The Learning Difference: 12 Online Resources and Apps for Dyslexic Students

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Many of These (Mostly Free) Tools Can Help Dyslexic Students Succeed With Various Tasks

While in the recent past a student with dyslexia could be overlooked by the education system, it’s now recognised and teachers and equipped with all the skills they need to accommodate a dyslexic child. There is no reason for a dyslexic student not to thrive in the classroom, particularly when they are aided with these 12 online resources and apps that can help them feel less ostracized and different from other pupils. Dyslexia has no impact on a child’s intelligence, it simply makes certain acts more challenging, and these apps help level the playing field.

1. Google Play Books

This app is really great, particularly on Android devices. This is also free, which makes it accessible for all students, and is a great way for student to tackle English classes, or any kind of reading tasks involving literature. This uses text-to-speech technology that also highlights the text in synchronisation with the speech, so students can read along with the speech, improving their confidence in reading without slowing them down.

2. Pocket

Pocket is a great tool for older students who want to read the news and stay abreast of current affairs, without getting frustrated at reading the complicated articles. It’s also useful for classes that involve current affairs or politics, as all articles can be stored in the pocket app, and then read aloud later.

3. Easy Word Count

Many students may set themselves targets of how much they want to read or write a day in order to try and improve their skills, and this is a great website to monitor whether they’re meeting those targets.

4. vBookz

This is another text to speech app that reads aloud with synchronised highlighting, and is also free on android devices. However this app can convert images, such as PDFs, which are just pictures of text, into speech, so can read aloud all kinds of documents.

5. Big Assignments

Before handing in an assignment to a teacher, a dyslexic student may wish to have it proofread or edited by an expert, which is a service readily available with this website.

6. Ginger Page

This is a great app for dyslexic students as it provides a more in-depth spell check compared to standard software. This will pick up on issues that can be specific to dyslexic students, such as when incorrect homonyms have been used.

7. Paper Fellows

Sometimes dyslexic students may seek out support or advice for writing, and they may not always want to consult their teacher for support. Paper Fellows is a great website with supportive forums for all kinds of writing issues, and students can ask for help anonymously, without any embarrassment.

8. Paper Port Notes

It’s indisputable that note taking is vital to the learning process; especially once students are in high school or college. This can be a challenge for dyslexic students, who may struggle to write at the same speed as their teacher or professor speaks.  This app provides many features so students can take comprehensive notes, that they can highlight, add diagrams and images, and even import audio or images of text into. This is a great holistic tool to help make learning and revising easier.

10. Quizlet

This is a great app that is free on both iOS and Android. Students rarely study without flashcards, and for that reason alone, this is a useful app, as it keeps all their flashcards in one place to help make studying easier. However, this app also has features such as text-to-speech technology, which make it easy to use for dyslexic students too.

11. Adobe Voice

Standing up and giving a presentation in front of their peers is a big deal for any student. This is multiplied for dyslexic students who will be self-conscious about the written quality of a power point presentation; however this can be avoided by using Adobe Voice, which creates presentations made up of voice narration and images, while text is still optional.

12. Mind Meister

This is another great free app. Mind Meister acts as an organizer for students, and allows them to store files and images, including PDFs, which make revising and checking over classwork much more accessible.

Dyslexia no longer means that a child is left behind in class, or made to feel less intelligent than their classmates. Using the above online tools can really ensure that every dyslexic student fulfils their maximum potential.