Any suggestions on resources to help 10 year old dyslexic child

[Sarahlou456]

My 10 year old daughter has been diagnosed as dyslexic, she is an extremely keen learner and it upsets her that her spelling and comprehension is lacking compared to her friends.

Does anyone have any recommendations on books, resources we can use at home to help her improve? Looking for something we can do for maybe 20 mins a night after school.

Thanks in advance

I've just started something recommended on here with 7 year old DD. It's a website called 'spelling tutor'. Costs £30 to subscribe but so far seems great. They have to hand write sentences and mark each word, then practise what they got wrong. The next day they practise yesterday's mistakes first.

DD is not getting so frustrated using this as it's the iPad (and her own marking) telling her she's made a mistake, not me! Her speed of output is already increasing after only a few sessions.

Thank you Sleeper I'll look it up, sounds like the kind of thing I'm looking for.

Look up "Toe by Toe" on Amazon

Boring as hell. But has great reviews.

We do 10 mins a day.

Toe by Toe works
Do does Dancing Bears.

So does

www.soundfoundations.co.uk/

An ACE dictionary. Changed my son's independent learning completely.

Using a website called lexia really helps my ds, it came from school though not sure about cost etc. Also using coloured paper and a transparent plastic coloured thing for reading, he was tested and green works best for him, do your school do that test? Sorry can't remember the test name, if you know the colour you can buy paper and the transparency thing on amazon.

Apples and Pears from SoundFoundations (RubyJack's link) is the spelling version much better than Toe by Toe IMHO.

Lexia is an online reading programme based on the outdated Orton Gillingham method it's now available to parents on subscription (£25 a month) personally wouldn't recommend. We found it works best when used with support from a knowledgeable adult which defeats the object somewhat.

Spelling tutor is basically is an online version of paper spelling lists/tests.

Have a look at Nessy.com I've been very impressed with Nessy Reading and Spelling. It's about £60 a year but worth it.

This thread highlights for my why it is so important to know what a child's precise difficulties are and why a blanket 'dyslexia' term is problematic. For my DD, 'spelling tutor' is looking much more effective that paper and pencil spelling tests as she is taking more responsibility for marking, noticing mistakes, working out which part of the word she got wrong, trying to get it right and remember for next time - with an attitude that she does not show when using pencil and paper. For another child, these skills might already be present, or they may not yet be at the stage when they can approach this sort of task.

In the absence of any school support so far, this is proving okay for us in terms of motivation and improvement for the moment.

For comprehension I suggest reading as much as she can, and encourage her to look up words she doesn't understand. Read the books together and talk the stories through together.
As for spellings, there isn't one quick fix, nor will everything work for every person. The older I get the more I have found it will just click if I keep trying. I recently had a light bulb moment with 'necessary', but I still struggle with 'shook' (though a friend pointing out I can spell hook no bother and it's just that with an 's' on is helping).

Don't let her give up, tell her she will get there and to not let it get her down. That's most important. I'm dyslexic and dyspraxic and just graduated MA hons in English Language, it can be done!

I can recommend both Dancing Bears (reading) and Apples and Pears (Spelling) from Sound Foundations. DD doesn't enjoy them, we bribe with sweets - but they are effective and once you manage to cut out all the complaining and procrastinating - quick. We set a timer for 12 minutes and go for it.

Complaining and procrastinating is certainly a feature of DD! But she's managing 20 minutes a day without. I DO understand why, and manage to hide my irritation!

Actually - having said she doesn't enjoy them. On Apples and Pears DD was able to see the progress ahe was making and it builds in such a way that the majority is achievable, which was very motivating for her. But not quite as much as the star chart and sweets every 5!

As a previous poster said, dyslexia doesn't affect all children the same and there isn't one resource that will suit all children. I'm a teacher and parent of a dyslexic child. Go to the opticians, there may be things they can help with and they can refer to optometrist and colour optometrist too - they are the best people to advise on the coloured overlays. Please do t just guess at the overlays as using the wrong one for a long period can make the child clout blind to that colour if it's the wrong one for them. There are fab resources can out there, I have successfully used Nessy for many children but my dd doesn't take to it. An electronic spell checker or a dyslexic friendly dictionary may help - they can look up words as they sound , e.g. enjin for engine. Toe by toe works for some but not others and it's another resource I have successfully used at school but didn't work for dd. practical touchy feely activities may help, or visual ways of spelling then they can visualise the shape/picture. Alternatively teach really good icy and typing skills and insist on laptop use at secondary if dyslexia is severe enough. In real life today's kids probably won't be asked to spell as will be using computers, learning to type and using spelling programmes may be more beneficial. Learning Nmenonics may also help as they can visualise the saying. Find their strengths and really encourage that as dyslexia at school can me do demoralising. Also, make yourself the biggest pain in the arse at school to get the best support possible!! And there may be local dyslexia groups online you can join and get ideas about resources.

Barrington Stoke books. Request them from your local library.
My dyslexic twins have loved this video made by a 12 year old dyslexic and it has reduced me to tears!!
m.youtube.com/watch?v=GHCkpLsIs4E

Thank you everyone, I'm going to look up all the suggestions. My dd eyes etc have all been tested and the school have been very supportive and put support in place, her reading is actually quite good now due to her being a keen reader and persevering when she found it difficult, main problem just now is spelling even simple words which she has previously learnt.

http://www.dyslexics.org.uk/spelling.htm