When you discover that your child has difficulties reading and writing, as a parent, you want to do whatever it takes to help them to overcome those difficulties. Unfortunately, with the busyness of life and school schedules, and the other expenses that creep in, it can be difficult to find the time or resources to provide your child with the help that they need.

Additionally, if your child is already struggling with the school work and feeling the pressure to do well, and if they have any other extracurricular activities in their week, they might not have the energy or concentration to work with those resources even if you could provide them for your child.

What about summer? I know what you are thinking: who wants to be the mom who makes their kids use therapeutic resources over the summer? Me neither.

Unless they are these two. Two dyslexia resources have come across my path recently and they both look fabulous! The first is a set of reasonably priced workbooks, considering what you receive and the claims they make. Dyslexia Games is a series of workbooks that your child can work through on their own, with very little direction from you. Using art skills, patterning, puzzles, and creative designs, the exercises on these pages are meant to “help your student to naturally overcome symptoms of Dyslexia, including letter reversals, poor spelling, messy handwriting, concentration problems, and reading confusion” (from their website). Doesn’t that sound wonderful? The website has free samples that you can download, videos showing you how to use the materials, and inspiring testimonials.

Next, a free version of a brilliant reading program based on the Orton-Gillingham method called The Language Tune-Up Kit uses repetition, multi-sensory elements, and a non-confusing sequence of instruction that allows children with a wide-variety of learning difficulties to succeed. The software uniquely integrates “the K-8 foundation of literacy skills: alphabet (name, formation, sound), phonemic awareness, phonics (explicit, sequential, simultaneous multisensory), reading and K-8 language arts” (from their website).

Obviously, having the ability to bring in an expert who can work one-on-one with your child will give superior results. In the meantime, having simple to use, engaging, entertaining, affordable, and effective resources like this on hand over the summer months would be a game changer for what your next school year could look like. Now, while your children have more time, energy, and ability to begin a new thing, is a great time to consider adding in some manageable at-home therapeutic resources like these.

Originally posted at HSLDA‘s blog:
http://www.hslda.ca/blog/dyslexia_resources?year=2015&month=6