When the "dyslexia" diagnosis lands, two things happen at once. Relief — there's a name for it — and a flock of new questions: how do we handle homework now, how does she cope, how do we keep her self-esteem intact? It's one of the most sensitive transitions in parenting. All the standard advice ("read fifteen minutes a day") falls flat; that's precisely what doesn't work. And the specific tips from school are often insufficient or fragmented.
This article gathers strategies that actually lower friction in the week. Not the whole treatment — for that you need a speech therapist and school specialist — but the small everyday moves many dyslexia families say made the biggest difference. At Kluriko we hear these stories often, and we've tried to design our learning-games so they're gentle for dyslexic users — short, repetitive, no time pressure.
Principle 1: Separate decoding from comprehension
This is the most important insight. When she "reads" a text she does two operations:
- Decodes the letters into words (hard with dyslexia).
- Understands the content (often not hard at all for children with dyslexia).
School often conflates them. She takes a long time over the text — so the teacher thinks "reading comprehension" is poor. But comprehension is good; it's decoding that takes time.
The home solution: let her hear the text. Audiobook, text-to-speech, you reading aloud. Comprehension grows then without decoding limiting it. Decoding practice happens separately, in shorter doses.
Principle 2: Short sessions, often
A dyslexic brain tires faster from reading. It's not laziness — it's work. Ten minutes of reading can be more taxing for her than an hour of maths is for you.
Five to ten minutes is a healthy dose at home. Then a break, play, something else. Come back if she wants. Three short sessions a day beats one long one.
Principle 3: Assistive tools are not cheating
Worth repeating. Tools are not cheating — they are necessary for fair reading. The school should provide:
- Text-to-speech on the computer/iPad.
- Read-aloud material for longer texts.
- Extended time on tests.
- Special access services (in the UK this includes the JCQ access arrangements; in Sweden the Inläsningstjänst; in the US the IEP/504).
Ask for them. Get them in writing. And say this to her too: "These are like glasses. People who need glasses get glasses. It isn't cheating."
Principle 4: Homework spoken first, written second
When homework comes home:
- Go through the task verbally. You read, she listens. She says what she thinks. She "does" the homework in her head first.
- Write the answer together. You hold the pen the first time if she's tired. Or she says it, you write, she carefully copies into her own book.
- Spelling as a separate task. Not during the assignment. Later in the day, if at all.
This halves the friction of a homework session. And it separates what she can think from how fast she can write — which is exactly what dyslexia should not be allowed to conflate.
Concrete daily tips
- Colour-code long words. "Hel-met" instead of "helmet". Two-colour pens work.
- Larger fonts, cream paper. Some dyslexic children read better on yellow or cream paper. Try it.
- A ruler as a "reading marker" under the line she's reading. Removes visual distractions.
- Audiobooks every day. Twenty minutes at bedtime. The magic is that she gets the whole reading experience, the vocabulary, the narrative — without the fight.
- Use the right font. OpenDyslexic, Lexie Readable, or just sans-serif at 14pt. Many dyslexic kids find these much easier.
How to build self-esteem
This is the most important part. Children with dyslexia meet resistance almost daily at school. At home they should meet something else:
- Praise the process, not the result. "You held on through the whole text — great work." not "You read it so well."
- Show heroes with dyslexia. Albert Einstein (maybe), Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Richard Branson, many prominent entrepreneurs. She should know she's in good company.
- Let her do homework her way. On the floor, in bed, with music on, reading aloud to herself. It's not lazy — it's her brain's need.
- Have a regular, strong "yes" activity. Sport, music, gaming, building. Something she's good at. Identity shouldn't be the reading struggle.
When friction becomes too much
If homework help ends in a row every evening — stop. Talk to the teacher. Demand the homework be adapted. It's the school's responsibility to set homework she can do at home, not the family's job to wear itself out. Many parents have saved the 7–10 age by scaling homework right down in agreement with school.
How Kluriko helps
Lärspel is designed with short sessions, lots of repetition and no time pressure. These are the kind of games that often work for dyslexic users. We don't have a specific "dyslexia module" but many exercises — blending, word-building, rhyming — are exactly what's recommended. Gläntan, our story-world, is fully audio-based as well if she wants to just follow a story without reading.