5 Best Apps for Students with Dyslexia
Students with dyslexia tend to struggle with reading, spelling, and writing. These challenges often become more profound as they progress through school and the literacy demands increase quickly. While individualized Orton Gillingham tutoring is optimal for building these skills, there are many apps that can also help students with dyslexia develop their core reading, spelling, and writing skills. Let’s take a look at five of the best ones:
Nessy Reading & Spelling
Nessy Reading & Spelling uses the Orton Gillingham approach to help students improve their reading and spelling skills. It follows an individualized, engaging approach, including games, videos, and interactive exercises to help students build their phonics and spelling skills. Students start with an initial assessment to gauge their reading and writing strengths and weaknesses, and the app then creates an individualized learning path. Each students is given lessons and activities specific to their levels and needs. Students love the fun, engaging lessons and integrated rewards called “Nessy nuggets” that they can earn along the way. Detailed progress reports are also included!
Phonics Hero
Phonics Hero – Growing Reading and Spelling Superheroes with Phonics!
Phonics Hero is an evidence-based app that helps students ages 4-7 develop their reading and spelling skills. It uses a systematic, phonics-based approach for developing these key literacy skills. Students learn individual letters and their corresponding sounds, how to blend them to form words, and how to read and write sentences. They love playing the over 850 interactive games that are part of the app. Parents and teachers also enjoy reading their child’s progress reports, which show which skills the student has mastered and other skills they need to work on.
Montessori Words and Phonics
Montessori Words & Phonics – Apps on Google Play
Montessori Words and Phonics helps students ages 3-8 build their foundational phonemic awareness and phonics skills – key components of reading. The app offers interactive activities, including moveable alphabet letters that students can manipulate to form words. There are also pictures and audio cues that students can use to create words, a sandbox for exploring letters, and visual rewards, including colorful animations when students successfully complete an activity – all great for students with dyslexia.
Epic!
Epic is a large library of digital books and audio books designed for students in grades prek-6. The app is particularly useful for students with dyslexia, as it helps with reading and processing information while listening. Users can choose a book, then read along while listening, helping to build decoding, fluency, and reading comprehension skills. Students love having access to such a wide array of books and being able to choose the ones that interest them. Each child is given their own profile that is customized to their age and reading level, and is presented with book recommendations based on their profile. Students can also search the app for specific topics of interest or types of books, and parents can monitor their reading activity. The more kids have a choice in their books and enjoy practicing their reading skills, the better!
Read & Write
Read&Write For Education – Reading, Literacy & Assistive Software
Read & Write is a great speech-to-text app for dyslexic students. Many students with dyslexia struggle to express their thoughts on paper when writing, and this app helps alleviate that challenge. In addition to speech-to-text, where students can dictate their ideas and the app transcribes them, it also offers text-to-speech and word prediction features. Additionally, it includes grammar check, picture dictionaries, and fonts that are optimal for those with dyslexia. This app can help students improve their overall literacy skills and encourage them to enjoy reading and writing.
Students with dyslexia often struggle academically as they progress through school. In addition to Orton Gillingham tutoring, these apps scan help them build their core reading, spelling, and writing skills, and ultimately thrive in school.