Barrington Stokes for a reluctant dsyelxic reader - any suggestions?

[mermaidsvssuperheros]

Hi,
my ds is 9, dyslexic, with a learing potential of 138.
I'd like to find some books he could read.
does anyone have any suggestions on ones with a reading level approx age 6, and an interested level of age 12+.
thanks in advance...

You can usually read some of the books on the website. They also give a reading age and an interest age

www.barringtonstoke.co.uk/product-category/teen/?swoof=1&paged=1&readingage=ra-6&really_curr_tax=12-product_cat

I think you'd be best in the 8-12 section, as the teen stuff often has themes you might be less happy with him exploring.
Go for something he has an interest in. Non dyslexic DS2 read barely nothing until we got him hooked on a series (about cats). Dyslexic DS1 started on fact books, and guiness workd records ie stuff that couid be dipped in and out of.
OR, go for a book he wants to read, and get the audible version too.

Depending on what exactly what he is struggling with, you might get joy with larger font and coloured backgrounds from Guide Dogs Custom Books

Is he happy to read if it isn’t out loud?

Just asking because I’m dyslexic and have always been pretty terrible at reading out loud. If I was 12 and you assessed my reading age by getting me to read out loud it would not have been representative of what I was actually capable of reading and understanding.

What really got me into reading was my parents reading a series with me but much slower than I wanted to know what happened 🤣

The Harry Potter series really helped me as I loved the stories but I’m sure someone else will be along with better examples.

THANK YOU
THANK YOU
EVERYONE.
I;ll look at the guid in dee dog books as he mentions about too much text to decipher and long words he panics to try and de-code.

he LOVES audible and listens to ALL the Harry Potter books over and over again...as well as fact based books on the universe, science and space

@MaizeAmaze

I think you'd be best in the 8-12 section, as the teen stuff often has themes you might be less happy with him exploring. Go for something he has an interest in. Non dyslexic DS2 read barely nothing until we got him hooked on a series (about cats). Dyslexic DS1 started on fact books, and guiness workd records ie stuff that couid be dipped in and out of. OR, go for a book he wants to read, and get the audible version too.

Depending on what exactly what he is struggling with, you might get joy with larger font and coloured backgrounds from Guide Dogs Custom Books

THANK YOU so much for this link. I'd not heard of them before. my ds and I have looked through the site and the books are amazing. you can chose font size, shape colour etc... all the things my ds finds hard with reading. it feelsl like we've opened up a whole new world! THANK YOU we have putin our 1st order for his harry potter and what is brilliant,is that ds can't wait to get it and start reading. WOW.

I have a very similar 8 year old DS - dyslexic, high learning potential, big Harry Potter fan. He recommends Vashti Hardy, Tom Palmer and Gill Lewis's books for Barrington Stoke. (Agree with the poster above that the Barrington Stoke books for age 8-12 are the right pool to fish in, the teen books are too "old" emotionally - it's a tricky balance.) The Barrington Stoke website is brilliant as noted above, as you can generally try the first chapter on the website to gauge if the reading and interest level are right.

Has your DS tried reading on Kindle? Mine finds middle grade chapter books more accessible on Kindle as he can customise the layout, font size etc and use highlighting tools, reading ruler etc as needed. I share a copy via family library and he follows along while I read, and takes turns to read a paragraph/page/chapter himself.

My DS also wants me to say that if yours likes HP, he should try the Brightstorm trilogy and Crowfall by Vashti Hardy, or The Midnight Guardians and The Chime Seekers by Ross Montgomery, if he hasn't already :-)

Also, for audiobooks do you know about www.calibreaudio.org.uk/ ?

[quote Runninghorse]You can usually read some of the books on the website. They also give a reading age and an interest age

www.barringtonstoke.co.uk/product-category/teen/?swoof=1&paged=1&readingage=ra-6&really_curr_tax=12-product_cat[/quote]
thank you - I will look at these also. i didn't relaise about the reading age and 'real' age bits -this sounds great .
THANKS

@Ceara

Also, for audiobooks do you know about www.calibreaudio.org.uk/ ?

THANK YOU for your lovely post... this is what I love about m//s and the internet - sharing stories with people who know / understand and have been there / are there ! we use audible and he is an avid listener - david walliams, andy stanton, neil gaiman, HP series [over and over again - even I know whats coming next ) I'll try the calibre audio as not heard of them... we haven't tried reading on kindle ! he has a kindle fire so is easy enough to try ! i have no idea you can change font/colour ect -this sounds like just what he needs asthese are the things he mentions as being frustrating / cuase him difficulties. THANK YOU

Personally I found the Barrington Stoke selection limited for my DC whose interest age is way ahead of her reading age.
I make her read a little every night - mainstream books that I know she wants to read.
Audiobooks are hugely helpful and I know she’ll develop an audiobook habit going forward. At least they help with her vocabulary and building on knowledge. Biggest advantage of audiobooks is that she can go in to school and discuss popular books with her friends as if she has read them herself. The barrington stokes don’t cut the mustard there.

@Coronawireless

Personally I found the Barrington Stoke selection limited for my DC whose interest age is way ahead of her reading age. I make her read a little every night - mainstream books that I know she wants to read. Audiobooks are hugely helpful and I know she’ll develop an audiobook habit going forward. At least they help with her vocabulary and building on knowledge. Biggest advantage of audiobooks is that she can go in to school and discuss popular books with her friends as if she has read them herself. The barrington stokes don’t cut the mustard there.

thanks fot this - we are going to try the guidedog website and customise books that are of interest for ds - to see if this helps him. they 'look' great - in that we can increse font size - word spacing, page colour and line spacing - all of which are things ds says are difficult for him. have you tried this for your dd?

guidedogsuk.force.com/shop/s/?_ga=2.135630521.924931663.1644008739-1844811402.1644008739

@mermaidsvsuperheroes I didn't know about customising Kindle layout either, until DS pressed some buttons and figured it out and went, "look mummy". I felt old . He can choose the colour, font, size, spacing, margins, justification, add a rolling reading ruler - it's fab, makes the page a bit less daunting.

[quote Ceara]@mermaidsvsuperheroes I didn't know about customising Kindle layout either, until DS pressed some buttons and figured it out and went, "look mummy". I felt old . He can choose the colour, font, size, spacing, margins, justification, add a rolling reading ruler - it's fab, makes the page a bit less daunting.[/quote]
i ofter feel "old" with ds s0 totally understand !

am just logging in to my kindle to see if i can make it work !

will ask ds later to show me properly !

woooo - hooo the kindle is amazing.
I've found the books and where the changes can happen. its even got immersive reader so he can read along !
THANK YOU as I have NO idea this was on his tablet...

@mermaidsvssuperheros if changing the background makes a big difference for him, you might benifit from looking around Irlens Syndrome. Certain colours can make life much easier. DS writes on pink or purple by preference, and I know of a couple of kids who have colored lenses in glasses so white becomes readable with glasses on.

It does sound as if your DS has a “visual” dyslexia. My DC has an auditory/language issue but no eye issues.
It’s fantastic that the change of layout may be so helpful for your DS. Hope he has many hours of happy reading if it works

@Coronawireless

It does sound as if your DS has a “visual” dyslexia. My DC has an auditory/language issue but no eye issues. It’s fantastic that the change of layout may be so helpful for your DS. Hope he has many hours of happy reading if it works

I had no idea it was 'such' an issue - it doesn't say anything about his in the report - it's just come from ds...? the main issues in the assessment are auditory [we're waiting for AP assessment also] and phonic based...

anyway - if these adjustments help him, all the better for him and a huge thank you to the mumsnet comunity x