Flashcards for Dyslexia: Structured Literacy Cards for Reading and Spelling

Flashcards for dyslexia work best when they follow the same principles as good reading instruction: they teach the links between letters and sounds explicitly, in a planned order, one small step at a time, with lots of review. Done that way, flashcards for dyslexia can be a useful part of daily practice at home or school, for letter sounds, phonograms, syllable types, prefixes and suffixes, and tricky spelling patterns. Done the "flash and guess" way, with random sight words and timed drills, they can turn into frustration for a child who already finds reading hard.

This guide explains what dyslexia is, what the research says about teaching reading to students who struggle, which kinds of cards to make and in what order, how to adapt the look of cards (and which popular adaptations don't have evidence behind them), and step-by-step routines you can use in ten minutes a day.

General information only. This article shares general educational information. It isn't a diagnosis, a treatment plan or a substitute for advice from a qualified professional. If you think a child or adult may have dyslexia, talk with a school psychologist, a reading specialist, the child's teacher or a doctor about an evaluation. Rules about school evaluations, services and accommodations vary by country, state and district.

What Dyslexia Is, in Plain Terms

The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity describes dyslexia as an unexpected difficulty in learning to read. People with dyslexia have trouble connecting letters to the sounds they represent, which makes it harder to read fluently, spell correctly and learn a second language. The difficulty is "unexpected" because it has nothing to do with intelligence: it shows up in people who are clearly capable of reading much better than they do.

A few more key points from the Yale Center:

• It's common. The Center estimates that dyslexia affects 20 percent of the population and accounts for 80 to 90 percent of people with learning disabilities. (Estimates vary depending on how dyslexia is defined and measured.)
• It's lifelong. Dyslexia can't be cured, but with the right support, people with dyslexia can become very successful students and adults.
• Slow reading often sits alongside strong thinking. The Center notes that many people with dyslexia are fast, creative thinkers with strong reasoning skills.

A 2011 clinical report in Pediatrics, written jointly by the American Academy of Pediatrics and several eye-care organizations, describes dyslexia as a language-based disorder that usually stems from difficulty with the sound structure of language. That's an important point for anyone making flashcards: dyslexia isn't mainly a vision problem. It's mostly about sounds and how they map onto letters.

What the Research Says About Teaching Reading to Struggling Readers

Before choosing what to put on cards, it helps to know what kind of instruction actually helps.

The National Reading Panel (2000)

In 2000, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) published the findings of the National Reading Panel, which reviewed the research on teaching children to read. Several of its conclusions matter directly for flashcards:

• Phonemic awareness (the ability to hear and work with the individual sounds in spoken words) improved reading when it was taught. The most effective programs taught children to work with sounds using letters, focused on one or two kinds of sound manipulation at a time, and were often taught in small groups.
• Systematic phonics (teaching letter-sound relationships in a planned sequence) was significantly more effective than instruction with little or no phonics. It helped students from kindergarten through 6th grade and children having difficulty learning to read.
• For students with reading disabilities, systematic synthetic phonics (teaching children to convert letters into sounds and blend them into words) had a positive, significant effect. Word reading improved substantially, while gains on reading longer texts were significant but small.
• Spelling benefits from phonics were strongest in kindergarten and declined in later grades, and were small for poor readers.
• Guided repeated oral reading, with feedback from a teacher, parent or peer, improved word recognition, fluency and comprehension for both good and struggling readers.
• Vocabulary learning benefited from repetition and multiple exposures to words.

Notice the pattern: explicit, planned, letter-and-sound-based practice with lots of repetition and feedback. That's exactly what a well-designed flashcard routine can deliver, as long as it's part of a bigger plan that includes reading real text.

What doctors and eye specialists say

The 2011 Pediatrics report recommends early evaluation by qualified professionals and says effective programs focus on the language-based cause, with intensive, individualized instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. It also found no valid evidence that vision therapy, eye-muscle exercises, special glasses, prisms, colored lenses or filters effectively treat learning disabilities.

What the NICHD says about treatment

NICHD's page on treatments for reading disorders notes that there's no single treatment, that the best approach depends on the person, that instruction should be intensive, and that earlier help leads to better results. It also says specially trained teachers provide the most effective instruction. Flashcards at home are a support for that instruction, not a replacement.

Structured Literacy and Orton-Gillingham in Brief

You'll often hear two terms when people talk about dyslexia and reading instruction.

Structured literacy is an umbrella term, promoted by the International Dyslexia Association, for reading instruction that is:

• Explicit: skills are taught directly, not left for children to figure out.
• Systematic and cumulative: skills follow a planned order, from simple to complex, and each new step builds on earlier ones.
• Diagnostic: the teacher watches closely for errors and adjusts what comes next.

It typically covers sounds (phonology), letter-sound links, syllables, word parts (morphology), sentence structure and meaning.

Orton-Gillingham is an older, well-known approach that grew out of the work of neurologist Samuel Orton and educator Anna Gillingham. It's known for multisensory practice, such as saying a sound while tracing the letter, and for its careful step-by-step sequence. Many commercial programs are based on it.

For card makers, the takeaway is the same: follow a sequence, teach one pattern at a time, review constantly, and connect every card to sounds. Flashcards fit naturally into this kind of teaching. Many structured-literacy lessons include a quick card drill of letter sounds and phonograms at the start of each session.

Types of Flashcards for Dyslexia

Here are the main kinds of cards used in structured literacy practice, roughly in the order many programs introduce them. Your child's teacher or reading specialist may use a slightly different sequence; follow theirs if you can.

Card type	Front	Back	What it practices
Letter-sound cards	A single letter, such as "m"	A key word and picture (moon) plus the sound /m/	Linking each letter to its most common sound
Phonogram cards	A letter team, such as "sh," "ck" or "igh"	Its sound(s) and a key word	Recognizing common letter groups as one unit
Blending cards	A short decodable word, such as "ship"	The word read aloud, with sounds marked	Turning sounds into words
Syllable-type cards	A word or syllable, such as "came" or "her"	Its syllable type (vowel-consonant-e, r-controlled)	Predicting vowel sounds in longer words
Spelling (sound-to-letter) cards	A sound, such as /k/ at the end of a short word	The spelling choice ("ck" after a short vowel)	Choosing the right spelling for a sound
Irregular word cards	A high-frequency word with an odd part, such as "said"	The word with the irregular part marked	Learning the "tricky" part of common words
Morpheme cards	A prefix, suffix or root, such as "un-" or "-tion"	Its meaning and example words	Reading and spelling longer words by meaningful parts

Letter-sound cards

These are the foundation. Each card has one letter on the front. On the back, put a key word that clearly starts with that sound and, if you like, a simple picture: "a" with apple, "b" with bat. The child says the letter name, the key word and the sound: "a, apple, /a/." Our page on letter sound flashcards has more on choosing clear key words.

One tip: pick key words where the sound is easy to hear at the start. "Igloo" for short i or "egg" for short e work better than words where the sound is blurred.

Phonogram cards

A phonogram is a letter or group of letters that represents a sound, like "sh," "th," "ai," "ow" or "tch." Some phonograms have more than one sound ("ow" in "cow" and "snow"), and the back of the card should list each sound with a key word. Add new phonogram cards only after the earlier ones are solid.

Blending and word cards

Once a child knows a handful of sounds, make cards with short words that use only those sounds. These are called decodable words. For example, after learning m, a, t, s and p, you can make "mat," "sat," "map," "pat" and "tap." The child reads each word by saying the sounds and blending them together. Our phonics flashcards guide has ready-to-use word lists organized by pattern.

Syllable-type cards

English has six common syllable types (closed, open, vowel-consonant-e, vowel team, r-controlled and consonant-le). Knowing them helps readers predict vowel sounds in longer words. Cards can show a syllable or word on the front and its type and vowel sound on the back.

Spelling cards (sound to letters)

Reading goes from letters to sounds. Spelling goes the other way, and it's often harder for students with dyslexia. Make cards with a sound on the front, said aloud by the adult, and the spelling options on the back. The student repeats the sound, names the letters and writes them. For more ideas, see spelling flashcards.

Irregular ("heart word") cards

Many common words have a part that doesn't follow the patterns a child has learned yet, like the "ai" in "said" or the "o" in "of." Rather than asking a child to memorize the whole word as a shape, mark just the irregular part (some teachers draw a small heart over it, which is why these are sometimes called "heart words") and have the child sound out the regular parts. This keeps the focus on letter-sound links. Our high-frequency words flashcards page covers which common words to teach first.

Morpheme cards

For older students, cards for prefixes (un-, re-, pre-), suffixes (-ed, -ing, -tion, -ful) and roots (port, struct, spect) help with reading and spelling longer words. The back of each card shows the meaning and two or three example words: "struct: build (construct, structure, instruct)."

A Sample Order for Building a Deck

Structured literacy programs differ in their exact sequence, but most move from simple to complex in a similar way. Here's a general outline to show how a deck grows over time. It's an example, not a prescription; if your child works with a teacher or tutor, follow their order.

Stage	Cards to add	Example words the child can now read
1	A few consonants and one short vowel (m, s, t, p, a)	mat, sat, tap, map
2	More consonants and the other short vowels, one at a time	pin, hot, bug, net
3	Consonant digraphs (sh, ch, th, ck)	ship, chop, then, back
4	Consonant blends (st, pl, tr, nd)	stop, plan, trip, hand
5	Vowel-consonant-e syllables	cake, hide, home, cute
6	Common vowel teams (ai, ee, oa) and r-controlled vowels (ar, or, er)	rain, feet, boat, car, fork
7	Common suffixes (-s, -ed, -ing) and two-syllable words	jumped, sitting, napkin
8	Prefixes, more suffixes and roots	unlock, return, helpful, transport

Irregular high-frequency words are usually added a few at a time throughout, with their tricky parts marked.

Why "Sight Word Flashing" Can Backfire

Many families start with a big stack of sight word cards and flash them quickly, hoping the child will memorize each word by its look. For many children with dyslexia, this approach can be frustrating, and it doesn't match what the research emphasizes.

• It skips the letter-sound links. The research summarized by the National Reading Panel points to explicit, systematic phonics. Memorizing word shapes doesn't build the decoding skills a reader needs for new words.
• It rewards guessing. When a child can't decode, they often guess from the first letter or the word's length. Fast flashing makes that habit stronger.
• It can hurt confidence. Getting many cards wrong in a row, especially under time pressure, can make a child decide they're "bad at reading."

That doesn't mean common words are off-limits. It means teach them through their sounds, mark only the truly irregular parts, and add them gradually. For a closer look at teaching high-frequency words, see our page on sight word flashcards.

How to Design Flashcards for Dyslexia: Fonts, Spacing and Layout

The look of a card can make it easier or harder to read. Some adaptations have research behind them, and some popular ones don't.

Adaptation	What the research says	What to do on cards
Extra letter spacing	Improved reading accuracy and speed for dyslexic children in a 2012 PNAS study and improved speed in a 2021 study of teens	Space letters a bit wider than normal; avoid cramped text
"Dyslexia fonts" (Dyslexie, OpenDyslexic)	Studies found no benefit for reading speed or accuracy compared with ordinary fonts like Arial	Use a clear, ordinary font; use a special font only if the child prefers it
Colored overlays or tinted lenses	No significant effect in a 2021 study; a 2011 Pediatrics report found no valid evidence for colored lenses or filters as treatment	Plain, high-contrast cards are fine; don't rely on color to fix reading
One item per card	Consistent with explicit, one-step-at-a-time instruction	Never put several new patterns on one card
Large, clear print	A practical choice; the spacing studies used enlarged spacing on regular-size print	Make the letter or word big enough to read easily at arm's length

Letter spacing: the best-supported tweak

In a 2012 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Zorzi and colleagues tested extra-large letter spacing with 74 Italian and French children with dyslexia, aged 8 to 14. The spaced text added 2.5 points of space between letters on 14-point type, along with extra space between words and lines. Without any training, wider spacing doubled reading accuracy and increased speed by about 0.3 syllables per second, which the authors compared to roughly a school year of improvement. Younger children matched for reading level didn't benefit significantly, which suggests the effect is specific to dyslexia. The authors link it to "crowding," where nearby letters interfere with recognizing each other.

A 2021 study by Steven Stagg and Nathan Kiss in Research in Developmental Disabilities found that extra-large letter spacing improved reading speed in 32 teenagers with dyslexia (mean age 13), more than in a comparison group, and reduced skipped-word errors. Colored overlays had no significant effect.

These are reading studies on short texts, not flashcard studies, so think of them as a reasonable design guide rather than proof that spaced cards will improve learning. Still, spacing letters out a little is easy and does no harm.

Special dyslexia fonts

Fonts designed for dyslexia are popular, but the studies so far haven't found that they help. A 2018 study in Annals of Dyslexia by Kuster and colleagues tested the Dyslexie font with 170 children with dyslexia in one experiment and found no improvement in reading speed or accuracy compared with Arial; most children preferred Arial. A second experiment with children with and without dyslexia found the same. A smaller 2017 study by Wery and Diliberto tested the OpenDyslexic font with 12 elementary students with dyslexia and found no gains in reading rate or accuracy, and none of the students preferred it.

If a child likes a particular font, there's no harm in using it. But a clean, familiar font with generous spacing is a perfectly good choice, and it matches the print the child will see in books and on tests.

Other practical layout tips

• Use lowercase letters for most cards, since most text a child reads is lowercase. Make separate cards for capital letters.
• Use a font where "a" and "g" look like the handwritten forms your child is learning, if that helps reduce confusion.
• Keep the front of each card nearly empty: one letter, one phonogram or one word.
• Put key word pictures on the back, not the front, so the child reads the letters rather than the picture.
• Use sturdy card stock for cards that get handled every day. Our best flashcard size guide covers sizes that are easy to hold and sort.

A 10-Minute Daily Flashcard Routine

Short, frequent practice usually works better than long, occasional sessions, especially for children who find reading tiring. Here's a sample routine. Adjust it to match what your child's teacher or tutor is working on.

1. Warm-up review (2 minutes): Go through the letter-sound and phonogram cards your child already knows. The child says the letter, key word and sound for each. Keep the pace brisk but not rushed.
2. New card (2 minutes): Introduce one new sound or pattern. Show the card, say the sound, have the child repeat it, trace the letters with a finger while saying the sound, and then write it.
3. Blending (3 minutes): Read five to ten decodable word cards that use the known sounds plus the new one. If the child makes a mistake, point to the letter and ask for its sound rather than giving the whole word.
4. Spelling (2 minutes): Say three to five words aloud. The child repeats each word, says its sounds and writes it. Check together.
5. Finish with success (1 minute): End on cards the child knows well, so practice finishes on a positive note.

Sorting cards by how well they're known

Keep three piles or envelopes: "new," "learning" and "know it." Move a card forward when the child gets it right quickly and confidently on several different days. Move it back if it's missed. Review the "learning" pile every day and the "know it" pile every few days so nothing slips away. This is a simple version of spaced review.

Multisensory touches

Many structured-literacy and Orton-Gillingham-based programs pair seeing, saying and moving: tracing a letter in the air or on a textured surface while saying its sound, or tapping a finger for each sound in a word. These practices are widely used, and children often enjoy them. The research base for the multisensory part specifically is less settled than the evidence for explicit phonics itself, so treat it as a helpful way to keep practice active and engaging, not as the active ingredient.

Worked Examples: Card Sets for Different Stages

These examples are illustrative. Real learners vary, and a reading specialist can help you choose the right starting point.

Example 1: A beginning reader

Leo (an illustrative 6-year-old) knows most letter names but mixes up sounds. His family starts with five letter-sound cards: m, s, a, t and p, each with a key word on the back. After he says those sounds quickly for several days in a row, they add a word deck: "mat," "sat," "map," "tap," "pat" and "sap." Next week they add "i" and "n," which opens up "pin," "tin," "sip" and "nap." His deck grows by one or two sounds at a time.

Example 2: A second grader with spelling trouble

Ava (illustrative) reads short words but spells "back" as "bak" and "kitchen" as "kichen." Her tutor makes sound-to-spelling cards for the /k/ sound: "c" at the start of most words before a, o and u, "k" before e and i, and "ck" after a short vowel at the end of a one-syllable word. Ava practices choosing the right spelling, then writes a few words using each.

Example 3: An older student with multisyllable words

Marcus (illustrative), a 6th grader, reads one-syllable words well but stumbles on longer ones. His deck focuses on syllable types and morphemes: cards for "-tion," "-ture," "un-," "re-" and "dis-," plus cards that show a long word split into syllables. He practices breaking words like "unbelievable" into "un-be-liev-a-ble" and reading each part.

Example 4: An adult learner

Dana (illustrative) is an adult who was never formally evaluated but has always found spelling hard. She works with an adult literacy tutor and uses cards for the vowel teams she confuses ("ea," "ee," "ie") and for prefixes and suffixes common in her workplace vocabulary. She reviews them on her phone during breaks and on paper at home.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Too many new cards at once. Add one or two new items per session. A deck full of unknowns is discouraging.
• Timed drills too early. Speed comes after accuracy. Push for quick responses only once a card is consistently correct.
• Pictures on the front. If the picture is next to the word, the child may "read" the picture. Put pictures on the back.
• Cards that don't match the lesson. If the teacher is on short vowels and the home deck is full of vowel teams, the child gets mixed signals. Ask what they're working on.
• Correcting by giving the answer. When a child misreads, prompt them back to the sounds ("What does this letter say?") instead of saying the word for them.
• Skipping real reading. Cards build the parts. Reading decodable books and real text puts the parts together, and the National Reading Panel found guided repeated oral reading helpful for fluency.
• Relying on unproven fixes. Colored overlays, special lenses and special fonts haven't been shown to treat dyslexia. They aren't a substitute for explicit instruction.

Keeping Flashcard Practice Positive

For a child who already finds reading hard, how practice feels matters almost as much as what's on the cards. A few habits help keep sessions encouraging.

• Aim for mostly correct answers. A good session is one where the child gets most cards right. If they're missing more than a few, the deck has too many new items. Pull some back to the "new" pile and try again later.
• Praise the process, not just the result. "You went back and checked that vowel sound" teaches a habit. "Good job" on its own doesn't.
• Track progress visibly. Let the child move a card to the "know it" pile themselves, or keep a simple chart of how many sounds they've mastered. Seeing the pile grow is motivating.
• Keep sessions short. Stop before frustration sets in. Ten focused minutes beat thirty tearful ones.
• Turn some practice into play. Simple games, like hiding letter-sound cards around a room and saying each sound when found, keep repetition from feeling like a chore.
• Remind them reading difficulty isn't about being smart. The Yale Center emphasizes that dyslexia is unrelated to intelligence, and children often need to hear that directly.

Paper Cards or Screen Cards?

Both can work. The best choice depends on the learner and the skill.

Paper cards are easy to sort into piles, hold in the hand and use for multisensory activities like tracing. Many structured-literacy programs use paper cards for daily sound drills because the teacher can flip quickly, watch the child's mouth and hand, and pull out a card that needs more work. Writing on paper is also helpful for spelling practice.

Screen cards are convenient for older students and adults who want to practice on the go. They make it easy to carry a large deck, and you can add your own pictures for key words. On a screen, check that the text is large and clearly spaced, and turn off distracting animations or busy backgrounds.

Many families use both: paper cards for the daily routine with an adult, and screen cards for quick independent review. Whatever the format, the rules are the same: one item per card, a planned sequence, sounds first and frequent short review.

Working With Schools and Specialists

Flashcards are a tool for practice. They work best alongside instruction from someone trained in teaching reading to students with dyslexia. Here are some ways to connect home practice with what happens at school.

• Ask what sequence the teacher or tutor follows, and make cards in the same order.
• Ask for the key words they use, so the child hears the same word for each sound at home and at school.
• Share what you see. If a card is consistently hard at home, tell the teacher. It may point to a skill that needs more attention.
• Ask about evaluation and support. In the United States, public schools have processes for evaluating students and providing services or accommodations, but the details depend on the state and district, and the rules are different in other countries.

If you teach a classroom with students who have learning differences, our page on flashcards for special education covers routines for small groups and individualized decks. Children who have both dyslexia and attention difficulties may also benefit from the short-session ideas in our guide to flashcards for ADHD learners.

When to Talk to a Professional

If a child is struggling to learn letter sounds, avoids reading, reads far below what you'd expect for their age and ability, or has a family history of reading difficulties, it's worth talking to a professional rather than waiting to see if it resolves on its own. A school psychologist, reading specialist, educational therapist, pediatrician or the child's teacher can help decide whether an evaluation is appropriate. Adults who suspect dyslexia can ask their doctor or a local adult literacy program about assessment. NICHD notes that earlier help tends to bring better results, so it's better to ask sooner than later. Rights to evaluations and services vary by place, so check the rules where you live.

Make Your Own Flashcards for Dyslexia

The best flashcards for dyslexia follow the science of reading: explicit letter-sound teaching, a planned sequence, one new pattern at a time, plenty of review and a direct link from cards to real reading and spelling. Keep cards clean and simple, space the letters a little wider, put pictures on the back, and skip unproven fixes like special fonts and colored overlays unless a child simply prefers them. Above all, keep practice short, frequent and encouraging.

You can make your own cards with our free flashcard maker. Add words and your own pictures, study with flip cards on screen, and print double-sided or as cut-out sheets. Start with a handful of letter-sound cards and grow the deck one pattern at a time.

Paper, Screen and Both: Which Fits Your Learner?

This table compares the two card formats the article discusses, plus the way many families combine them.

Format	Best for	Strengths	Keep in mind
Paper cards	Daily sound drills with an adult	Easy to sort into piles, hold in the hand and use for multisensory activities like tracing	The teacher can flip quickly and watch the child's mouth and hand
Screen cards	Older students and adults practicing on the go	Easy to carry a large deck and to add your own pictures for key words	Check that text is large and clearly spaced, and turn off distractions
Both together	Families who want a daily routine plus quick independent review	Paper for the routine with an adult, screen for quick review	Many families use both
Any format	Every learner	One item per card and a planned sequence	Put sounds first and keep reviews short and frequent

Frequently Asked Questions

Are flashcards good for kids with dyslexia?

They can be, if they are designed around how reading is taught to struggling readers. Research summarized by the National Reading Panel supports explicit, systematic phonics and repeated practice with feedback. Flashcards for letter sounds, phonograms, decodable words, spelling patterns and word parts fit that model well. Rapidly flashing whole sight words for memorization fits it poorly and can encourage guessing. Use cards as short daily practice that supports, rather than replaces, instruction from a trained teacher or specialist.

What should be on dyslexia flashcards?

Start with letter-sound cards that show one letter on the front and a key word and its sound on the back. Add phonogram cards for letter teams such as sh, ck and igh, then decodable word cards that use only sounds already learned. Later, add syllable-type cards, sound-to-spelling cards, irregular word cards with the tricky part marked, and morpheme cards for prefixes, suffixes and roots. Keep one item per card and follow the sequence your child's teacher or tutor uses.

What font is best for dyslexia flashcards?

A clear, ordinary font is a good choice. Studies of fonts designed for dyslexia, including a 2018 study of the Dyslexie font with 170 children and a 2017 study of OpenDyslexic, found no improvement in reading speed or accuracy compared with fonts like Arial, and most children preferred the ordinary fonts. What does seem to help is extra space between letters. If a child prefers a special font there is no harm in using it, but it isn't necessary.

Does letter spacing help with dyslexia?

Research suggests it can help with reading. A 2012 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences tested 74 Italian and French children with dyslexia and found that wider letter spacing doubled reading accuracy and increased reading speed without any training. A 2021 study of teenagers with dyslexia also found faster reading with extra-large spacing. These were reading studies rather than flashcard studies, but spacing letters a little wider on cards is easy and low risk.

Do colored overlays help with dyslexia?

The evidence doesn't support them as a treatment. A 2021 study of teenagers with dyslexia found that colored overlays had no significant effect on reading speed or errors. A 2011 clinical report in Pediatrics, from the American Academy of Pediatrics and eye-care organizations, found no valid evidence that colored lenses, filters or vision therapy effectively treat learning disabilities. Dyslexia is mainly a language-based difficulty, so explicit teaching of sounds and letters is the focus that research supports.

How many flashcards should a child with dyslexia practice a day?

There is no single right number, but short and frequent beats long and occasional. A common approach is about ten minutes a day: a quick review of known letter sounds, one or two new items, a handful of decodable words, and a few spelling words. Add only one or two new cards per session so the deck stays mostly familiar. If the child is getting tired or frustrated, stop on a success and continue the next day.

Should I teach sight words to a child with dyslexia?

Common words matter, but how you teach them matters too. Instead of asking a child to memorize whole word shapes, teach them through their sounds and mark only the part that doesn't follow the patterns the child knows yet, such as the ai in said. Many teachers call these heart words. Add them gradually alongside phonics practice. Flashing a big stack of unfamiliar words quickly tends to encourage guessing, which is a habit struggling readers need to unlearn.

What is the Orton-Gillingham approach?

Orton-Gillingham is a well-known approach to teaching reading that grew out of the work of neurologist Samuel Orton and educator Anna Gillingham. It teaches letter-sound relationships explicitly, in a careful sequence, with lots of review, and it often uses multisensory activities such as saying a sound while tracing its letter. Many commercial reading programs are based on it. It falls under the broader umbrella often called structured literacy, which emphasizes explicit, systematic and cumulative instruction.

When should I get a child evaluated for dyslexia?

Consider talking to a professional if a child struggles to learn letter sounds, avoids reading, reads well below what you would expect for their age and ability, or has relatives with reading difficulties. A school psychologist, reading specialist, pediatrician or the child's teacher can help decide whether an evaluation makes sense. NICHD notes that earlier help tends to lead to better results. Evaluation processes and rights to services vary by country, state and district, so check the rules where you live.

Sources

We checked every source below while writing this guide. Last reviewed October 30, 2026, by Joan Ramos.

1. What Is Dyslexia? (Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity, Yale University)
2. Findings and Determinations of the National Reading Panel by Topic Areas (2000) (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), NIH)
3. What Are the Treatments for Reading Disorders? (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), NIH)
4. Learning Disabilities, Dyslexia, and Vision (Handler, Fierson et al., 2011) (Pediatrics (American Academy of Pediatrics), via PubMed)
5. Extra-Large Letter Spacing Improves Reading in Dyslexia (Zorzi et al., 2012) (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, via PubMed Central)
6. Room to Read: The Effect of Extra-Large Letter Spacing and Coloured Overlays on Reading Speed and Accuracy in Adolescents With Dyslexia (Stagg & Kiss, 2021) (Research in Developmental Disabilities, via PubMed)
7. Dyslexie Font Does Not Benefit Reading in Children With or Without Dyslexia (Kuster et al., 2018) (Annals of Dyslexia, via PubMed Central)
8. The Effect of a Specialized Dyslexia Font, OpenDyslexic, on Reading Rate and Accuracy (Wery & Diliberto, 2017) (Annals of Dyslexia, via PubMed Central)