We are living in very turbulent times. COVID means that our lifestyle is unstable and ever changing. Children are back at home with online learning which, with a neuro-typical child is challenging enough but with a child with additional learning needs life can become very fraught, stressful and confrontational. I am going to give you 5 tips on how to help your Dyslexic child during lockdown.
1 – Dyslexic children may not be able to complete work without some support in place. This could be word banks, key vocabulary, phonics prompts or an adult to help read the task to them. This is ok, they have these supports in school and if you can give your child 5 minutes at the start of each task this should empower them to be able to complete the task with some independence.
2 – If you are busy working your self, try and set time aside where you can work though their learning together. By pressuring your child to get on alone, they will be frustrated, and often upset and it will cause you to get frustrated too. Give yourself a break, do it when you can but ensure you are giving full focus to your child when it is time to help them.
3 – Dyslexic children struggle with reading and spellings. Offer to read for your child key information or the text. This will ensure better understanding of what is being asked and hopefully better engagement from your child. This is a small chunk of time but will assist them in then working independently. Like wise you could be your child’s scribe if they are getting tired, write exactly what they say (not what it should say) and give them an oppotunity to edit the writing after it is completed. The same learning happens and outcome demonstrated without the stress, frustration and emotions involved.
4. Don’t be overwhelmed by the amount of work to do. If your a working parent and home schooling, focus on literacy lessons and maths. These are our core subjects and the foundation for all learning. It is better to support your child and do’s these well than to let them complete all activities poorly. Quality over quantity always wins.
5. Finally, communicate regularly with their class teacher. If there are problems or misunderstandings in learning let them know. It is the jobs of teachers to ensure all children are making progress and moving forwards in their learning. Good communication will allow extra support to be given, resources to help them as discussed in point 1 and parental support about how much help to give or not give.
We can only do our best and no one will get it right all the time. Remember they will need more support than other children, learning from home should be positive and not negative, Give them small chunks of time to get them started on a task or put aside an hour a day to do key learning with them. You have got this!
Adapted Learning 
This is great advice! Homeschooling a dyslexic child myself and these tips really help. I have definitely found he has needed me to work with him through the day which is hard but it makes him much less stressed and frustrated! I have found it really hard to. keep him concentrating all day though.
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Hey, thanks for the feedback! I would recommend setting timers, particularly for writing and reading tasks. 10 mins of this activity then you can have a break to do……..This let’s him know it’s going to end rather than making him do it all in one go when in his mind it’s never going to end.
Hope this helps!
K
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