Children with dyslexia often have slow or inaccurate recognition of words, meaning that the process of reading can be arduous. Understanding of the text is often compromised due to the effort taken to read the words on the page. Many children with dyslexia, who have strong vocabulary skills, can compensate for some of their difficulties and have a good general understanding of the text, however, reading accuracy is often still an issue.

Children may be reluctant to read at home, as reading for pleasure is not a skill they have gained (yet!). Here are some ideas to encourage your child to read at home and hopefully gain more independence and confidence with a task that many people take for granted:

• Barrington Stoke offers high-interest books especially designed for dyslexic readers. They are written by the best authors and illustrators and provide accessible texts for children of all ages and reading ability.

• Paired reading is a good way to help your child enjoy books. Allow your child to choose a book they want to read and take turns reading by sentence, paragraph, page, or chapter. When they make a mistake give your child a few seconds to have a go, but then say the word yourself - this keeps the flow going

• Read with you child, at the same time as them, at their pace. This works especially well for younger readers; they don’t feel the pressure is on them and it brings a much more collaborative ‘team-based’ approach to reading. When they do not know a word or make a mistake then supply the word.

• Listening to audio books can help children keep an interest in stories even when they are reluctant to read. Calibre Audio is a free service for anyone under the age of 25, it is full of books by leading children’s authors, including Michael Morpurgo, J.K Rowling, Malorie Blackman, David Walliams, Phillip Pullman, as well as classics.

• Make sure you do not push your child to read books that are too challenging for them; this will put them off the whole process! Consolidation, repetition and over-learning are important when it comes to reading for a dyslexic child. It’s brilliant for them to read books more than once and even multiple times. This will boost their confidence and word recognition skills. The rule of thumb is that if a child cannot read at least 90% of words accurately, then the book is too difficult for them.

• Talk about the book/ passage that has been read. There is often not much time in school to work on these reading comprehension skills, especially in an informal way. Ask questions about what has happened in the story so far, who their favourite character is, what might happen next etc. For younger readers, they could draw a character, setting, or create a comic strip.

• Assistive Technology such as a screen reader or reading pen can be used at home. Computer readers and reading pens are often used as access arrangements for dyslexic pupils during exams. These devices read the text aloud, which can reduce reading fatigue and improve reading comprehension.

• Celebrate every reading success, no matter how big or small!