Best practice does not encourage the diagnosis of Dyslexia until at least the age of 6-7, or until they have completed at least two academic years in school, so that they have the opportunity to develop their early literacy and phonic skills. However, before this time some parents may notice early literacy difficulties, such as:

• Difficulty following or remembering nursery rhymes,
• Delay in language development,
• Difficulty following instructions,
• Difficulty with recall of words,
• Difficulty remembering simple sequences, such as the days of the week,
• A family history of Dyslexia or specific learning difficulties.

 

The following suggestions will not only help young children who are showing early characteristics of Dyslexia, but all children, regardless of their language skills.

 

General Activities

• Nursery rhymes helps to develop rhythm and rhyming concepts.
• Encourage verbal expression and develop comprehension skills by getting your child to talk about the programme or movie they had just watched, or the different things they learnt on a day trip.
• Early introduction to computers helps children become more computer literate, and more comfortable using technology to research, type, and explore the many features that may be useful later on to the learner with Dyslexia.
• Early literacy apps, such as those by ‘Nessy’ can be a fun, interactive way for young children to develop those early literacy skills.

 

Developing Listening skills

• Games such as ‘Simon Says’, ‘I Spy’, ‘Hokey Cokey’, and ‘I went to the shop and I bought a….’ helps to develop the ability to follow directions, listen to instructions, and memory recall.
• Similarly, songs such as ‘Old Mac Donald’, ‘There was an old woman who swallowed a fly’ and ‘Ten Green Bottles’ help to develop memory, sequencing, and counting skills.
• Games such as ‘guess the sound’ or ‘guess the person’ can help to develop concentration, focus attention, and discrimination of auditory sounds.
• Building up their capacity to follow instructions, by gradually increasing the number of instructions given and encourage the use of memory techniques (such as repeating aloud).

Developing visual processing skills

• Memory games such as ‘Pairs’ the card game, or figuring out the missing object from a tray of objects encourages attention to detail, as well as visual memory skills.
• Playing card games like snap (through pictures and then progressing onto numbers and words) again also help to develop visual memory and processing skills.
• Getting your child to describe a picture, and point out the details seen, then try to recall as many things they can remember from it without looking.
• Sorting or sequencing exercises, such as sorting or ordering by colour, shape, size, amount, texture, noise level.
• Cutting a cartoon strip up into it’s different parts and getting your child to put the pieces back together in the correct sequence. Get them then to tell the story in their own words, which in turn helps language and comprehension skills.
• ‘The odd one out’ game, using pictures (e.g. globe, ball, egg, and pencil), or just saying the words (thus getting the child to visualize the objects in their head).
• Using tracing paper to trace letters, shapes, and numbers.
• Completing jigsaw puzzles.

Introducing Books

• Books, ebooks, audiobooks, and podcasts can be used to introduce your child to the world of stories and storytelling, develop imagination, as well as verbal and reading comprehension skills.
• Starting with picture books, talking about the different things on each page, pointing out details, and getting your child to guess what might happen next.
• As your child develops, graduate onto books with text and pictures. Making them aware of the direction of the text by running your finger along the words as you speak them. Talking to them about the story as you read it, and asking “why” questions about the plot.
• Use funny voices and sound effects to make the story more exciting and engaging. Do role play, and have your child voice one character while you do the other.
• High interest material is essential. Make sure the book is about something which your child is interested in and is more likely to engage in. Allow them to choose where possible!
• Use of audiobooks or podcasts helps to develop a child’s auditory comprehension skills, as well as encourage an interest in storytelling. Apps like ‘BorrowBox’ are linked to your library account, and allow the user to ‘check out’ books onto their phone or tablet device. ‘Audible’ is another app which provides a huge selection of books for all ages, while ‘Stories Podcast’ allow free streaming of stories for all age groups.

If you are concerned about your child’s literacy, The Insight Centre offers Dyslexia assessments and our reports are accepted by all service and the Department of Education. We also run Dyslexia study groups and information workshops regarding Dyslexia in Primary and secondary Schools – all information can be found on our Facebook Page: The Insight Centre

 

Written by Emma Magee, Educational Psychologist, The Insight Centre