Reading and writing
Learn what can cause trouble with reading and writing, including dyslexia and learning disabilities. Get strategies to help struggling readers and tips to improve writing skills.
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Tips and strategies
- Quick tipTake turns reading.
Reading long books or pages can feel overwhelming. Sharing the load can make it feel more manageable. Try reading aloud together and trading off pages. This gives kids a break and lets them hear fluent reading.
- Quick tipModel fluent reading.
Read naturally, with emotion or tone that matches the words you’re reading. If you’re not comfortable reading out loud, kids can listen to audiobooks to hear fluent reading. You can also ask another adult or an older sibling to help out.
Podcast
Dyslexia: More than mixing up letters
When kids have trouble learning to read, families may wonder about dyslexia. But what exactly is dyslexia? And what are the signs to look out for?
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All articles
- What is dyslexia?
- What is multisensory instruction?
- Elkonin sound boxes: An evidence-based literacy strategy
- Dyslexia signs in adults
- Did Albert Einstein have dyslexia? 4 reasons I think it’s possible
- FAQs about reversing letters, writing letters backwards, and dyslexia
- Dyslexia tutoring: What families need to know
- Workplace supports: Trouble with reading and writing
- What is Orton–Gillingham?
- 7 secret fears about dyslexia
- Classroom accommodations for written expression disorder
- 8 expert tips on helping your child with dysgraphia
- IEP goals for reading: What they look like
- Written expression disorder in grade school: 5 self-advocacy scripts
- Written expression disorder in middle school: 4 self-advocacy scripts
- 6 skills kids need for written expression
- Vocabulary words: An evidence-based literacy strategy
- The difference between written expression disorder and expressive language disorder
- 7 common myths about dyslexia
- Signs of dyslexia at different ages
- A day in the life of an employee with dyslexia
- Classroom accommodations for dyslexia
- 5 ways dyslexia can affect kids socially
- Dyslexia and anxiety in kids
- Do kids with dyslexia have trouble following directions?
- What is written expression disorder?
- A day in the life of a child with written expression disorder
- Understanding written expression disorder in your child
- Signs of written expression disorder
- “What’s the point of a book with no words?”
- 5 adults with dyslexia share the first book they loved
- 11 children’s book authors with dyslexia
- Where to get free books for your child
- Types of tests for dyslexia
- 6 reasons why kids refuse to read
- Why I celebrate technology as a go-to for kids with dyslexia
- Types of tests for dysgraphia
- FAQs about dyslexia and learning music
- Teaching teens who struggle with reading: What can help
- Why is my third grader suddenly having trouble reading?
- Learning and thinking differences that cause trouble with spelling
- Treatment for kids with dyslexia
- Teacher tip: The most fun way to build reading skills for back to school
- One of my scariest moments as a child with dyslexia? Reading aloud during Passover
- My voice does the writing — with a little help from dictation technology
- 8 multisensory techniques for teaching reading
- 15 phonics rules for reading and spelling
- Why is fourth-grade writing so hard for some kids?
- 5 great grade school books about kids who learn differently
- Alaskan family uses passion for longboard skateboarding to put the spotlight on dyslexia
- Teacher tip: Improve your child’s handwriting with this drawing exercise
- 7 ways to help kids with slow processing speed take notes in class
- My middle-schooler doesn’t want to talk about dyslexia with teachers. What can I do?
- 5 tips to help kids with ADHD focus on reading
- What is structured literacy?
- The first assistive technology I recommend to parents
- Dyslexia laws: What they are and how they work
- Third-grade retention laws: What you need to know
- How does optical character recognition help kids with reading issues?
- Video: Interview with Silvia Ortiz-Rosales, teen with dyslexia
- 9 books that explore and embrace difference
- 7 ways to encourage your child to read over the summer
- Stealth dyslexia: How some dyslexic students escape detection
- 6 summer learning apps and games for tweens and teens
- 9 key facts about learning disabilities and ADHD
- Messy handwriting in kids: What you need to know
- FAQs about vision and dyslexia
- How to help your child break up a writing assignment into chunks
- Where to find free assistive technology tools for reading, writing, and math
- Where to find free audiobooks and digital text-to-speech books for your child
- No time to read to your child? 6 ideas to try
- Rapid automatized naming tests: What you need to know
- 6 strategies to teach students self-regulation in writing
- 5 common myths about dysgraphia
- What research supports Orton–Gillingham?
- 7 ways to boost your child’s vocabulary
- What is phonological awareness?
- What my daughter with dyslexia taught me about learning to read
- When do kids know the alphabet?
- 5 self-advocacy sentence starters for middle-schoolers with dyslexia
- How to help kids with reading at home
- 7 things I wish people knew about parenting kids with dyslexia
- Reading skills at different ages
- Can dyslexia cause headaches in kids?
- 11 books to help kids build a growth mindset
- Why I love my dyslexic brain
- Skills that can be affected by dyslexia
- How a student with dyslexia changed my teaching career (and my life)
- Classroom accommodations for developmental coordination disorder
- Teacher to teacher: How I use dyslexia as my teaching superpower
- Why reading in your home language helps kids become better readers
- Escape from confusion dyslexia art
- Representation matters: 4 books about kids of color that I love to read to my son
- Types of reading disabilities
- Reading to my son: 5 ways I get ready as a dyslexic dad
- Reading trouble: Conversation starters to use with your child’s teacher
- 4 steps to choosing books at your child’s reading level
- 10 ways to encourage your high-schooler to read
- 9 great books for reluctant teen readers
- 5 reasons graphic novels can help kids with reading
- Dyslexia testing results: What they mean for instruction and supports
- 8 modern classic books for kids in grades 3–5
- Learning a foreign language with dyslexia
- 5 ways executive function challenges can impact reading
- Lexile levels: What you need to know
- 9 free public library resources for your child (and you)
- Writing trouble: Conversation starters to use with your child’s teacher
- 8 tips for talking to your child’s teacher about dyslexia
- When a child has dyslexia and dyscalculia, treat the math challenges separately
- 7 modern classic books for middle-schoolers
- Teacher tip: A simple highlighter trick to help your child with writing
- Classroom accommodations for dysgraphia
- The unexpected connection between handwriting and learning to read
- My 6 stages of grief: The path to understanding my son’s dyslexia
- How my son with dyslexia became an early self-advocate
- Understanding my son’s dysgraphia helped me advocate for him
- The question I’m always asked about my son’s dyslexia
- I used to think my daughter with dyslexia just needed to try harder
- Wilson Reading System: What you need to know
- Learning challenges that can impact typing
- 5 self-advocacy sentence starters for grade-schoolers with dyslexia
- Questions to ask about the school’s reading instruction
- 8 reasons kids might read slowly
- 6 fine motor skills activities for kids
- What is Accelerated Reader?
- 8 ways to build phonological awareness in grade-schoolers
- 8 ways to build phonological awareness in middle-schoolers
- How speech-language pathologists work with kids
- 10 terms to know if your child has trouble with handwriting
- “Dear teacher, I have dyslexia,” explains fifth grader in self-advocacy video
- 5 questions with Sean Douglas, media maker with dyslexia
- Make dyslexia about strengths, not shame
- Valentines made easier: Ideas from an occupational therapist
- 9 reasons kids don’t finish their reading homework
- What does a reading specialist do?
- 5 things not to say to your child about dyslexia
- The long, winding road to identifying my son’s learning issues
- High school sports star with dyslexia shares how he overcame reading struggles
- Teaching handwriting to young kids: Important or outdated?
- 8 tips to help young kids develop good reading habits
- 10 ways to encourage your preschooler to read
- 5 things not to say to your child about dysgraphia
- 6 ways to help your child improve handwriting
- Why some kids struggle with spelling
- When do kids learn to read?
- What is decoding?
- When do kids learn how to rhyme?
- 8 ways to use virtual assistants as assistive technology
- Dictation (speech-to-text) technology: What it is and how it works
- Word prediction technology: What it is and how it works
- 7 ways to support your child’s reading when you don’t like to read
- The difference between audiobooks and text-to-speech
- Download: Summer reading logs
- Download: Graphic organizers to help kids with reading
- Video: Parenting a daughter with dyslexia and ADHD
- Video: Talent agent Ari Emanuel on having dyslexia and raising kids with dyslexia
- Celebrity spotlight: “Henry Danger” actor Jace Norman uses dyslexia to his advantage
- Video: My experience with dyslexia and bullying
- Video: The journey from a child with dyslexia to an award-winning researcher
- Elected officials with dyslexia
- 10 Oscar winners with dyslexia
- Video: How first graders show they understand what they read
- The difference between dyspraxia and dysgraphia
- Video: Middle-schooler teaches future teachers about dyslexia
- Video: How a great teacher helped a student with dyslexia find her path
- Community picks: 13 books for struggling readers
- Writing skills at different ages
- Video: The journey from a child with dyslexia to an illustrator teaching through comics
- 8 great ways to encourage your grade-schooler’s writing
- Is dysgraphia the same thing as disorder of written expression?
- Video: Dyslexia and the brain
- Video: How does dyslexia play out in different languages?
- Reading speed and fluency: What you need to know
- Video: Dyslexia and the fear of reading
- Video: A Harvard graduate on growing up with dyslexia
- 9 films that feature dyslexia
- Understanding why kids struggle with reading
- How dyslexia is diagnosed in adults
- Summer reading for kids who learn and think differently
- What’s the difference between structured literacy and balanced literacy?
- A day in the life of a child with dyslexia
- Dyslexia: Questions from families answered
- Download: Multisensory reading and writing tools
- Why do some kids write numbers backwards?
- Download: Graphic organizers to help kids with writing
- What is dysgraphia?
- What are sight words?
- Understanding why kids struggle with writing
- 6 essential skills for reading comprehension
- Understanding dyslexia in your child
- How I feel when I write a paper
- Beyond books: 6 fun things for kids to read
- Video: How to choose books for kids who struggle with reading
- Video: Why do ADHD and dyslexia co-occur so often?
- Video: A high-schooler with dyslexia discovers her passion
- Video: LeDerick Horne, poet and activist with learning disabilities
- Video: The journey from student with dyslexia and ADHD to special education teacher
- Video: Michelle Carter wins Olympic gold with dyslexia and ADHD
- Video: Being a scientist with dyslexia
- Video: Brad Falchuk on thriving with dyslexia
- Video: The journey from a kid with writing issues to a professional writer and speaker
- Video: Gavin Newsom opens up about his dyslexia
- Video: How art helped a struggling student better understand himself
- Video: Journalist Byron Pitts on faith, family, and overcoming reading challenges
- Video: Stanley Cup champ Brent Sopel on hiding reading struggles “behind his stick”
- Video: A mom and son on their homeschooling experience
- Celebrity spotlight: Anderson Cooper no longer hides his dyslexia
- Video: What reading fluency looks like in fifth grade
- Whisper reading: What it is and how it works
- 8 study tips to help middle-schoolers with dyslexia
- Lorraine Bracco, star of “The Sopranos,” on how she used humor to cope with dyslexia
- 9 ways to build phonological awareness in pre-K and kindergarten
- 4 reasons kids get anxious about reading — and how to help
- 7 study tips to help grade-schoolers with dyslexia
- Assistive technology for writing
- Assistive technology for reading
- How software and apps can help with writing challenges
- Why kids have trouble understanding or remembering what they read
- Video: Inside a reading intervention
- Video: Elijah Ditchendorf, a high school science whiz who has dyslexia
- How to help young kids with handwriting
- Video: New England Patriot Lawrence Guy on overcoming stigma and being your best
- Video: Navigating life’s changes with dyslexia
- Video: Why is dyslexia diagnosed more often than dyscalculia?
- Video: A doctor learns about dyslexia through his daughter’s reading struggles
- Dyslexia and depression
- Written expression disorder fact sheet
- How to teach kids with dyslexia to read
- 2-minute tutorial: Pencil grips for kids
- My advice on how to enjoy reading with ADHD or dyslexia
- How software and apps can help with reading challenges