Tips to Make Reading Easier for a Child with Dyslexia

Understanding What Reading Feels Like for a Dyslexic Child

Picture this: Your child opens a book, peers at the page, and within seconds their forehead wrinkles, their eyes dart to you with frustration. “I can’t,” they whisper, or worse, they shut the book entirely. As a parent, watching this unfold can be heartbreaking. You may wonder why something so seemingly simple—reading—can feel like climbing a mountain barefoot.

Dyslexia isn’t just about mixing up letters. It’s a unique way the brain processes language. For children between 6 and 12, this can lead to a painful disconnect—between what they want to read and what they’re able to decode on the page. And as homework piles up and classmates zoom ahead, the stress only grows. But there are ways to break down this mountain into manageable hills, and to remind your child that success in reading doesn’t have to mean doing it the traditional way.

Shift the Focus from “Reading Words” to “Understanding Stories”

Parents often focus on helping their child sound out words better—and while phonics are important, dyslexic kids benefit most when we focus on listening, comprehension, and storytelling. Try asking your child what they think will happen in a story before you even open the book. Let them make predictions, build characters aloud, or even act out scenes. This makes the process interactive and reduces that pressure they feel around print itself.

One parent shared how they let their 9-year-old son create his own version of a storybook using toys in their living room. After reading just the first few sentences together, they closed the book and started building the rest from imagination. That child remembered the story better than ever before—and suddenly, reading became something inspiring, not intimidating.

Make Use of Audio in Every Possible Way

Listening is often the key that unlocks comprehension for dyslexic learners. If your child struggles with visual text, give them access to stories, school content, or lesson reviews in audio format. Rather than fighting to get through homework via written instructions, ask yourself: Can they listen instead?

This doesn’t have to mean sitting in front of an audiobook alone. Use time in the car to play reading assignments. Let them follow along in their workbook as the text is read out loud, or act out character voices together while listening to a story.

There are also tools that bring a lesson to life in this medium. For example, some apps can turn written lessons into audio adventures—where your child hears themselves as the main character exploring planets or solving mysteries. One tired mom told us her daughter finally finished a science unit because she got to “be” the girl who discovered a lost island of volcanoes. And yes, this kind of audio storytelling is exactly what one feature of the Skuli app offers—turning lessons into personalized adventures where your child is the hero, by name.

Choose the Right (and Wrong) Books

You already know that not all books are created equal—especially for your struggling reader. High-interest, low-reading-level books are your holy grail. These often have short chapters, clear fonts, lots of white space, and themes that match your child’s age, rather than their reading level.

Don’t be afraid to drift from grade-level expectations. Let them read comic books if that’s what grabs them. Graphic novels like “Dog Man” or “Amulet” have visual cues to support story structure. The goal is to keep their reading identity intact—to help them see themselves as someone who does enjoy stories, at their pace and style.

Our recommended reading list for dyslexic children features titles that blend age-appropriate storytelling with easier decoding formats.

Let Your Child Read Without Reading Aloud

Many dyslexic kids find reading aloud to be emotionally exhausting. They fear messing up in front of others, often making comprehension even harder. Instead, try shared reading. You read one page, they read the next. Or better yet, you read everything and they follow along silently, lending them occasional turns to chime in only if they want to.

And remember, reading is more than vocalizing letters. It’s about extracting meaning. If your child can tell you what happened in a chapter or answer questions thoughtfully, they’re reading, even if they never said a word out loud.

Use Tech as a Bridge, Not a Crutch

There’s often hesitation among parents about depending on technology—but for dyslexic learners, tech isn’t a cheat code; it’s a bridge. Instead of forcing your child to rewrite a 2-page lesson every night, what if you could take a photo of it and offer it back as a personalized, fun quiz with 20 questions your child could actually enjoy?

Simple tools like this, built into learning apps such as Skuli, not only reduce reading fatigue but help reinforce understanding in engaging ways. The key is not to replace your child’s effort—it’s to reshape it, so their learning style feels seen rather than fought.

You can find more tech ideas that support dyslexic learners like yours in our guide on how technology can help children with dyslexia learn more effectively.

Talk to Their Teachers—Together

Lastly, help your child feel supported not just at home, but in school. Open, honest conversations with their teachers—ideally with your child present—can empower them. Let them hear how adults are working together to remove unnecessary stressors.

Our detailed guide on how to talk to teachers about dyslexia offers scripts, strategies, and questions to make sure you’re not just heard—but understood.

Reading may never be effortless for your child. But with the right tools, mindset, and support, it can become something they face with confidence instead of fear. They won’t just read—they’ll connect. And that’s all they’ve ever needed.