Parent guide · by Kim Parra, reading teacher

How to help a child with dyslexia read at home

You don't need to be a teacher to make a real difference. After 23 years helping struggling readers, these are the seven habits that matter most — and all of them fit into ten minutes a day.

1. 1

   Keep practice short and daily

   Ten focused minutes beats an hour of struggle. A few minutes twice a day keeps attention fresh and stops reading from feeling like a punishment.

2. 2

   Start at the level where they succeed

   Begin with words your child can almost read, not grade-level work that overwhelms them. Early wins build the confidence to keep going.

3. 3

   Work on a small set of words each week

   Ten words a week is enough. Repeating the same small set lets each word move from effortful to automatic.

4. 4

   Connect the spelling, the sound, and the meaning

   Say the word, use it in a sentence, then look at its letters. Researchers call this orthographic mapping (Ehri, 2014) — it is how words become instantly recognisable.

5. 5

   Have them write the word by hand

   Writing from memory adds motor memory. Brain imaging found handwriting letters activates reading areas in young children in a way typing did not (James & Engelhardt, 2012).

6. 6

   Spread review across the week

   Coming back to the same words over several days — the spacing effect (Cepeda et al., 2006) — helps them stick in long-term memory.

7. 7

   Finish with real reading and real praise

   End with a short book using the week's words, and praise exactly what they did: "You read 'kitchen' without stopping!" Specific praise means more than "good job".

This guide is for parents and is not a diagnosis. If you suspect dyslexia, see our signs of dyslexia checklist and ask your school for an evaluation — you can start helping at home while you wait.