Dyslexia is a learning difference that primarily affects reading, writing, and spelling. It is a neurological condition, falls under neurodivergence, that affects how the brain processes written language. Dyslexia makes it harder to decode words, recognise letter patterns, and spell correctly. This post will explain the benefits of audiobooks for dyslexic readers including audiobook platforms and resources.
It’s key to remember that dyslexia is not related to intelligence; many people with dyslexia are highly creative and have strong problem-solving skills. Historically, dyslexic readers have been forced to read content that is too young for them and can switch them off the pleasure of reading.
Key Characteristics of Dyslexia:
- Difficulty with phonological awareness – Struggling to break words into sounds (e.g., hearing the separate sounds in “cat” = /c/ /a/ /t/).
- Slow and/ or inaccurate reading – Even after lots of practice, reading may remain effortful and slow.
- Spelling challenges – Letters might be omitted, reversed, or jumbled (e.g., “was” written as “saw”).
- Trouble with sequencing – Difficulty remembering the order of letters, numbers, or steps in a process.
- Working memory difficulties – Finding it hard to retain and manipulate information in their mind.
- Strengths in other areas – Many dyslexic individuals are creative thinkers, good at problem-solving, and excel in hands-on learning.
What Causes Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is caused by differences in the way the brain processes language. It often runs in families, suggesting a genetic link. Interestingly, brain imaging studies show that people with dyslexia use different neural pathways when reading compared to those without dyslexia.
How Is Dyslexia Diagnosed?
A formal diagnosis is usually made by an educational psychologist or a specialist teacher through assessments that evaluate reading, writing, phonological awareness, and memory skills.
Can Dyslexia Be Overcome?
Dyslexia is a lifelong condition, but with the right support, children and adults can develop strategies to manage it effectively. Multi-sensory learning approaches, phonics-based interventions, assistive technology (such as audiobooks), and extra time for reading and writing can all help.
Audiobook Benefits to Support Dyslexic Learners
Audiobooks can be incredibly beneficial for children with dyslexia by providing an accessible and enjoyable way to engage with stories and information. Here’s how they help:
1. Builds Vocabulary & Comprehension
- Listening to books allows children to be exposed to rich vocabulary and complex sentence structures without the struggle of decoding words.
- They can focus on understanding the meaning rather than getting stuck on individual words.
2. Reduces Reading Anxiety & Fatigue
- Reading can be exhausting and frustrating for children with dyslexia. Audiobooks remove this barrier, making learning more enjoyable.
- It allows them to access age-appropriate content that might be too difficult for them to read independently. This is an important area to consider for dyslexic readers. I’d highly recommend Barrington Stoke books to give dyslexic readers age appropriate content that is accessible (I’ll add more about these books further in the post).
3. Improves Listening Skills & Attention
- Regular exposure to spoken language strengthens listening comprehension, a critical skill for academic success, not just reading.
- Following along with an audiobook encourages concentration and auditory memory development.
4. Reinforces Phonemic Awareness & Pronunciation
- Hearing words spoken correctly helps children with dyslexia improve their phonemic awareness (the ability to recognize and manipulate sounds in words). I will just add a note here that some children, including a child who has dyslexia, may need alternative methods of learning to read than phonics. It’s also important to note that phonics is just one aspect of children learning to read and spell; one piece in the puzzle of mastering these skills.
- They also learn correct pronunciation, which may be challenging if they rely solely on decoding words.
5. Supports Reading Fluency & Confidence
- Many children with dyslexia benefit from following along with the printed text while listening to the audiobook. This helps with word recognition and pacing.
- When they can enjoy books independently, their confidence in literacy grows.
6. Encourages a Love of Stories & Learning
- Dyslexia can make traditional reading a chore, but audiobooks allow children to experience the joy of storytelling.
- This fosters a lifelong love for books, literature, and learning. It’s important to separate out the skill of learning to read with the pleasure of reading books. Audiobooks help to remove the barrier to reading and allow dyslexic children to enter the joyous worlds that authors bring us.
7. Aids in Multi-Sensory Learning
- Pairing audiobooks with visuals, such as picture books or highlighted text, provides a multi-sensory approach that supports learning in different ways.
There are some fantastic dyslexia-friendly resources available to support reading, writing, and learning. Here are some top recommendations:
Dyslexia-Friendly Audiobook Platforms & Apps
- Yoto Players and Tonieboxes give lots of opportunity for audio stories. They are audio players designed for children. Yoto particularly, has many unabridged books that you can read along with a physical books. Check out the audio player homepage here.
- Audible – A huge library of audiobooks, including children’s books and dyslexia-friendly reads. You can access a free 30 day trial of audible here. If you have a Yoto player you can’t download content but the Yoto acts as Bluetooth speakers so you can still listen to audible books.
- Listening Books (UK) – A charity providing audiobooks to children and adults who have difficulties reading or physically holding books. There’s a £20 yearly fee and free memberships available. Books for children start from an interest age of around seven years old.
- RNIB Bookshare – Free audiobooks for children with print related difficulties and visual impairments.
- Libby & Borrow Box – Free audiobooks from public libraries. With both of these you need a library card. Borrow Box is available in the UK, Australia and some states in America. These can usually be downloaded and added to audio players such as Yoto Players and Tonieboxes and then deleted once the rental period is over.
- Learning Ally – A US-based resource for dyslexic learners, offering human-narrated audiobooks. You can check on this page if this resource is available in your state.
Dyslexia-Friendly Books & Publishers
Barrington Stoke
Barrington Stoke – Publishes dyslexia-friendly books with tinted pages, special fonts, and spacing. The great thing about Barrington Stoke books is that they give readers of all levels age appropriate content.
On the back of the book next to the barcode there’s some clever information that tells you, discretely, about the reading level and interest level of the book. In the example above it has RA8IA11+ to the right of the barcode. RA is reading age of 8 with IA, interest age, of 11+. There’s also words to tell you what themes are in the book; in this example it’s tech, thriller and manipulation.
Many of the books are also available as audiobooks. This book is actually Echostar is Always Listening by Melinda Salisbury – a superb, thrilling read! Another favourite of mine is Needle by Patrice Lawrence. This one has a reading age of 8 and an interest age of 13+.
Early Chapter Books
Early Chapter Books – these are books that are between picture books and chapter books. They usually have a good balance and spacing of text to images. The level of images really supports comprehension. It’s worth noting that some children can find illustrations too distracting. You can find out more about early chapter books, inside images and recommendations here.
High Noon Books
High Noon Books – These are high-interest, low-reading-level books for readers. The same concept as Barrington Stoke books. High Noon Books I don’t have experience of personally, but wanted to mention as they are highly regarded.
Graphic Novels
Graphic Novels – as a family we’re huge fans of graphic novels. There is a real sense of pace and achievement when reading graphic novels due to the high illustrative content. Things to consider when choosing graphic novels for dyslexic readers include:
- Is the text in lowercase, uppercase or a mixture and does this matter for your child?
- What is the font like? Comic books can have a variety of fonts. It may be worth checking that your child feels comfortable with the types of fonts used.
- Is the text obscured by the images? If there is overlap this can be trickier for dyslexic readers to read
- As already mentioned some children can find too much illustrations distracting. There are some books that have a limited colour palette that can help such as this book.
Please do add in comments if you have any books you’d recommend or platforms for dyslexic readers.
