areas of writing that are most impacted by dyslexia.

Dyslexia is known as a reading disability but it also impacts writing ability.  There is often a huge difference between what the dyslexic student wants to say and what he or she actually writes.

Besides spelling errors, which we will talk I talk about here , other areas affected by dyslexia are:

Grammar:  Remembering to capitalize and use punctuation while writing is common for dyslexics.

Organization:  Dyslexics often have trouble organizing their thoughts and sequences are often out of order.

Dysgraphia:  The physical act of writing can be difficult.  Handwriting can be poor or illegible.

Overcoming Difficulties With Writing

As with reading, people with dyslexia can spend so much time and effort writing words that the meaning and organization can be lost.

Writing Tips:

• Grammar should be taught to dyslexic students one rule or two at a time can help.  And as with reading rules, grammar rules should be practiced, practiced, practiced.  It can also be helpful to grade a dyslexic student’s papers on content and give more leeway with grammar until these areas are mastered.
• The use of computer programs with spelling grammar checkers can be helpful however many spell checkers cannot decipher the phonetic spelling of dyslexic writers.  See our Resource Page for our recommendations on spelling and writing apps that are particularly useful for people with dyslexia.
• Teaching kids to organize their thoughts before writing them can be very helpful  Some kids do well with mind mapping where the main idea is in a bubble in the center of the page and supporting details are written around that in their own bubbles or circles.   This visual representation of their ideas really helps them to remember and order their thoughts.
• Allowing the use of a simple tape recorder, recording app or better yet, speech-to-text app can help a dyslexic to say their thoughts without the burden of remembering spelling and grammar rules.  This also helps tremendously with dysgraphia where handwriting can be painfully slow and inaccurate.
• Teachers can allow their students to write their first draft, or sloppy copy, without concern for punctuation and grammar.  Allowing the dyslexic student to focus on content alone at first can be helpful.  After this first draft is complete, you can sit with your child and go through the paper together, editing and organizing as needed.

Studies have shown that students with dyslexia have a lot of trouble with the pre-writing stage.  Having a systematic plan of action for writing will help them overcome this obstacle.

Writing:  Step-by-Step

1.  Discuss writing assignment with parent or teacher. Be certain that the point of the assignment is clear and begin to develop thoughts on the subject.

2.  Mindmap your thoughts.

3.  Outline your paper.

4.  Write the first draft without concern for grammar, spelling and punctuation.   (This can be hard for the perfectionist student by the way!)

5.  Sit with teacher/mom and go through paper line by line for grammar, spelling, punctuation and organization of ideas.

6.  Rewrite assignment with corrections.

Curriculum Suggestions

When my dyslexic kids were young and still learning to read, I used large amounts of copywork where they would copy a passage from a good book or a verse or what ever else appealed to them to write.  This helps with eye hand coordination and handwriting in general.  Gradually we transitioned into dictation where I would read the passage and they would write to the best of their ability.  We also practiced narration, thought to be the precursor to good grammar usage, during history and science instruction.  Narration is where the student tells back what was just read or learned.  To learn more about the use of copy work, dictation and narration, read A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola.

When our kids were reading on a third grade level and able to write sentences on their own without tears of frustration, we transitioned into a formal writing program. Lots of hands-on activities really help the kids remember what they are learning.

Write Shop Junior     Write Shop Junior is written for grades 3-5 and includes pre-writing (organization) activities, writing skills through guided instruction.  The format of each lesson is systematic and cumulative: exactly the same for each topic covered.

Middle School & High School

Write Shop 1 & 2     Like Write Shop Junior, Write Shop 1 & 2 teach composition skills in a step-by-step manner.  Students learn brainstorming, writing, editing and revising with engaging lessons.  This is an ‘ungraded’ program and can be used at your own pace.  Requires a fair amount of panning and organizing by the parent and is somewhat teacher intensive.

Fortuigence   Essay Rock Star  An online course geared for high school level composition.  Students learn 5-steps to master non-fiction writing.  Each of the 4 essay types, The Personal Statement, The Persuasive Essay, The Expository Essay and The Textual Analysis are completed at your own pace.  Lesson are taught in a multimedia format.  Students can read the lesson or listen and watch the course instruction via video.   (Our kids loved this aspect!) Assignments are broken into very manageable, small chunks and turned in (emailed) to the teacher who grades the assignment and returns it to the student for corrections or with instructions to move to the next lesson.  Be sure to take their FREE Top Teach Course for parents to gain confidence in learning to teach our kids to write.  For more information on Fortuigence:  Essay Rock Star Composition Course, read my complete review here .

Writing & Spelling Apps For Dyslexia

Part of educating dyslexic kids is teaching them to make accommodations for their reading, writing and spelling weaknesses.  We live in an age of amazing technical advances that allows dyslexics to get the help they need when and where ever they are.  Below are some of our favorite apps for writing and spelling.

Web Reader HD     Text-to-speech app that can read web page content.  Super easy to use and mostly effective.

Dragon Go!  (FREE)  Allows you to speak what you are searching for on the web so Google, Wikipedia and YouTube are defaults.

Dragon Dictation  (FREE)  This is a voice recognition app that allows the user to see the text generated through speaking instead of typing.  Can be used with some popular social networking sites.

Soundnote  ($4.99) A note taking app that basically turns your iPad into a Livescribe pen.  (See above under Compensation Tech)  Records lectures and then syncs the audio to what you type or scribble in.  The audio recording is time-locked to your typing and drawing.  You may want to use a keyboard or stylus for this app to be more functional.

PaperDesk   ($2.99)  Another notetaking app like Soundnote but that has more options like inserting photos, importing pdfs, organizing pages into notebooks, and an option to export.  More complicated to use than Soundnote.

American Words peller   ($4.99) Allows you to type in a word phonetically (based on how it sounds) and it will come up with the actual spelling of the word.  It also provides definitions to help you understand the meaning of the word.

Reading Trainer   ($1.99)  Helps improve reading speed with fun exercises.

Idea Sketch  ( FREE)  lets you draw a diagram (mind map, concept map, or flow chart) convert it to a text outline and vice versa/  It can be used to brainstorm ideas, illustrate concepts, make lists and outlines, and more.  Great for visual thinkers.

ModMath : Designed for individuals with dyslexia and dysgraphia for whom the mechanics of writing math problems causes a barrier. ModMath takes care of the construction of, for example, the long division problem. After that, solving that problem is up to you.

VoiceDream : Text-to-speech to aid in reading. This app also allows for screen, font and text size customization and highlighting. It has a built-in dictionary and works with text from lots of sources (PDF, ebooks, email). If you’ve looked into text-to-speech apps, you’ll agree that the power of VoiceDream does sound dreamy in comparison.

Notability : Takes “handwritten” notes on documents to allow for adding sketches to PDF or graphics or editing student work (!!). Notability also has an audio recording feature for auditory learners, photo capability and it coordinates with sharing platforms like Google Drive and Dropbox.

StoryVisualizer : Creates storybooks for students using their words and images. From Lego Education.

UsTyme : Allows two people to remotely read a story together by coupling FaceTime-like software with reading. Would be great for traveling parents or faraway relatives. I’m thinking about using this as a formative assessment to check-in with students who are using iPads for reading either in the classroom or for homework.

DyslexiaQuest : A series of games designed to “assess working memory, phonological awareness, processing speed, visual memory, auditory memory and sequencing skills.” Gamers are encouraged to keep practicing to master skills.

Read2Go  (iOS) or  Go Read  (Android): Makes books accessible to people with print disabilities. Developed by  Bookshare .

Co:Writer : Word prediction software aids writing in real-time or later when editing. Text-to-speech feature reads letters, words, sentences, documents, which is great because not many have this thorough level of read-aloud. Produced by Don Johnston and features the grammar-smart word prediction that his company is famous for. Opt for the SOLO Suite and get Co:Writer; Read:Outloud; Write:Outloud and Draft:Builder.

Get Educated

If you are looking to get educated about dyslexia and how to educate, encourage and empower your kids with dyslexia, you have come to the right place.

For more information on getting started homeschooling your child with dyslexia, download my free ebook Homeschooling With Dyslexia 101  that covers things like understanding learning styles and teaching methods, how to create a positive learning environment and schedule, or how to set goals and get it all done.

For more information on specific strategies to teach your dyslexic child the way he or she learns, consider taking one of our Parent Dyslexia Classes .  Classes now available are:

Understanding Dyslexia

Teaching Them How They Learn

Teaching Reading:  Methods That Work

Teaching Spelling

Building Fluency and Comprehension

Or buy all 5 classes in our Foundation Bundle and receive a free download of my book, Dyslexia 101:  Truths, Myths and What Really Works.

This post:   Teaching Writing to the Dyslexic Student is part of a 5-day series on Finding Curriculum for the Homeschooled Student with Dyslexia .  To read the series from the beginning, click here.

For more information on Teaching Writing to Kids With Dysgraphia, see our parent class:

Find the Help Your Child With Dysgraphia Needs

The way to help your child to become a competent writer is:

• to understand what dysgraphia is
• learn what causes dysgraphia
• learn proven methods for teaching, and mastering handwriting

You will find all of that in this online course, Teaching Writing to Kids With Dysgraphia .

Visit the our courses page for information on our other parent classes or here for complete information on our brand new dysgraphia class:   Teaching Writing to Kids With Dysgraphia .

I tried Write Shop Jr., not a good match for us.

Do you have any opinion/experience with using IEW with dyslexic kids?

Hi Merri! We used IEW this year with our 10 and 11 year olds. We did this through our Classical Conversations Essentials class. I liked it very much. My kids found it to be a lot of work, however, I know that it was not too much work. Does that make sense. My kids didn’t LOVE it because they had to work hard but it was very beneficial. Both girls have been writing stories on the computer all of last week for fun. I think that it opened up a world of possibilities for them. They also are naturally more descriptive in their writing. I bought the IEW program for early elementary but haven’t started it yet. I may improvise with it since I now know the IEW program so well. I worked with the girls to help them with every outline and then had them write their paragraphs on their own. Also, I did allow my 11-year old (because of her dyslexia) to dictate her papers into the iPad. Hope this helps! We also really like Write Shop Junior. We did that last year and found it very helpful!

Thank you! Just trying to make a decision for next year that might work for both my non dyslexic and dyslexic kids that won’t be too painful for me (I am not a natural writing and this makes it a difficult subject). I have been looking at IEW and though it looks like it may be a lot of work, maybe it will make more sense to me than our current program.

What is your opinion on Time4writing.com for a dyslexic?

While we didn’t use time4writing we did use time4learning for half a year for 9th grade before cancelling it because of the amount of reading involved. Despite the program being advertised for dyslexia students it did not work in our case. We were not seeing retention of the material taught. A lecture followed by a quiz, then on to the next topic. English at that grade level revolved around literature. So a reading passage would be given after a teacher video lecture. You read it, another video lecture discussing key points of the passage, then a quiz. The problem we had was that I had to read all the passages to my child because there was no “read to me” function available for their software. They told me to use some freebie online website to do the reading but it did not work. I tried copying and pasting the passages into a reader, but it wouldn’t always read the words correctly. Finally in utter frustration, I ended up reading the literature passages to him instead. So basically I had to sit with him while he did his lessons every day to help with reading, note taking, etc and we still didn’t get retention of any of the material. I found the high school platform very much like public school instruction so it did not work for us. (I can’t vouch for the elementary school levels as they might work differently)

I use sentence starters with dyslexic middle years students in Northern Australia. I find they often work surprisingly well – especially for paragraph writing. I’ve collated my classroom work into a free downloadable pack: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FREE-Paragraph-Scaffold-PEEL-to-PEARL-3370676

Excellent advice. I’d add to this, if you don’t have a tech solution, just letting your child dictate the writing to you can work. This also helped my child learn to keep something in his head long enough for me to write it, which, even though he writes slower than me, helped him learn to keep something in his head longer when he was writing himself.

Separating the “content writing” from the “writing it down/grammar/spelling” was world changing for us. He started liking writing in stead of hating it, and both his dictated writing and the shorter writing I had him write himself improved.

I will say, when using outlines/brainstorming, I would encourage writing down as little as possible (or going through a “crossing out stuff” stage). If there’s too much, it becomes very hard for someone who has trouble skimming or who finds reading taxing to use it. Brainstorming, and moving that to a very simple outline we found helpful, but much of the longer pre-writing assessments we found a total waste of time and even counter productive (they used all his energy up and weren’t useful for him to use).

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10 Tips for Teaching Writing to Your Dyslexic Students

Read Time 4 mins | Mar 26, 2020 12:03:49 AM | Written by: Toolbox

You would think that someone who struggled to learn how to read, would struggle even more to learn how to write, right? But, as a person with dyslexia, I have to say, I found learning how to write much easier than learning how to read. This is probably because writing requires some skills, like vocabulary and general knowledge, that are unaffected by dyslexia. (Even when I was reading on a below first grade level at the end of third grade, my vocabulary tested at grade 9+ and my fund of general knowledge tested way above grade level too.)

This is not to say that learning how to write was easy. It wasn’t, but here are some tips that helped me and will probably help most dyslexic students:

1. Use pictures.   Most people with dyslexia minds are highly visual. Pictures will help us describe something in words and add details.

2. Expect inconsistency.   Probably the most frustrating thing about being dyslexic is that one day you feel like you’re making good progress and keeping up with the rest of the class, but the next day, nothing makes sense and you are baffled by stuff that you understood yesterday. This happened to me all the time, especially in elementary school. Please don’t tell me I am not trying my best today because I was able to do better yesterday. It’s not true and it’s very discouraging.

Click to read about the Before and After student sample from this student with dyslexia

3. Be flexible about topics.   My favorite way to learn is to research and write about a topic that fascinates me, but writing about a topic of no interest to me is pure drudgery. Please give me as much freedom as possible to choose my own topic.

4. Don’t let the aide hover over me.   One of the things I hated most about school was when an aide told me what to do every step of the way. I’d rather do it my way and be wrong than just do exactly what somebody else says, especially with my writing. One aide told me that I had to use sentence starters, which I know are helpful to a lot of students, but always made me feel like I was taking an easy way out, almost cheating even.

5. Give me specific feedback.   My favorite teacher used to make checkmarks in light pencil beside sentences that I needed to revise and then talk to me about how to do so. She’d also make stars in places where I needed to add more information. I was always able to improve my writing this way.

6. Let me use audiobooks and videos when doing research.   Researching from books alone gets tedious, especially for people with dyslexia who usually read at a slow pace. I’ll get more writing done if you let me gather information from audiobooks and videos as well as printed sources.

7. Use consistent vocabulary.   Is there a difference between a topic sentence and a thesis statement? I think so, but I’m still not sure. I had a teacher who used the terms interchangeably which confused and frustrated me.

For more information on teaching writing to students with dyslexia and activities to use in the classroom click here . 

8. Always, always, always allow me to use the keyboard.   SpellCheck is really, really important to me. (And if a spelling mistake gets past SpellCheck, please don’t count it against me.)

9. Don’t just correct my punctuation but review the rules of punctuation with me.   If I ever learn how to use punctuation marks correctly it’s going to be the result of extensive review. I know this is boring for teachers. It’s boring for me too but it’s the only way.

10. Please don’t confuse inattention with lack of interest.   I take pride in my work, but I do have trouble staying focused for long periods of time. Remember: a dyslexic brain makes 5X more neural connections than a nondyslexic brain when engaged in language-based tasks. This is a fact that’s been proven over and over again by scientific research. So, of course, those hard-working brains get tired 5X faster and need to take breaks 5X as often.

I hope what I’ve written here helps you teach the dyslexic kids in your class. Please don’t lower your expectations for us. Just respect us, and give us the time and help we need. It might take a long time and it’ll definitely take a lot of effort, but we are capable of becoming great writers.

If you’d like to learn more about dyslexia, there’s tons of great information at the website for the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity. Just check out dyslexia.yale.edu

Creative Writing Resources for Dyslexic Writers

Students with dyslexia struggle with more than just reading and writing. These students are also more likely than other students to experience low self-esteem and even anxiety surrounding the school experience. Certain common teaching tactics, such as class read alouds, can be incredibly distressing for students with dyslexia. Note taking, too, can be a struggle. Luckily, there are a variety of resources — from apps to general tips for education — that can help students with dyslexia have a quality learning experience that matches their unique differences.

Understanding Dyslexia

It’s important to remember that dyslexia has nothing to do with intelligence. Students with dyslexia are just as intelligent as their fellow students, and some will even qualify for gifted programs, just like any other individual child. Dyslexia is considered to be a brain-based disorder that affects how children and adults (dyslexia is not just a condition of childhood) read. Since virtually every school subject has reading as an essential skill, the challenges of dyslexia in the school setting extend far beyond reading classes. Children can also suffer in writing, math, science, and other subjects — and the disorder isn’t uncommon. It’s thought that up to 15% of adults and children could have some form of the reading disorder.( 1)

One of the most pervasive myths about dyslexia is that it is an eye problem or even a problem with processing visual information. People often think of dyslexia as simply the reversing of letters when reading or writing. However, all young children usually go through a phase where they write letters and numbers backward — this is a part of early writing. Children with dyslexia may continue to write some letters backward past those early ages, like beyond age 7 or 8, but this is a symptom of their differences in decoding and interpreting language, not a visual disorder.

Someone with dyslexia, instead, finds it difficult to perform the kinds of tasks needed for the building blocks of reading, such as blending letter sounds to make words. They may generally find language confusing, not quite grasping how words and letters are put together and then read. They usually struggle to sound out words. However, when a person with dyslexia has something read aloud to them, they have no problem comprehending what was read.

Learning and Writing with Dyslexia

Students with dyslexia benefit most by having someone break down the concept of language to them. Individuals who are trained to assist students with dyslexia help the students to decode words, quickly recognize key words (known as “sight words”), and focus on letter sounds. They may need words broken apart into their individual letter components, so that the child can understand the word’s makeup.

Turning the read word into the written requires even more processing, and can result in students finding it equally challenging to express their thoughts and ideas on paper. This can further affect their grades and their confidence, but with early intervention and the right tools, students with dyslexia can find reading to be less challenging, and go on to achieve great success in their lives and careers. In fact, some of the world’s most famous writers have been said to have dyslexia, from Agatha Christie to F. Scott Fitzgerald.( 2)

Tools for Writers with Dyslexia

There are a variety of tools that can assist students with dyslexia in school, as well as help improve their self-confidence. Students with dyslexia benefit from visual approaches to learning. When it comes to writing, children should learn how to create a graphic organizer or story map for their work. Usually, teaching students how to visually chart their writing ideas and plan is something taught in school whether or not a child has dyslexia, but a student with dyslexia will benefit from this kind of visual mapping as early as possible.

Many teachers and parents choose to also work with their student on handwriting. Handwriting helps to strengthen the connections being made between thought and paper, but it also helps to increase the child’s practice with areas, like spelling, that are often a struggle. Interestingly, some instructors recommend teaching cursive first as a way to make early writing easier, as opposed to the more common print style that children usually learn first.( 3)

Online and App Resources

Technology can be an incredible resource for students with dyslexia. Programs that transfer student speech into text can help avoid spelling mistakes and keep thoughts clear and concise. One of the most lauded of these is the Dragon suite of programs. With this software, essays can be done with a lot less struggle as students record themselves talking and then Dragon converts their words into text. There is also an app, Ginge r, that is popular for its ability to guide students as they write, correcting grammar and spelling along with providing text-to-speech capabilities. Students can also listen to text being read back to them.

Planning can be made easier with MindMeister , a visual planning app which helps with brainstorming and note taking. For general writing improvements, Co:Writer is an app that helps with spelling memorization alongside easing writing with predictive text. Reading web pages, meanwhile, can be made easier with Natural Reader , an online reader designed to assist with hearing most any document.( 4)

Comprehensive Assessments for Dyslexia

Neurobehavioral Associates can help assess your child  for dyslexia and offer our wealth of Maryland resources and referrals. If your child is struggling with reading or another learning difference, contact our team of specialists for guidance.

• Dyslexia: What Brain Research Reveals About Reading. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2019, from http://www.ldonline.org/article/10784/ 
• Creativity Is Key: Celebrities Who Triumphed Over Dyslexia | Everyday Health. (2018, September 04). Retrieved March 15, 2019, from https://www.everydayhealth.com/dyslexia/creativity-key-celebrities-who-triumphed-over-dyslexia/ 
• Help with Handwriting. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2019, from https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/parent/getting-help-for-your-child/help-with-handwriting 
• Dyslexic Students Learn Differently: Tips, Tools and Apps to Help Them Succeed. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2019, from http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/professionals/dyslexia-school/tips-tools-and-apps-for-helping-dyslexic-students 

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7 Creative Writing Tools For Dyslexic Kids

Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability which makes it difficult for people to deal with certain language skills, especially writing and reading. Around 10% of people in the UK have dyslexia and if your kid is one of those people you should start looking for interesting and effective ways to help them. Luckily there are lots of creative tools that can help kids with dyslexia.

To help you out we’ve created a list of 7 creative writing tools for dyslexic kids so just keep reading to learn about the interesting methods for helping your kid deal with this learning difficulty.

Here we take a closer look.

Crazy Cursive Letter

When you’re trying to help your kids with dyslexia improve their writing skills you should try to make it fun for them. Learning gamification should be one of your choices because it is really motivating for kids. Crazy Cursive Letters is definitely an app that can help.

It’s designed for kids 6-8 and here’s what it offers:

• practising cursive
• physically tracing over letters
• word-forming practice
• letters are sounded out phonetically

Kids can play the game and improve their cursive writing while adding their own words making it really fun.

It’s fun, educational and very effective.

Speechnotes.

Children want to be in charge of their learning and writing process and they can be with the Speechnotes app. The app is very simple to use so even the younger kids will master it in minutes.

Here are some ways dyslexic kids can benefit from the app:

• saying words or short phrases
• spelling it out and types it for them
• rewrite it letter by letter

Kids can have fun saying phrases that come to their mind and having them typed out immediately making it the perfect spelling assistant.

It’s the perfect spelling assistant for dyslexic kids to rely on and then learn from.

Montessori words.

Another brilliant app that helps dyslexic kids practice learning the phonetics of letters, spelling and writing is the Montessori Words app because it’s another gamified app it allows kids to:

• construct words from blocks of letters
• hear the sound of each letter
• build the words they’re assigned or words they come up with

The app is simple to use and has a colourful fun layout with sound effects and great design so your kids will love it.

Your kid will love using it to practice their spelling and writing.

Mind mapping.

Helping your kids write means helping them organize their thoughts and turn them into words. Mind mapping is a method  many parents  use to help their dyslexic kids prepare for a writing practice session because mind mapping is a visual representation of ideas and here’s how it works.

• the main idea is in the centre bubble in the middle of the page
• supporting ideas are surrounding the main bubble, each in their own bubble

For dyslexic kids you could instruct them to draw the ideas that are in the bubbles which then makes the preparation step easier. Once they create their mind map they’ll be attempting to write about the ideas from each of the bubbles.

Meaning children only need to focus on writing since the ideas are already defined and prepared.

It takes some burden off their shoulders and helps them find their focus.

Dyslexia quest.

Another highly appreciated and popular app for helping children deal with writing and reading problems is the Dyslexia Quest.

The app is a fun way for children to deal with the issues caused by dyslexia and practice overcoming them.

The fun aspect of it will make sure your kids  listen to you  and accept practising writing without complaining.

The app offers help with:

• working memory
• phonological awareness
• visual and auditory memory
• sequencing skills

By playing this game children slowly progress and work on polishing the skills that will help them write better whilst also having fun.

When your kid is dealing with dyslexia and finding it hard to read and write on their own you could consider using the help of an audiobook. Audiobooks will provide the help they need to follow the reading materials at their own pace and even practice writing afterwards.

Here’s what we suggest:

• buy a printed copy of a children’s book
• find the same audiobook online
• play it for your child and have them follow along in their printed copy at the same time

This way they’ll be able to pause, repeat, and slow down whenever they feel the need to. After successfully reading a short segment of the book they can try and copy it on a separate piece of paper.

Basic Spell Checker

For older kids who’ve already acquired certain writing skills finding a basic spell online can be extremely helpful.

Allow them to type the text directly into the spell checker like Grammarly and it will automatically find and mark their spelling mistakes.

They can revise the mistake and see the correct spelling then attempt to make it right.

Also an online writing service such as  Get Good Grade  can help dyslexic kids with writing more demanding pieces of text. It can assess and proofread a larger piece of written content and give feedback to your kids on how they did.

Final Thoughts

Dyslexia is a learning disability.

That allows you to work on it and improve your skills in time. It’s important that you give your best to help your kids learn and practice writing creatively enabling them to make baby steps in their progress.

We hope the creative writing tools for kids we’ve shared above will make it easier for you to help your kids learn easier and better. Use the tools you like the most and see how your kids improve their writing skills with them.

7 Creative Writing Tools For Dyslexic Kids.

Check out one of Jessica’s other blogs –  writing activities for kids .

Jessica Fender

Jessica Fender is a professional writer and educational blogger at  EssayShark , an aggregator for useful college resources and websites. She enjoys sharing her ideas to make writing and learning fun.

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Tips From Students

Nobody can fully appreciate what it’s like to be a student with dyslexia as well as another student with dyslexia. Here are some strategies we compiled from conversations with the real experts — dyslexic kids with papers due, tests next week and books to read.

Use Time Wisely | Embrace Simple Tools | Make the Most of Technology | Ask for Help | Embrace the Power of Dyslexia

Use Time Wisely

If you’re dyslexic, you already know that extra time on tests is critical to demonstrating your actual knowledge of a subject. But don’t stop there. If you need extra time for tests, there’s a good chance you need extra time on homework assignments as well. These tips should help:

• Break up big projects into smaller, less intimidating pieces. Have a three-page paper due in a week? Set dates for working on little tasks related to the paper, like picking a topic, doing research and writing a first draft. Don’t be afraid to ask a teacher, parent or tutor to assist you.
• Give yourself enough time to work slowly and carefully. You don’t want to rush or end up skipping part of a task.
• Do what’s due first. If you’re faced with a long list of short assignments, it’s easy to just grab them all at once and start working in random order. But that’s not the most effective approach. Take a minute to prioritize your work according to what’s due first and what is likely to take you the most or least time to complete. Study tonight for the French test you have tomorrow, not the vocabulary test that’s coming up next week.
• Don’t fall into the “no homework tonight” trap. If your calendar is clear, look ahead to see what’s coming up: an earth-science quiz at the end of the week or a math worksheet due Thursday? Use this free time to get a head start on the work you need to turn in later.
• Outline a task before you start. For a science project on plant growth, what materials will you need to gather? How many days will you have to allow for the beans to sprout? How long will it take you to write up your results? Think it through in your head and figure out what steps you’ll have to take so you know what you’ll need — and how much time to allow — to get it done.
• Don’t do more than you have to. For instance, you don’t have to research everything on the Civil War to write a few paragraphs on the second Battle of Bull Run.
• Preview reading to identify words you can’t pronounce and talk through the material with your teacher or tutor on a one-to-one basis. Avoid multiple choice-tests; instead request tests that are based on short essays.

Embrace Simple Tools

• Make flash cards to help you remember everything from math formulas to historic facts to vocabulary words. Breaking down content into these smaller chunks rather than trying to tackle everything on an entire sheet or in a book chapter will make studying far less overwhelming. And you can use your flash cards as a portable study guide to keep on hand and quiz yourself whenever you have a few minutes to spare.
• Work in a quiet place with few distractions. Ear plugs or noise-canceling headphones can help to block out noises that compete for your attention.
• Give yourself visuals and models to work from. Examples: Use diagrams for capturing the structure of a story or for remembering the animal kingdom; use highlighters or color-coding to bring out the main ideas in your notes, drafts or worksheets; create symbols, initials or doodles to help you remember concepts.

Make the Most of Technology

• Create a PowerPoint presentation of the material you’ll need to know for a test. (Think of it as a high-tech version of flash cards.) Some computers, like Macs, also have a computerized voice that can read your PowerPoint slides back to you.
• Compose written work on a computer, which can be more efficient and easier to read than messy handwriting. Using a computer allows you to focus on the content rather than your handwriting so you can get your thoughts out in the first draft. And when you make edits, you won’t need to write the entire essay over again.
• Consider using dictation programs like Dragon dictatation software . Alternatively, on many newer computers with a microphone, you can enable the “start dictation” feature directly in Microsoft Word. Some students find that dictation allows them to be more creative and capture the details all at once.
• After you complete a writing assignment, whether it’s a paragraph or a longer paper, read it aloud and record it on your cell phone. (You can also have a member of your family read it to you.) Several free apps make recording easy and convenient. Listening to what you wrote as you read it over several times can help you spot errors and identify edits you’d like to make. Listening as you read your notes also helps you understand and remember what you’ve learned.
• Listen to assigned books in audio form, reading along in the hard copy. As an added bonus, you’ll feel much better prepared if you know you’re going to be called on to read out loud in class the next day.
• Ask your parents or a teacher to help you sign up for access to recorded books and other written materials.  Bookshare , Audible and Learning Ally are just a few companies that make tens of thousands of audio recordings from text. Each service offers different types of literature, textbooks and reference materials, so if you can’t find what you need on one site, chances are it will be available through another service. Additionally, Amazon has teamed up with Audible to link up audio recordings with Kindle books, so you can read along with the text. The program is called Whispersync.
• If you have access to a newer computer, tablet or other electronic device, set it up to read your papers, notes and a range of other materials back to you. Macs do this within their accessibility settings, but there are many other options for software and apps that read text for both Macs and PCs. One of the oldest and most popular is Read & Write Gold .
• Consider investing in a Livescribe SmartPen if you take a lot of notes in class and are stressed about not getting it all down on paper. The device can eliminate note-taking anxiety because it captures everything the student hears and writes. You can transfer notes and recordings to a computer, and easily search and organize them for homework study. The audio recording can be slowed down or speeded up as needed, and a specific section of any recording can be played back simply by tapping that part of your written notes.

Ask for Help

• If you’re a college student struggling with a paper, take advantage of your campus writing center. If you’re not in college, ask your peers, teachers or parents to help you talk through your ideas and get them on paper. If you already have a draft written, the extra pair of eyes is helpful to catch typos, spelling mistakes, or incomplete details and ideas.
• Your teachers and peers can be great resources for solidifying topics you are learning. Talk with your teachers to be sure you understood the material, and talk through the main ideas of the lectures with your peers to help form your own thoughts and understanding.
• Request extra time on tests. Extra time on examinations is a necessity. The amount of extra time cannot be determined from testing but should be based on your own experiences. The first time you request this accommodation, you might want to request double time.

Embrace the Power of Dyslexia

• Believe in yourself. Dyslexia teaches you to budget your time and work hard, and that work ethic will help you no matter what you decide to do in life.
• Talk to others who are dyslexic and listen to success stories from other dyslexic individuals. They will inspire and encourage you. If they did it, you can, too!
• Remember that just because something takes you longer to do, doesn’t mean you can’t do it well. And sometimes because it takes you longer, you remember it better.
• While it’s hard to feel different or singled out if you need extra help or tutoring, try to remember that you’re learning the skills to overcome dyslexia—and that you are smart and have abilities no one else does!

The Peer Review

Dyslexia in the Writing Center: Multimodal Strategies

Sarah Murphy, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

This  article  is meant to serve as a  practical  guide for  writing center practitioners and provide  strategies to help make writing centers more accessible for all learners. These strategies specifically focus on ways to increase accessibility for dyslexic  individuals , regardless of  whether  the  writer has  disclosed their disability or not. 

Introduction

One challenge that writing centers   should confront more explicitly   is how to navigate   working with  and providing resources for  disabled   individuals .  In my experience s as a tutor , students often do not disclose their di sability/disabilities  until we have  established significant rapport and  met for multiple sessions. Even then, once t utees  tell me they have a diagnosed learning  disability , they do  not  always share the specifics of their di sabilities  with me.  Kerri  Rinaldi  ( 2015 ), a deaf writing center consultant,  argues that disclosing  what type of disability a person has is not necessary . She writes “ My disability does not impact my knowledge of myself. I will tell you what I need, and you don’t need to know my disability so that you can make that decision for m e . ”  I agree with  Rinaldi  here that tutors do not need to know  a  student’s specific diagnosis   or disability to still have a successful session .  For example, I have been working regularly with one student for about two years who informed me after our first few sessions that she has both physical and learning disabilities. While she never specified which disabilities  she has, she did communicate that she needs a quiet place to concentrate ;  it is helpful when I read documents out loud to her ;  and that she has difficulty with handwriting so it is best if we type notes. Knowing which strategies work best for her proved to be significantly beneficial to our sessions.

It can be difficult to tell exactly how many students in college, let alone the writing center, have learning di sabilities  since “it is  estimated that only half of college students report their disabilities, and many forego   accommodations for fear that they will be treated  differently  by their instructors and peers” ( Hitt , 2012 ).  Disclosing a learning  disability  is a personal and individual decision.  If up to half of  disabled students  are not comfortable sharing that information with their universities, it is likely that a n equal or  higher percentage of students are not comfortable disclosing their  disabilities  to their tutors.   Effective  writing center practice , however, means being  able to balance  writer s ’  preferences while fostering an inclusive environment ,  regardless of the ir   abilities .    

Brief Literature Review:  Disability as Identity  and Universal Design

When I first began this  article , my younger brother was applying to college. He was diagnosed with dyslexia in the seventh grade and was placed on an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) that seriously helped improve his academic performance. While his IEP gave him the focus and attention he needed to be at grade level, I worried about how he would manage the reading and writing college demands. It made me think critically about how I, as a writing tutor, could help someone with dyslexia like my brother.

Dyslexia is defined as “difficulties in various aspects of writing skills making the individual unable to develop age-appropriate and ability appropriate functional skills.” ( Tariq and Latif , 2016, p. 151). Difficulties can occur in everything from handwriting to differentiating letters. However, dyslexia  does  not affect general intelligence. It is likely that a student with dyslexia may not disclose that information, and it is not appropriate for the tutor to assume or ask. Assuming or asking a student about potential learning disabilities crosses a boundary that may make them uncomfortable and damage rapport.

My  brother’s experiences ,  as well as the lack of  accessible, practical  resources on approaching dyslexia in a writing center space ,  contributed to my desire to write this article .   I wish I had a guide like this one when I was training to become a tutor that gave an overview of disabilities in the writing center with specific techniques that may be beneficial.   While m any  students  know which techniques help them best, I believe it is important for tutors to have as many strategies to pull from in   case the session hits a roadblock . I t is  essential , however, to  also  provide some background on this topic from scholars working in both writing centers and disability studies .

Tutors can best balance students’ preferences by being adaptive and open – minded.  Individuals  experience their disabilities differently  and so there cannot be  just  one way to tutor disabled students.  It is  very   important  to acknowledge that many people who  work in  and use the writing center, including faculty, administrators ,  and tutors, might also be themselves disabled. As  one such   consultant   Rinaldi ( 2015 )  offers a  critical  perspective within this conversation. She  discusses the danger of following a specific procedure when working with disabled students. This approach treats the student’s disability “as an obstacle or shortcoming instead of a contributor to her agency.” When tutors view disabilities as something that must be  “ fixed, ”  it shifts the power into the hands of the tutor .  Rinaldi calls for writing centers to  “ refuse to treat sessions with disabled students as different, and if we refuse to consider students with disabilities as outside the bounds of normality, then we refuse to uphold the social construction of disability as a problem to be fixed.”   Instead of seeing disability as something that needs to be  addressed  before the  session can begin , tutors should focus on disability as an  aspect of a person’s  identi ty  rather than a difference.

Karen Nakamura  (2 018 )  extends this conversation by focusing on   the intersectionality between race and disability.  She mentions how there is very little study on disability and race, but that race  can have  a significant impact on a person’s disability. An example Nakamura  cites  comes from Wanda Blanchett who talks about the “disproportionate representation of African-American students in special education… They’re being labeled with particular labels that don’t get them services while being prevented from being labeled appropriately in ways that might actually get them services that they might actually be able to use. ” Institutional racism often prevents non-white students from being correctly diagnosed and receiving the  appropriate  services for their needs. Race is just one example of the many types of identities  individuals   embody . However, it is important to consider how a student’s race, gender, sexuality, religion ,  etc. might impact how they view their disability  and what role these i dentities  might play within a writing center space .

As individuals  working in writing centers , we should be aware that our language choices matter and this absolutely extends to how we choose to refer to disabled people.  The specific language with which we use to discuss disability is  contingent upon  how and the extent to which a person chooses to identify . Many see “person-first language” (PFL) as the  preferable  way to talk about disability.  With PFL, we would refer to tutees as “a tutee with disabilities ”  as it   acknowledges their humanity  first . However, disabled scholars have challenged PFL as the only way to talk about disability. Some prefer to use “identity first language” (IFL) because they see their disability as an important aspect of their person.  With IFL we would refer to tutees as “a disabled tutee.”  For  Emily  Ladau   (2015 ), her disability is not only a fact of her life, but it is a source of pride.  While  Ladau  prefers IFL, she does note that each person has a different relationship with their disability and some people still prefer PFL. Therefore, in a tutoring session, if a student discloses their disability to their tutor, the tutor should ask how the tutee chooses to identify, PFL or IFL, to ensure the student is comfortable during the session.  It has become increasingly more common to ask people how they prefer to identify  (e.g., requesting or making visible preferred  pronouns )  and so writing centers should work to incorporate  similar  practice s  when working with  an  individual  who  has chosen to disclose their disability .

Using  language  the student is comfortable with is only one of the ways tutoring appointments can be adapted to fit the needs of disabled students. A tutoring appointment should ultimately be a conversation between equals, although it is the tutor’s responsibility to create a way for the tutor and tutee to effectively interact. Rinaldi ( 2015 )  claims that writing centers cling to this idea that we  have to  accommodate disabled students. While this practice is well – intentioned, it inherently treats disabled students as different. My goal in creating this guide for tutors is to help break away from the “accommodation model” Rinaldi refers to. The simple fact is that every student who visits the writing center is different. Therefore, there is no one right way to tutor because different strategies may or may not be helpful for different students. This guide is meant to provide  writing centers  with multiple strategies that can be adapted to all tutoring appointments based on the  writing center user’s  preferences.

My  article  aims to utilize principles of  universal design that  Jean  Kiedaisch  and  Sue  Din itz   ( 2007 )  advocate for. Universal design is not the same as a one-size-fits-all approach  because it  assumes  individuals  will come to the  writing center with a wide range of abilities and needs.  It  is an adaptable and flexible approach with “design principles for conducting all sessions that make them accessible to the widest audience possible ” (p. 51). Adopting a universal design approach to tutoring can help fit a broad range of students.

A universal design can be especially helpful because t here are countless forms of learning  disabilities  and it would be  very difficult  to cover  strategies for  them all.  Every student, even those without  disabilities , still  has  highly individualized learning preferences. Tutors need to   adapt  sessions to how the student works best ; d ifferent strategies may be more helpful to some students than others.   Many of the s uggestions  I discuss in this  article  can be useful for assisting students with a variety of disabilities and learning preferences. While I specifically focus on strategies for tutees who may or may not disclose as dyslexic, according t o   Rebecca  Babcock  ( 2015 ),   many of these same strategies, such as  the  use of visuals, use of computers/computer programs, enhanced tutor training, tape recording sessions, and reading out loud, can be beneficial for students with disabilities including deafness, visual impairment, dyslexia, and those with multiple disabilities. In addition to making the writing center more accessible  to all disabled individuals who use the center , the following strategies may also be beneficial to visual and auditory learners. Therefore, I am proposing that tutors work to include these strategies in their sessions because they have the potential to make our centers more accessible to not only dyslexic  individuals  but also to students with a variety of learning styles and preferences.

Multimodal Strategies

Incorporating listening strategies.

Leslie  Anglesey and  Maureen  McBride  (2019) argue   that  tutors must actively listen to the needs of the tutee .   The key to accommodating all students is “focusing on listening practices that are inclusive to all individuals…thus helping us make our centers usable for all”   Anglesey and McBride refer to this type of listening as  listening to shelter  which they define as  “the process of providing shelter to another person’s ideas .” In other words, they are challenging tutors to listen to understand, rather than listening to respond . It is unlikely a student will walk into a tutoring  appointment and immediately begin explaining what conditions they work best in. Therefore, it is important to ask questions about a student ’ s   preferences  and then actively listen to their response.   What I am describing here in this piece are ways for tutors to respond as an active listener by drawing on resources that can help make writing centers more accessible because l istening to students’ preferences and needs helps keep the session running smoothly. This can be especially helpful for students with  both disclosed and  undisclosed learning di sabilities  because tutors can , by listening actively, learn  adaptive  strategies .

Babcock ( 2015 ) contributes to this conversation of asking and listening to students’ preferences. She cites a survey Jennifer  Wewers  conducted in which  Wewers  interviewed an unidentified number of writing tutors and five dyslexic students. Her findings showed that many writing tutors are misinformed on the specifics of dyslexia.  Misconceptions about disability can negatively impact a tutoring session , especiall y since Babcock found most tutors’ misconceptions came from “ folk knowledge gleaned from the media, most of it stereotypical and unscientific such as dyslexics switch letters around when reading . ” It is important to combat these stereotypes  in the writing center  because dyslexia  is  much more than simply switching letters around when reading or writing.  Dyslexic individuals may have difficulty with decoding words, organization, lateness, and handwriting mechanics.  Based on her interviews with dyslexic students,  Wewers  suggested that tutors be flexible to students’ needs.  In order for  tutors to ensure they do not accidentally contribute their own interpretations or misconceptions about a student’s disability, tutors should ask the  student question s  th at will help guide the session.   The following questions can be incorporated into the beginning of every session regardless of if the student has disclosed a disability or not. Tutors may consider asking any variation of these questions:

• What part of the assignment do you want to focus on?   
• Where in our space would you most prefer to work?   
• What tools or technologies do you tend to use most frequently when you write?   
• Are you comfortable reading your paper out loud or would you prefer if I read it?   
• How do you learn best (i.e. Do you learn best by doing, seeing, or hearing)?   
• What are your goals for our session?   

In addition to this short list, there are many other questions tutors may wish to ask at the start of the session. Taking a few minutes at the start of the appointment to ask a student about their preferences and then actively listen to their responses can ensure that both the tutor and tutee have the same expectations for a productive session.

Technologies  and Techniques

Technologies can  make it easier for writing centers to be accommodating to all students’ needs , including  individuals  with dyslexia . Centers  should  incorporate, and train tutors  to  us e ,  a variety of technologies   to increase accessibility —in other words, to encourage  tutors to develop   multiliterate practices . Multilitera cy  is a broad term that includes  developing awareness of  more tha n  simple black and white text on a page. Multiliteracies are “ an opportunity to move beyond the dominating limitations of print- and word-based literacies, to reach other modes of representation such as visual, aural, gestural, spatial, and multimodal” ( Hitt , 2012).  Individuals  with dyslexia may find print and word – based sources inaccessible, but with   increased  attention to  multiliteracies, writing centers can help  more  students access academia in  ways they might not have previously been exposed to .   T he  following  multimodal  techniques , drawn from psychology and education  to assist  dyslexic students ,  c ould  also  be incorporated into  and useful for  session s  with  diverse  types of learners .

1. Let the  S tudent  C hoose the  F ont

For an appointment to run smoothly, tutees should have their paper formatted how they work best.  If it appears that a student may be struggling with their paper based on its format, t utors can suggest that tutees change the font, color, or size of the words.  For example, I was recently working with a student who had to respond to a discussion board. The assignment required  her  to write a response to an article  she  read and then  comment on two classmates ’  posts.  When she opened another student’s post, the font was  tiny,  and she was squinting to read it. I suggested she copy and past e  the post into a word document and make the font larger.  Once she was comfortable with the formatting, we were able to read the post and craft a response .  S uggestion s like these  may help a student who never considered reformatting their work in a less traditional manner , beyond just  using default word-processer fonts .     Afterwards, the tutee can easily switch the font  back  to the designated requirements.

While it is appropriate to use any  fo nt  the student feels comfortable with, s tudies show that certain font types  are  easier for  dyslexic people  to work with. Generally, a sans-serif font group in black ink is best, with a fourteen to sixteen-point font size (Tariq and Latif , 2016 ).   There are  also  free online programs  that  will change a text to a more readable font  for dyslexic people . One of these programs,  OpenDyslexic , created a typeface  specifically for dyslexia.    On their website, they describe the  OpenDyslexic  font type: “ OpenDyslexic  is not supposed to be a cure, a complete solution, or something you should apply uniformly to everyone: it was intended to address: contrast/blindness, letter confusion or rotation, and crowding (open dyslexic website).”   OpenDyslexic  is modeled after the font Dyslexi e, which was designed to negate many of the problems with traditional fonts because “ typical effects of dyslexia – the mirroring, swapping, rotating and crowding of letters – are only enhanced and magnified by most fonts” ( King, 2018). Unfortunately, neither  OpenDyslexic  nor Dyslexie are available in Word. The closest font style Word has is Comic Sans, which is generally  –though perhaps wrongly—often  seen as an  “ unprofessional ”  font choice. Writing centers may  then consider having  OpenDyslexic  pre-downloaded on their computers so students can work with this font  and then convert their work to their professors ’  guidelines.  M any  professors require the final product be set up in Times New Roman, twelve-point font. This is a small, serif font which  may  make it more difficult to work with .

In addition to font,  the color of the paper impacts its readability.  Wh ite, light pink and light green color ed paper   are  the easiest to read  from  (Tariq and Latif , 2016).   W riting center s  should consider having colored paper to assist students who need it.  Any available handouts should also be printed on these colors so that all students can access them equally.

The tutee should work under the best conditions for their own productivity and this will vary for each student.  For some students ,  this may simply include moving into a quieter room and for others ,  it can be reformatting the  entire  paper. In either case, tutors can understand tutees’  preferences   by  asking and  listening to the tutee  to ensure  their comfortability with their current working conditions.

It is equally as necessary for tutors to work in conditions they are comfortable with themselves. This may be especially true for disabled tutors. Tutors are as diverse as the tutees who use our centers. However, as   Valles  et al .  ( 2017 ) point out, there are no comprehensive reports on tutor diversity across  universities as a whole . I know in my own center, we have a diverse staff in terms of race, sexuality, religion ,  and disability. In order to address this diversity among tutoring staff, it is important for writing centers to have a variety of resources to not only make their centers more accessible to tutees, but also for tutors. Disabled tutors  may choose to  use many of these same strategies to help them with their job. For example, a dyslexic tutor may wish to temporarily change the font of a paper if they are having difficulty  reading it in the original format (although they should be aware that they may need to explain to the tutee why they are changing the format).

2. Avoid  H andwriting

Handwritten words  are often  challenging for  m any reader s to  understand :   e verything from incongruous letters to sloppy style can make it difficult for readers to decipher handwriting.  In  Tariq and Latif’s piece, they cite Mart í nez-Marrero and Estrada-Hern á ndez (2008) who   “indicated that dyslexic children often experience difficulties in mechanical aspects (letter formation, capitalization, spelling and punctuation) as well as contextual aspects (organization and consistency) of writing”   (151). While this source explores handwriting in children, I have worked with adults who also have difficulty with the mechanics of handwriting.  Other disabilities, such as dysgraphia and ADHD, may also  result in  difficulties  processing  handwriting  ( Adi- Japha  et al.,  2007) .  The writing center should ,  therefore ,  try to make computers consistently available, so students always have the option to type.  Notes can be typed on the tutee ’ s computer ,  a  G oogle  D oc, or other easy to share file. If typing is not an option, the next best format is print handwriting (Tariq and Latif , 2016 ). Tutors should avoid cursive because the loopy style is difficult to read.

Another effective alternative for note taking is  through the use of  a tape recorder  ( Babcock, 2015) .   Tutees may choose to record their sessions on their phone or another device. This strategy  can be beneficial because it allows tutees to go back and hear exactly what was discussed in the session.  In the event that  a student, or tutor, wishes to record their session, both the App Store and Google Play have multiple free tape recorder apps  that tutors should be aware of.  Quicktime  which is built in  to  or  can be downloaded to many computers allows users to record, edit, and share audio and video files. Writing centers can make sure this program is downloaded on their computers and that tutors are trained to use it.  The App Store  also  has a free Voice Recorder & Audio editor app available for iPhone and iPad. This app allows for an unlimited number of recordings provided that the device has enough storage. The advantages  of  this app  are  that  the user can organize their recordings into multiple folders ,  and it has a feature that will transcribe audio recordings using speech recognition software. For Android devices, the Google Play Store has the app Voice Recorder. While this app does not have the ability to transcribe recordings, it has the other benefits of untimed, high – quality recording sessions. It is important for tutors to be aware that recording sessions, with both the consent of tutor and tutee, may provide students with a beneficial alternative to traditional note taking on the computer or by hand.

However, if the student feels comfortable writing, they should hand write the information themselves in  the  absence of a computer. This ensures that the tutee takes notes in a readable format while avoiding accidental plagiarism.  It ’ s  also important to let the student write suggestions so they avoid confusion when going back to read notes from the session.   While these are good practices for any session because it allows the student to think for themselves, it will be especially helpful for a student with dyslexia when they  refer  to their notes.

3. Reading  O ut  L oud

It is  common practice  in writing centers  for either the tutor or tutee to read  a writer’s  assignment out loud.   Having the tutor read an assignment out loud  can  help a  dyslexic student  because they can internalize their work in a new way  (Tariq  & Latif, 2016) .  Some writing centers , however,   require tutors to encourage  every writer  to  read their  own work  out loud. While tutors can suggest students read their papers, it  is worthwhile considering the ways that  requir ing  that all students read their own paper aloud  can be inaccessible .  One-size fits all approaches like this can make some students uncomfortable in our centers. Forcing a student with dyslexia to read their paper out loud may be very difficult for the student and they are less likely to benefit from this practice.   With  the student’s consent,  I  generally   read  the writers’ work  out loud in my sessions. I believe it is beneficial for all students because, in my experience,  tutees  are more likely to catch and fix  their mistakes  when they hear their paper .  For example, I will often have students stop me while I am reading and say something along the lines of “that sentence doesn’t make sense. What if I said this instead?” or “ that’s  not really what I meant to say. What  I’m  trying to say here is…” Reading out loud is also a great way to be responsive to the students’ needs. I will start off a session by asking the student what they want to work on. If they tell me they want to make sure their paper is organized, I will tell them  to focus on the organization and flow while I am reading.   This  also  helps keep the  student engaged during the session because they are actively following along .

There are many technologies that can simulate reading out loud as well. These are known as text-to-speech software, which  a re  valuable tool s  to help anyone with reading difficulties  or   who prefers to process content aurally . It  is  beneficial for  dyslexic tutees  because it allows them to read the text in front of them while simultaneously hearing it spoken. Platforms that read documents aloud increase reading accuracy in people with dyslexia ( Woolf , 2013 ). Some of the best free  text-to-speech pr ograms are  Balabolka , Natural Reader  (has dyslexic font) , and  WordTalk .

Balabolka  is a downloadable program that works with a variety of file types. It has customizable font and background colors so students can set the text to their preferences.  Balabolka  also has a setting in which students can save th eir text and audio files as MP3 which will allow them to refer to the text once the session has ended.

Natural Reader  is an online program that does not need to be downloaded to the computer. Files can be pasted, typed, and edited within their text box.  Natural Reader comes with several different voices so students can choose which voice works best for their understanding.  The free version of Natural Reader provides unlimited use of their Free Voices and up to 20 minutes a day of their premium voices. There are payment options that allow for more features, but the free version will  still  read any text aloud. Natural  R eader also has a   font option  specifically for individuals with dyslexia  so students can select to work with a font  similar to   OpenDyslexic  and Dyslexie.

Finally,  WordTalk  is a free text-to-speech plug in for Microsoft Word. Writing centers can download  WordTalk  to their computers so students working with Microsoft Word documents can  hear their papers out loud.  WordTalk   will create a spoken version of the document and read it back while highlighting the words.  This is  useful  to help students follow along with the spoken words.   Writing centers  can have  any combination of  these  programs available for students to use during a session.  Hearing documents or webpages out loud  can be helpful to  dyslexic  individuals  as well as any  person  that  might benefit from having material read out loud.

4. Multimedia

If  an assignment permits students to utilize multimodal resources  ( audio, visual, text, images, etc. ), s tudents can  have the opportunity to  process  information  in ways that traditional “print” sources often do not permit . Like  text-to-speech , multimedia stimulates different parts of the brain which  can be  beneficial for   dyslexic individuals . A student with dyslexia  may have  difficulty absorbing information through reading and then relaying what they know through writing. Multimedia sources have been shown to “get individuals’ attention, improve their understanding and boost their confidence” (Tariq and Latif,  2016, p.  153).

If a student comes to an appointment to brainstorm for a paper, the tutor may suggest  referring to  multimedia sources such as audiobooks, videos, podcasts, pictures, etc. This way, the student can find more about their topic  without having to rely purely on written sources .  For someone with dyslexia, consuming information presented through different platforms may make  certain aspects of their topic more accessible.   It can also make the research stage of a paper more enjoyable and engaging  because students have a variety of sources to look at . Many students may even be  required  to include videos or podcasts into their research in addition to more traditional sources like articles and journals. Additionally,  some  writing centers  might also  need to be prepared to assist students with  multimodal projects like PowerPoints, presentations, and video projects  because they  are becoming more comm on.   Writing  c enters  should  consequently  incorporate multimedia sources in their spaces because it increases accessibility to information and education for  disabled students  ( Hitt , 2012 ).

Conclusion:  Incorporating these  T ools into  P ractice

My goal in writing this  article  was to create an easily applicable guide for tutors. In my own training, I wished I had something like this to apply to my  tutoring practice. Therefore, I specifically sought out techniques that can be incorporated into  many  sessions , and  might even be helpful for tutors in their own writing processes as well .  I n  addition to this guide, I created a  video  which discusses and showcases many of the programs and strategies I mention.  Within the introduction to this video ,  I mistakenly refer to disabled students as students with learning differences.  Throughout the process of writing this article, I have become more aware of disability studies and the language we should use to talk about  disabilities :  I have been introduced to scholarship that fully explains the implications of  differently – abled  language. Although it was not my intention,  differently – abled  language and other euphemisms marginalize disabled people and imply that disability is an offensive word when ,   in reality, it   is  something that millions of people navigate  on a daily basis .  The video, and transcript, are posted on YouTube for accessibility.  Most of the techniques in this paper  and video  can be beneficial for all students while being especially useful for  dyslexic  individuals .

Dyslexia can go undetected because it  primarily  impacts a person’s ability to read and write.  Along with this, many students are hesitant to disclose any learning di sabilitie s because they fear being treated differently.  The  writing center  can  still be accessible  to these students  with   these practices .  It ’ s   the  responsibility of the  writing center  to be  as  inclusive and helpful for all students  as possible .   Tutors should use these tips because they have the potential to help students with  disclosed and undisclosed disabilities .  Directors should also ensure their tutors are properly trained to  incorporate  these strategies  and  advocate for any programs or technologies that   can be  vital to ensuring accessibility .  I hope this piece can serve as a training tool for  writing centers  to develop their flexibility  and explore these  strategies  and technologies  as they can be helpful for anyone who visits or uses the center . The best way to be accommodating to all students is to listen to their needs and preferences.  These strategies can make the writing center accessible to students with di sabilities  while also staying within the appropriate boundaries between tutor and tutee.

Ultimately, there needs to be more research conducted on disabilities in the writing center. As Babcock (2015)  notes , there are few articles on the most common types of disabilities among college students.  Fostering  more research, especially from disabled tutors and tutees themselves, will help writing centers become more accessible. When we listen to the needs of disabled individuals, we allow ourselves to challenge  our preconceived  ideas about  disabilities  which can transform how we  respond to   all users of  our centers .

Adi- Japha , E., Landau, Y. E., Frenkel, L.  Teicher , M.,  Tsur , V. G., & Shalev, R. S. (2007). ADHD and dysgraphia: Underlying mechanisms.  Cortex, 43  (6), 700-709.  https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-9452(08)70499-4 .  

Anglesey, L .,   &  McBride , M .  (2019).  Caring for  s tudents with   d isabilities: (Re)defining  w elcome as a  c ulture of  l istening.  The Peer   Review   ( 3 ).  http://thepeerreviewiwca.org/issues/redefining-welcome/caring-for-students-with-disabilities-redefining-welcome-asa-culture-of-listening/      

Babcock, R. D.  (2015).  Disabilities in the writing center.  Praxis: A Writing   Center Journal , 13  ( 1).   http://www.praxisuwc.com/babcock-131  

Hitt , A.  (2012).  Access for  a ll: The  r ole of  d is/ability in  m ultiliteracy  c enters.  Praxis: A Writing Center Journal,  ( 2 ). Retrieved from  http://www.praxisuwc.com/hitt-92

Kiedaisch , J., & Dinitz, S. (2007). Changing notions of difference in the writing center: The possibilities of universal design.  The Writing Center Journal,   27 (2), 39-59. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43442271

King, S. (2018). “Sir! it works!”: The  dyslexie  font.  The School   Librari an,  66 (2), 72-74.  http://libproxy.umassd.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.libproxy.umassd.edu/docview/2056860250?accountid=14573  

Ladau , E.  (2015, July 20).  Why person-first language  doesn’t  always put  the person first . Think inclusive.  https://www.thinkinclusive.us/why-person-first-language-doesnt-always-put-the-person-first/

Nakamura, K. (2018, February 16). Karen Nakamura speaks on disability    studies and race [Video]. You T ube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b7PXCYK79A&feature=emb_logo

Rinaldi, K. (2015). Disability in the writing center: A new approach (that’s  not so new).  Praxis: A Writing Center Journal ,  13  (1) ,  http://www.praxisuwc.com/rinaldi-131 .

Tariq, R ., &  Latif , S .  (2016).  A  m obile  a pplication to  i mprove   l earning  p erformance of  d yslexic  c hildren with  w riting  d ifficulties.   Educational Technology & Society ,  ( 4 ).   Retrieved from  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310773732_A_Mobile_Application_to_Improve_Learning_Performance_of_Dyslexic_Children_with_Writing_Difficulties  

Valles, S. B. Babcock, R. D. & Jackson, K.K. (2017). Writing center  administrators and diversity: A survey.  The Peer Review, 1  (1)  http://thepeerreview-iwca.org/issues/issue-%201/writing-center-administrators-and-diversity-a-%20survey/

Woolf, C . M. (2013) . Lit- f it  c hallenge  a udio  b ooks  p roject.   National  Association of School Psychologists ,  ( 8 ). Retrieved from   https://search-proquest-com.libproxy.umassd.edu/docview/ 1412863471?rfr_id=info%3Axri%2Fsid%3Aprimo  

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Knowledge For All:

The power of high-quality curricula for students with dyslexia..

Meet Sophia:

Inspiration for high-quality curricula for all, proof that curriculum matters, 2020 ida virtual conference.

Watch LauraMarie Coleman's video from this year's conference regarding how to support dyslexia in mathematics.

2019 IDA Conference

Read Lynne Munson’s remarks at a panel with author Natalie Wexler and reading practitioner Robin Hegner.

2018 IDA Conference

Prepared Remarks of Lynne Munson on her presentation “How All Children Can Realize Their Potential: The View of a Curriculum Developer and Parent of a Child with Dyslexia”

International Dyslexia Association

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Munson highlights nyc’s plan for serving children with dyslexia, old painting, new ideas, how to use visual art to build literacy, in the news, cbs sunday morning looks at what dyslexia is and is not..

Learn how researchers who say one in five children they studied was dyslexic have also found there is no link at all between dyslexia and intelligence.

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I am a special education teacher with 17 years of experience in the classroom and a parent of two children with dyslexia.

If You Want to Know What Works for Students With Dyslexia, Ask Them

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How to Teach Dyslexic Students to Write

Dyslexia can seriously interfere with a child’s ability to read and write. As children enter the third and fourth grades, the disorder and its symptoms will only continue to increase and create more obstacles hindering normal education.

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Understanding dyslexia and different teaching methodologies are paramount if you want to help dyslexic students to learn.

We’ll examine some fundamentals of how to teach dyslexic students and how to help these students succeed in the classroom.

How to Teach Dyslexic Students

Dyslexic students have trouble with ordered lists and multi-syllabic words. While each student will have more nuanced issues, those two are typically the main sources of the difficulty. 

The student’s issue is not one of intelligence or comprehension. Their difficulty is in the interpretation of information. This difficulty can be overcome when teachers focus on the logical progression of letters and sounds and reinforce those connections over time.

Methods like clapping and rhyming can help to solidify such connections. Consider giving children dedicated time to work on reading and writing assignments without distraction from peers. 

Paying close attention to the child’s questions is also essential. Each student will have their own individual needs. The specific difficulties experienced by the student when observed closely can give teachers great insight into the ways in which they can help to address them.

Flexibility and Understanding 

It’s important that you help the child see their disorder for what it is — a temporary obstacle that can be conquered and overcome. Feelings of low intelligence or inferiority are unjustified. Teachers must use patience and understanding to help children understand that fact and build the child’s self-esteem.

Working with students who learn differently means learning the differences and applying them based on individual needs. The dyslexic student may not be able to adjust their learning style like the other students so the burden of adaptation falls upon the instructors. 

Encouragement is key, and you can teach a dyslexic student to write if you have a patient, compassionate approach . 

Teaching Methodologies for Dyslexia

Because each student is different, it’s tough to create a standard method of teaching that will work for each person. With that said, there are general guidelines that tend to work in many cases when teaching dyslexic students. 

First, use imagery whenever possible. Reinforcing linguistic concepts with visual ones will be a great help.

This is because dyslexia is a disorder that doesn’t affect a person’s ability to see the information so much as it affects their ability to interpret language. Mixing pictures with words and sounds will strengthen student understanding.

Teachers should also adjust their style of feedback. Deliver feedback in a constructive, engaging way. While some students may be able to work with a few red streaks across an assignment, dyslexic students should be given more specific, involved feedback. 

Address not the specific error, but the underlying concept that isn’t being understood. The average student’s error might be a result of forgetfulness or lack of preparation, but a dyslexic student may be having fundamental difficulty with the language contained in a problem or two. 

More Dyslexia Resources.

Understanding how to teach dyslexic students can certainly be challenging. However, by educating yourself and learning different strategies, you can really make a difference in students’ lives. To learn more take a look at some of the tech innovations that are helping students with dyslexia learn easier in the classroom.

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Parenting With Patience: Tips for Supporting Dyslexic Children Academically

I started reading in kindergarten and quickly fell in love with my classroom’s little library. When I had my first child, I hoped she would share my passion for books. We filled her nursery with board books and worked on her letter recognition skills as she got older, but our time by her bookshelf quickly became a negative experience.

She got frustrated as we read when she couldn’t name the right words or letters. Sometimes it led to her to throwing books across the room or bursting into tears. I talked with her pediatrician about it, who sent us to a psychologist with experience in dyslexia.

My daughter’s diagnosis was an overwhelming relief. Our hearts hurt at the challenges that awaited her years in school, but a diagnosis pointed us toward ways to help her. These are some of the most important things I’ve learned in the years since.

More from CafeMom: Tips To Keep Kids' Physical & Emotional Health in Check as They Head Back to School

Start by Learning the Facts

It’s scary to hear a doctor diagnose your child with any condition. We want to shield our children from any challenges or hardships life throws them. Dyslexia may seem intimidating in that initial doctor’s office visit, but learning some facts about it makes it easier to advocate for your child’s needs.

Recent research available through the National Library of Medicine shows that dyslexia affects up to 20% of the population , or one in five people. That’s more than a billion people living joyful, fulfilling lives. Even if it feels like your family is suddenly alone, many others have been in your shoes and found ways to help their children through their educational journeys.

It’s also crucial for parents to know that not every school system has tools to help kids with dyslexia. Our daughter’s first public school classroom had no kindergarten teachers trained to help students with dyslexia succeed. Our search for private schools with dyslexia certifications was challenging, too.

You should look for the same certifications if your child struggles in school. It can feel exhausting if you’re not close to numerous school systems, but the results are worth it. We found a public school with a certified teacher who developed accommodations that empowered our daughter, like these:

• Reading the daily and weekly schedules out loud
• Making a special bookmark so our daughter could follow along more easily
• Printing worksheets in larger font sizes for her
• Granting extra time for writing and reading
• Highlighting sight words in written instructions

Ask Them How You Can Help

When your child gets old enough to talk about their needs and challenges, ask how you can help. I’ve been the parent who assumed everything was fine, which made my daughter think any new or existing challenges were a personal fault.

We might not have the same specialized training as certified teachers, but parents can do so much to help their dyslexic children in their educational journeys. Video games were an early tool that I began relying on when my daughter expressed frustration with being unable to concentrate for very long.

First, I picked a video game she wanted to try, like the Jak and Daxter series. Giving her more time to play it throughout the week allowed her to practice tracking words on the screen while playing an immersive, mystery-themed game. Research shows that video games improve a child’s attention span , which we saw happen in real time with our daughter’s concentration.

When she got older, we downloaded flashcard apps that read the words out loud. Our daughter studied more easily by listening to her homework. She also began recognizing those words more easily during school because she was more engaged while she studied.

Helping your child can also be super simple. Our daughter’s pediatrician recommended we develop a sleep routine early on and stick with it through the years. Kids with dyslexia demonstrate more active brain waves while they sleep, which often causes issues with falling or staying asleep. Finding what helps your child’s unique mind rest will give them the energy boost they need to conquer more challenging lessons.

Don’t forget about your child’s diet, either. Vitamins won’t cure dyslexia, but they can help. Researchers found that dyslexic young adults who stuck with the Mediterranean diet had less difficulty with testing than those who didn’t. The eating plan uses fish as a protein foundation, so your child may benefit from nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids that nourish the brain on a cellular level.

As always, chat with your child’s pediatrician before making dietary or lifestyle changes. They’ll work with you to tailor your ideas to your child’s health needs.

Find New School Activities

Learning disabilities might be isolating for reasons unrelated to bullies. Think about how many school clubs revolve on reading. Groups that teach students to enjoy reading, creative writing, and history in their free time are important, but children with dyslexia won’t be able to engage if they have the same interests.

I showed our daughter a list of other school activities she could consider first. Clubs involving sports, movies, pottery, cooking, theater, and more are easier for her. She can put anything she has to read in a text-to-voice app for instant practice.

We’ve also looked into starting clubs. Our daughter met other dyslexic kiddos when she began her first year at middle school. She discovered they all wished they felt like they belonged in the school library, so we started a book club for dyslexic kids. They meet twice a month to discuss their latest audiobook. The social connection and educational empowerment make my daughter shine with joy.

Work on Their Cognitive Skills

Kids have significant neuroplasticity. Their minds are young and haven’t developed the repeated neural pathways that influence how adults act and think.

There’s a misconception I’ve found in my years of jumping between parental support groups. Some that operate on social media without the guidance of a psychologist can perpetuate the idea that parents can train their children out of dyslexia.

That isn’t true. It comes from the growing reality that even though you can’t make dyslexia disappear, working on cognitive skills with your child more than other children can make it easier for them to read and learn.

Find an educational therapist or learning specialist to help you create a routine around cognitive skill improvement. A specialist told us to work on four primary components — memory, attention, processing, and sequencing. They’re in the toolbox every person uses to read and succeed in other areas of life, too.

Specialized games and adapted classroom plans may give your child a better attention span and processing speed. Talk with their teacher and doctor to integrate these things into their daily life. We’ve found that the little things can make the biggest difference in our daughter’s life.

Show Them Dyslexic Representation

Kids with dyslexia may feel isolated. They might not have anyone else with the condition in their classroom or friend group. Children may develop a negative association with dyslexia if bullied due to their learning disability.

We wanted our daughter to know that people with dyslexia can do anything. She should have the biggest dreams and set the highest goals. She felt more encouraged to do just that when we showed her dyslexic representation.

Young kids won’t feel alone or different if they watch movies and TV shows with characters like them. Our daughter loved watching George in Arthur because she shared the same learning disability.

There are so many graphic novels, picture books, and audiobooks for dyslexic children to identify with, too. The Percy Jackson series makes dyslexia a superpower, and other books such as Dying to Know You , Life at the Speed of Us , and Playing Tyler show coming-of-age storylines with dyslexic characters.

Kids should have public figures they can admire because they both have dyslexia. A simple internet search will make the world feel much more welcoming for a child who feels alone while growing up with dyslexia.

Embrace Every Child’s Unique Educational Journey

Graduating from grade school requires more than time in a classroom. Kids also need comprehensive and loving support from their parents. These are the best things we implemented for our daughter that helped her thrive inside and outside school. Your child may have the same experience, but you can always talk with their pediatrician about any questions or concerns.

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Ringling college, fla., launches ai certificate for creative majors, whether they major in creative writing, fine arts, film or virtual reality development, students at the ringling college of art and design can add an ai certificate and develop a project portfolio for job searches..

The AI undergraduate certificate program is a proactive response to the rapid technological changes reshaping the creative landscape. We want our students to be equipped to shape the future of art with AI, not simply be shaped by it.