5 Tricks to Reduce Your Child’s Reading Anxiety
For kids with ADHD, reading can be like walking backwards, while blindfolded, in a handstand: bizarrely hard and no fun at all. Help your child find the joy in a good story and eliminate reading anxiety with these tips.
Your child with attention deficit disorder (ADHD or ADD) tells you she hates reading. But really she’s just frustrated, and emotionally wiped out by its difficulty.
When reading is mentally taxing and unenjoyable, kids avoid it – and often develop reading anxiety.
Help your child learn to enjoy a good story with the tips in this video.
1. Choose books about your child’s interests.
If your child is a Pokémon fanatic, pick up the latest Pikachu novel.
Books need not be educational to build literacy skills.
2. Be open to graphic novels.
Though filled with artwork, these texts have narrative passages and dialogue bubbles on every page.
Their total word count is lower, but graphic novels can be a confidence-building step toward longer texts.
3. Use audiobooks effectively.
Hearing a story alleviates the mental burden of interpreting the words on the page, while still building language skills.
Audiobooks allow listeners to practice the same language processing skills that visual reading does.
4. Pair books with their movie version.
Let kids watch the movie first, then read the book.
Knowing the plot and characters in advance can make the novel easier to digest and interpret.
5. Take them to the library.
Set your children free to wander the stacks and pick a book — or eight. It’s so much more fun than looking up titles and summaries online.
Learn More About How to Reduce Reading Anxiety
1. Read: Beef Up Reading Skills
2. Download: Apps & Extensions That Improve Productivity and Learning
3. Podcast: Beyond Dyslexia: Overcoming Reading Challenges for Kids with ADHD
4. Blog: “How My Dyslexic Son Fell Out of Love with Books and How I Brought Him Back”
