Supporting Students with Dyslexia: Effective Evidence-Based Strategies for the Classroom, Homeschool, and at home
- Chris Moreno
- Oct 27
- 14 min read
Updated: Oct 31
As a former struggling reader turned literacy educator, and now a Master's in Literacy graduate (Well, this is my last assignment), I learned all the strategies for pretending I could read; sitting in class year after year, I became more skilled at faking the ability to read. All the while, teachers were providing me flashcards and memorization tips, yet I was secretly plotting my own ideas of how to read. Fast forward to becoming a teacher in 2009, my goal was to help students have a better education than I received. It wasn't until 2020 that I dove headfirst into learning about the Science of Reading, first through the podcast Sold a Story by Emily Hanford and then down the rabbit hole of structured literacy and how children learn to read (Hanford, 2022). I went back to college last year with the goal: What else do I need to know about literacy? What else can I learn to know to reach even my most struggling students? How can I better support students in becoming fluent readers? As I finish my degree, I've begun reflecting on all I've learned and want to share my favorite finds here as a resource for what I wish I'd known as a teacher and what I wish I'd been provided as a student. Now that I know better, I promise to do better!
Early screening and intervention are essential for students with dyslexia (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). Screening can be done early to identify students at higher risk for dyslexia, so the process of getting them the intervention they need is key. The goal is to identify and begin intervention before first grade. In pre-k, adding phonemic awareness sound games and reading aloud, especially rhyming books, will provide a helpful start to building these skills. Then, focusing on phonemic awareness in kindergarten to continue building this foundation is essential. For more information about phonemic awareness, please listen to the podcast Melissa and Lori Love Literacy with Dr. Burns (Loftus & Sappington, 2024).
As students begin reading in kindergarten, they should receive explicit phonics instruction (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). This should be done systematically, using a scope and sequence of lessons that begins with easier skills and progresses to harder ones. Using a multi-sensory approach provides multiple opportunities to practice reading in a structured way, helping their brains orthographically map words and supporting their ability to read fluently (Institute for Multi-Sensory Education, 2022). It is exciting to imagine students with dyslexia in the classroom I described, with the instructional strategies they need to become proficient readers! Imagine the futures they will have because we helped them become skilled readers.
To the parents finding this post, please know you are your child’s best advocate and support! Remind them how incredible their brain is if they have dyslexia! Usually, having dyslexia means you are also brilliant, a critical thinker, able to solve complex problems, and able to see patterns that others cannot (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). Dyslexic students are problem solvers, self-reliant, and can listen to complex ideas and comprehend them quickly.
To the educators who have found this page, thank you for researching and learning more about dyslexia for your students or yourself. I am so grateful for you and all you do for your students! The more we know and apply in the classroom, the more progress we will begin to see beyond the 180 days of instruction you provide for your struggling reader. Giving them the confidence to know they can handle the challenge of becoming readers, even when their brains make it extra exhausting, is powerful! Thank you!
Books to Read with Struggling Readers with Dyslexic Characters
Thank You Mr. Faulker- Patricia Polacco
Aaron Slater, Illustrator: A Picture Book by Andrea Beaty
Hank Zipzer Series by, Henry Winkler
Before we dive into examples of strategies you can use with learners, here is a quick video to help explain more about dyslexia and how it impacts a student's brain.
Short Video to Better Understand Dyslexia
Evidence-Based strategies
Support for students with dyslexia should be consistent, evidence-based, and tailored to their specific learning needs (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). When the term evidence-based is used, it means that studies went beyond simply researching the topic and conducted studies that showed improvement in students' learning outcomes, which were then peer-reviewed. If a program says it is research-based, look into what research was done. What were the results? What is a double- blind study? How many participants?
As we learn more through the Science of Reading research, we can continue to expand the strategies we use or even change them if others are more effective. Being able to be flexible and adapt instructional strategies will be necessary to support our learners and avoid mindlessly following one approach over another.
Phonemic Awareness Learning
A phoneme is the smallest sound in a spoken word (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). Phonemic awareness is the ability to listen, think, and manipulate sounds. Children need to begin listening to rhyming words. Ask them to identify whether they rhyme, then ask them to think of a rhyme in return. For example, reading aloud books that include a rhyming pattern. Having students focus on word families is another helpful strategy for helping them notice how words can rhyme. This allows young learners to see that words have parts that can be manipulated and changed to form new words. Reading sentences or books with alliteration is another great strategy to help students begin to develop phonemic awareness. IMSE OG+ phonics lessons all start with a sentence about the sound being taught, for students to hear, to get flooded with examples of the sound they will be learning next (Institute for Multi-Sensory Education, 2022). The complexity of learning phonemic awareness will have students learn to segment and blend sounds. In learning this skill, they are strengthening their ability to manipulate parts of words to read them eventually.
Free Phonemic Awareness Assessments
Please check out the Heggerty Assessment or Dr. Kilpatrick's PAST Assessment to assess learners' skills and provide insights into their need for support related to phonemic awareness (Literacy Resources, 2021; Kilpatrick, 2018). These tests are quick, free, and easy to administer.
Please note that if your child has taken an assessment, and the score is "Tested Out," it may mean they were not tested in that skill, and, due to their age, it was not checked.
Rhyming Books to use for Phonemic Awareness Practice Through Read -Aloud
Buffalo Fluffalo by, Erin Kraan
Chester Van Chime Who Forgot How to Rhyme by Avery Monsen & Abby Hanlon
Silly Sally by Audrey Wood
Silly Tilly by Eileen Spinelli
Grumpy Monkey by Suzanne Lang
The Wonkey Donkey by Craig Smith
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? By Eric Carle & Bill Martin Jr.
Example Phonemic Awareness Lesson from Heggerty
I have been using structured, systematic phonemic awareness lessons from Heggerty with students for multiple years now, and with tremendous success. The video above provides an example of what their lessons include (Heggerty, 2023).
Phonemic Awareness Print and Try Today
Here is a resource I have made for a phonemic awareness (P.A.) activity for my students learning /sh/. I had students use the printout sharks to gobble up fish erasers and gems when completing this activity. We then continued utilizing this tool to continue other P.A. activities throughout the week.
Resources for Phonemic Awareness Practice, Lessons, and Games
Using materials like gems, sticky notes, magnetic bingo chips, Lego, links, animal figures, mini erasers, and mini cars helps students add a multi-sensory approach to practicing phonemic awareness lessons. The resources above are what I am currently using with my students. I let them play games from LakeshoreLearning.com. Children learn best through play and are involved in social interaction and action, so providing materials to make learning this skill interactive helps keep them engaged and excited to learn (Goswami, 2015).
Explicit, Systematic Phonics
Complexity for the scope and sequence for a phonics curriculum should begin with simple letter sounds like /m/, /s/, and short vowels like /a/, then move to more complex skills like digraphs and 2-3 letter blends, until the most complicated skills are taught, such as silent sounds in words (Institute for Multi-Sensory Instruction, 2022). For phonics to be explicitly taught, the phonics skill will be introduced, modeled, and the phonics rule behind the sound the letters make will be explicitly explained. Then students should have extended practice opportunities, with multiple repetitions to apply the phonics skill in different, authentic contexts.
Try making the practice authentic and meaningful to achieve greater long-term benefits —for example, having students create their own silly alliteration or rhyming poem using the phonics skill being taught. For phonics to be systematic, it needs to follow a structured sequence outlined in a thorough scope and sequence. Please see an example of UFLI's scope and sequence (University of Florida Literacy Institute, 2022). Learners with Dyslexia will need modeling of the phonics skill after direct instruction with multiple examples. Additional practice in decoding words that include the taught phonics skill is essential for them to begin orthographically mapping words in their minds. A scope-and-sequence alignment is necessary for a structured literacy program to help students with Dyslexia.
For my students, I use a combination of resources to ensure I tailor instruction to each student's individual needs. The programs I use include IMSE OG+ Curriculum and Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) units of study for the five main components of literacy instruction, including phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension (Institute for Multi-Sensory Education, 2022; Core Knowledge Foundation, 2025). For additional intervention lessons, decodable texts, and resources I use Hello Literacy by Jen Jones, and Secret Stories by Katie Garner (Jones, 2025; The Secret Stories, LLC, 2025).
After using the above resources for explicit instruction, I create my own integrated units of study that connect phonics skills to science and social studies, helping students apply grade-level concepts as we practice decoding and encoding from phonics instruction. Below is an example resource you can print and use right away with children who are learning about consonant digraphs. I use these resources after I have directly taught multiple consonant digraphs.
This anchor chart was made with my students after learning each digraph using IMSE lessons.
Providing a journal page helped students continue practicing this phonics skill and refer back to it as needed in their journal.
Digital Tools to Support Phonics Instruction
Students with dyslexia need specific, supportive practice in decoding, encoding, and orthographical mapping words to help them become more fluent readers. For phonics games, I highly recommend Phonicsandstuff.com. For digital blending board practice, UFLI's Digital Blending Board provides free practice for students that can connect to phonics lessons for aligned support.
Decodable Texts
Since starting my professional development in structured literacy, the options for decodables have improved each year. There are still more resources in this area that will continue to grow, change, and evolve as we learn more. I really like Hello Literacy's Nonfiction decodables (Jones, 2025). She has a clear scope and sequence that progresses from easy to complex phonics and includes only words explicitly taught in her lessons. Her fiction decodable books are also a great resource I use. My students have found IMSE's decodables challenging so far, as each book includes more red words/heart words, but we still use them as extra support (Institute for Multi-Sensory Education, 2022). They can print on a single page, which I use for fluency work.
Multi-Sensory Approach
A multi-sensory approach provides students with auditory, visual, and kinesthetic connections while learning (Institute for Multi-Sensory Education, 2022). Orton-Gillingham is a well-respected approach that uses a multi-sensory instruction to provide structured literacy instruction and practice. Students with dyslexia will require extensive practice to learn to decode words. Through meaningful connections and hands-on practice, they can orthographically map words and deepen their understanding of the phonics skill being taught. Through programs like IMSE OG+ training, teachers learn quick, effective, and engaging activities to use consistently with students to build automaticity, improving students' ability to read words fluently and with greater accuracy.
Decodable texts can provide additional support for students to practice carefully reading texts that include words explicitly taught. These books may contain some irregular words, but adults can preview these words with learners and help them use a strategy to read them. Further encoding or writing allows students to solidify their reading ability.
Multi-Sensory Activity Ideas
Magnetic Bingo chips and a magnetic wand to gobble up words
Sand writing (practice spelling words and sounds)
Finger tapping
Play-dough or dot paint to smash word sound by sound
Gems, links, stickers, mini erasers, to help them identify different sounds in the words
Materials in small containers, ready to use, will help students read a tricky word and have a manipulative that helps them process sounds and engage their visual, auditory, and kinesthetic senses simultaneously. Continued practice by the student will result in increased automaticity in accurately decoding words.
For writing words and improving spelling, textured writing with various textures will help them "feel" the word as they trace their hand after writing (Institute for Multi-Sensory Education, 2022). Using their bodies to tap each sound further solidifies their ability to distinguish sounds as they spell. Example lessons can be taught through IMSE OG+ training from IMSE.com.
Below is an example of multi-sensory resources and cooperative learning activities used in my classroom for students with dyslexia to support their decoding, encoding, and orthographic mapping of short-vowel/o/ and /u/ words. Please also use the PDF below for example activities to print and use with other manipulatives to support students' reading.
Multi-Sensory Resources
Example activities to use for multi-sensory approach to phonics practice.
Fluency Strategies
For students to read fluently, we need to help them beyond just reading quickly. Fluency instruction should build students' ability to decode words to improve automaticity, accuracy, and prosody (Rasinski & Cheeseman-Smith, 2018). When students read fluently, they can understand what they read. When reading is choppy, labored, and word-by-word, it makes understanding what is read challenging. We can help students with dyslexia improve their fluency in multiple ways. For example, provide a preview of the words that will be included in the text they will read; teach syllabication for decoding; use partner, echo, choral, and repeated reading.
For students with dyslexia, repetition of reading allows the brain's circuitry to strengthen and develop (Shaywitz & Shaywitz, 2020). To provide enough repetition for struggling readers to become fluent with words, strategies like establishing a routine that allows Monday to introduce a text, model it, and give students time to practice it with peers (Rasinski & Cheeseman-Smith, 2018). Then, throughout the week, students continue to practice reading the exact text, building more prosody as they read it with greater ease, and then select a way for students to present their reading at the end of the week.
We have recorded students reading on the Yoto and Tony audio player's creative cards so they can listen to their reading back. The voice memo app is another way to record students reading. A simple presentation in the classroom with peers works as well.
Fluency Resources with Tim Raskinski
Melissa & Lori Love Literacy Ep. 62: Effective Fluency with Tim Rasinski
Amplify: Episode 4: The importance of fluency instruction with Tim Rasinski
Tim Rasinski Website for free resources and also resources to buy- Megabook of Fluency book is used with my students weekly.
Vocabulary Strategies
Vocabulary instruction for students with dyslexia is essential, as their listening comprehension skills are likely to be more advanced than their oral reading abilities. Explicitly teaching vocabulary words weekly through a systematic progression will allow them to build on previous word-building and make connections between words they learn and their reading (Hennessy, 2021). An excellent resource for this comes from another podcast from Melissa and Lori Love Literacy. Please listen to Episode 238: Why Morphology Matters for Word Reading and More with Melissa Orkin & Alex Osburn for an example evidence-based routine (Loftus & Sappington, 2025). The weekly routine is simple, challenging, and student-focused. Their ideas are connected to Nancy Hennessy's work in The Blueprint Reading Comprehension resource, which provides teachers with countless resources on how vocabulary supports students' comprehension development (Hennessy, 2021).
Below are the lesson resources I created for my students on -ation words. We were learning about the Amazon rainforest in science and social studies.
Besides morphology instruction, using the Frayer model to help students learn words will deepen their understanding (Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, n.d.). Because this strategy involves writing down thoughts after reading, it allows students to process their thoughts into words. For students who struggle with this, visual drawings could help, or a scribe to write their thoughts for them would be a helpful scaffold support. It is also essential for struggling readers to build their word consciousness, which means their ability to manipulate and play with words to understand them better. Therefore, activities such as Tim Rasinski's word ladders, word chains, or word scrambles would help students in this area of vocabulary development (Rasinski Cheeseman-Smith, 2018). Other graphic organizers and word-mapping options would also help.
Readworks.org has added vocabulary tools for before, during, and after reading its passages that support vocabulary development and even allow students to rate their understanding of words and build vocabulary. Their audio tool will allow students to listen to all their texts at every level of complexity. This means students with dyslexia can continue to learn grade-level content through listening comprehension.
Reading Comprehension Strategies
I put careful thought into leaving this section out of this blog. Not because I do not believe students with dyslexia can learn comprehension strategies; I do. However, I also know that reading comprehension is the section school districts and schools focus on for test prep, and instead of building knowledge, they build skill-based lessons.
By creating integrated lessons that focus on building knowledge rather than skills in reading, students can make connections and deepen their understanding. Connecting background knowledge to what they are learning helps students make meaningful connections and deepen their comprehension (Wexler, 2020).
Furthermore, I was that teacher. I followed district plans to teach the main idea week one, theme the next week, and so on. I thought I was doing great! Quickly, I realized through the Science of Reading research how essential skills like metacognitive strategies, vocabulary, phonics instruction, oral language development, and paragraph shrinking strategies are to helping readers improve their comprehension. I want my students to think critically while reading, to question what they read, and to find creative ways to connect one topic to another. This can never be done in a meaningful way from worksheets and test prep alone. Dyslexic students that have especially brilliant thinking skills, need to find meaning; they need to know that what they read matters. We all want that —not just a good score on a state test that is not even testing comprehension, but the information students have background knowledge of to answer questions.
Helping students by planning meaningful project-based assessments instead of just multiple-choice after a unit of study will promote higher-level thinking, and for a student with dyslexia, it means it is not just more reading about a topic they struggled to read. Instead, project-based learning allows students to demonstrate what they know in a deeper, more meaningful way. Holistic rubrics can ensure state standards are still met while also providing the support needed through conferencing and peer editing for this assignment.
Continue Learning about Dyslexia
Sally Shaywitz has several resources I highly recommend for continuing to learn about Dyslexia. Please use the links below to continue learning.
Course on Dyslexia- 10 Hours Professional Development
Overcoming Dyslexia by Shaywitz and Shaywitz
Amplify Podcast with Sally Shaywitz
Thank You
Moving forward, my goal is to help as many struggling readers as I can gain confidence and become confident readers. This is achievable for students with dyslexia. Through evidence-based instructional strategies and a strong intervention plan, these readers will become skilled readers.
References
Goswami, U. (2015). Children’s cognitive development and learning. Cambridge Primary
Review Trust.
Hanford, E. (Host). (2022, October 20). Episode 1: The problem [Audio podcast episode]. In Sold a Story. APM Reports. https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2022/10/20/sold-a-story-e1-the-problem
Heggerty. (2023, July 15). How to teach phonemic awareness in early grades [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X0uGyrxJPo
Hennessy, N. (2021). The reading comprehension blueprint: Helping students understand it all. Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.
Institute for Multi-Sensory Education. (2022). Comprehensive orton-gillingham plus teacher
guide. Institute for Multi-Sensory Education.
Jones, J. ( 2025 ). Hello Phonics – Systematic, structured phonics for small-group instruction [Website]. Hello Literacy. https://www.helloliteracy.com/hellophonics
Kilpatrick, D. A. (2018). Phonological Awareness Screening Test (PAST): Forms A, B, C & D [PDF]. https://cehs.usu.edu/teal/centers-and-labs/literacy-clinic/files/kilpatrick-resources/past-forms-a-b-c-d-2021.pdf
Literacy Resources, LLC. (2021). Primary Phonemic Awareness Assessment: Forms A, B & C [PDF]. https://wp.heggerty.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Primary-Phonemic-Awareness-2022_-Forms-ABC.pdf
Loftus, M., & Sappington, L. (Hosts). (2024, February 2). [What research says about phonemic awareness] (No. [181]) [Audio podcast episode]. In Melissa & Lori Love Literacy. Supported by Great Minds. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/melissa-lori-love-literacy/id1463219123?i=1000643913204
Rasinski, T.V. & Cheeseman Smith, M. (2018). The megabook of fluency: Strategies and texts to engage all readers. Scholastic.
Shaywitz, S., & Shaywitz, J. (2020). Overcoming dyslexia: Second edition. Alfred A. Knopf.
The Secret Stories®, LLC. ( 2025). Secret Stories® – phonics through stories, movement & sound [Website]. The Secret Stories. https://thesecretstories.com/
Wexler, N. (2020). Building knowledge: What an elementary school curriculum should do.
American Educator, 44(2), 18–21.
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. (n.d.). Frayer Model (Grades 6–12): L.VAU. [PDF]. https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/ela/bank/6-12_L.VAU_Frayer_Model.pdf
University of Florida Literacy Institute. (2022, June). UFLI Foundations: Scope & Sequence at-a-glance (K–2) [PDF]. University of Florida Literacy Institute. https://ufli.education.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/UFLI-Scope2.pdf
Vox. (2023, May 18). Why the dyslexic brain is misunderstood [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH5Ds4_0lO8