Help your child with his or her homework:

Plan a specific time and quiet place away from possible distractions.

Help your child to be organized. For many dyslexics, this skill does not come naturally and must be learned. Divided notebooks, color-coded folders, assignment notebooks, to do lists, and post-it notes are essential.

For reading: Get recorded social studies or science chapters or stories for your child to follow along at his or her own pace. Books on tape are available and can be very helpful. Be sure your child always uses the index finger on his or her dominant hand to follow along under the words he/she is listening to. Read to your child and point to the words as you read them. Pause occasionally to ask comprehension questions. Discuss the content of the story and its relevance to real life. Talk about the characters, problems, and events in the stories. Explore the meanings of new words and try to use these new words again soon. Listen to your child read aloud. Encourage him to continually ask if what he/she has read makes sense

For more information, please call 545-5451.

For spelling: begin studying the words early in the week so you child doesn’t have to cram. Write the words with the index finger on the carpet, on the wall, in the air, on a tray filled with sand or birdseed. Be sure to say the name or sound of each letter as you write.

For math: Use as many hands-on aids as possible such as blocks, dried beans, or popsicle sticks to illustrate math concepts. Turn notebook paper around to form columns vertically to help children keep the numbers in the proper sequence. Do math calculations on graph paper.

Other Helpful Hints: When giving your child instructions, always establish eye contact first. Reduce the number of words you use in directions and explanations to the smallest amount possible to get the meaning across. Have your child repeat instructions back to you. “What are you going to do?” Limit directions to one or two at a time.

Teach new skills in a step-by-step manner with several opportunities for hands-on practice. Provide visual clues as well as oral directions.

Write notes to your child to put in his lunch or on his pillow. Encourage him to write notes to you. Leave notes on bathroom mirrors, messages on refrigerators. Post a blank piece of paper on the refrigerator. Begin to make up a story by writing a beginning sentence. Take turns with your child by adding a sentence to the story each day.

Above all: read, read, and re-read with and to your child!