Dyslexia impacts people in different ways and can create challenges to education, work and personal life. These may include difficulties with planning, writing, taking notes, understanding text, working under pressure and self-organisation.
There are a range of resources, apps and assistive software available to help make things easier for people of different ages with dyslexia.
Reading and spelling programmes for younger learners include:
- Nessy Learning- an online game-based programme aimed at children aged 5–16 years.
- Touch-type Read and Spell- a multi-sensory phonics programme which teaches typing while strengthening spelling and reading. Suitable for age 7+
- Dyslexia CodeBreakers- uses a multi-sensory approach to teach reading and spelling, suitable for students of all ages.
Support with reading and writing tasks for older students may include:
- Text to speech software such as Dragon and Speak which aid comprehension by reducing the pressures of text reading.
- Speech-to-Text software such as Apple Dictation and Google Docs Voice Typing which change speech into written text helping to create documents.
- Grammar and Spell Checkers such as Grammarly and ProWritingAid which help improve writing accuracy.
- Reading Pens such as the C-Pen read text aloud thereby supporting reading comprehension.
Support with general organisation may include:
- Mind-mapping software such as MindMeister or SimpleMind which allows ideas to be jotted down quickly and visually.
- Organisation and planning apps such as Todoist which help structure tasks, set reminders, and manage to-do lists.
- Audio notes such as Otter.ai or Audionote which record voices and sync with typed notes.
Using technolgy can make a huge difference for people with dyslexia, because it helps remove some of the barriers that they face and gives more control over how they read, write, and learn—which can boost confidence and success in school, work, and everyday life!