by Angel Harper, RCSI
In a world where reading and writing are both essential skills and a means for self-expression, it can be a challenge to engage young children with reading difficulties. Dyslexia is one such learning difficulty which impacts roughly 10% of the world population. It is characterised by a marked difficulty in reading, writing, and spelling. This can lead to struggling in school, especially if schools are not equipped to deal with it. Despite this, dyslexia should not be a barrier to the world of reading. Reading has been proven to drastically improve vocabulary knowledge, language development, and wellbeing. Dyslexic children do not need to miss out on these benefits, but their needs in order to encourage reading for pleasure may be different. We ought to foster an environment in which children with reading disabilities can flourish, discovering the true magic of literacy.
Dyslexia is a highly genetic disorder which can be noticed in children as young as three. They may develop speech later than their peers or struggle to pronounce words. Young children may also use ‘spoonerisms’ in which letters for words may get mixed up resulting in adorable mispronunciations like ‘fips and chish’ instead of ‘fish and chips’. As children get older, they may begin showing other signs of dyslexia, such as writing letters backwards, or slow reading. These difficulties can make reading especially challenging; education in general may be viewed as much less enjoyable and accessible as a consequence. Research has shown that dyslexic children are less likely to read for enjoyment and perceive themselves as less academically successful. Dyslexia can therefore impact not only personal enjoyment of reading, but nearly every sector of education. Despite dyslexic children being less likely to read for pleasure, research has found that people with dyslexia may in fact be more creative. Throughout history there are plenty of dyslexic authors and artists, such as Agatha Christie and John Lennon. It is time dyslexia is not seen as something to hold you back; dyslexia is a difference. And this difference can cultivate wonderful and creative ideas.
Children with learning disabilities should not feel like they are less intelligent, or less capable than their peers. This steals away the enjoyment that can come from literature, and hinders their education. Any avid book-lover knows how special reading and writing can be. Reading inspires creativity, it improves your spelling and vocabulary, it teaches you about worlds beyond our imagination. Children with reading difficulties, or any learning difficulties, do not need to miss out on this vital experience. They may just need a different approach to learning. There are many tools that can help a dyslexic child who wants to learn to read. For instance, certain fonts are considered more accessible for those with dyslexia. The ‘Open Dyslexic’ font was designed specifically with dyslexia in mind, they conducted research on how to best present text for those with reading difficulties. Through trial and error, a dyslexic person may find other fonts that they prefer to use; font selection could make a massive difference for young children being taught at school or home. In addition to this, using a larger font and larger spacing between letters has shown to significantly increase reading speed. Parents and teachers can also buy coloured overlays or reading strips which can help children keep track of where on the page they are. Such changes are relatively easy to incorporate into reading, and yet such simple changes can make an enormous impact for children.
Lastly and most importantly: we want children to have fun when they read. The biggest motivator of learning is enjoyment. This can be tailored for each child, if they have an interest in trains, TV, or T-Rexes, it is always possible to intertwine these passions with literacy. Some have found that turning literacy into a game can improve spelling in a way that feels more like fun and less like work. Others have found that using reading-aloud technology can help dyslexic children follow along better when they read. Such tools can make reading and writing more accessible, and most importantly, more enjoyable. Children cannot be expected to flourish unless they are given the tools to do so. Our work at PsyTales wants to create accessible and educational stories for all; books that can inspire.
