The right way to teach reading (and writing and math) for a child with dyslexia — structured, multisensory, and proven — with the exact tools and how to use them at home. All free. And free guides walk you through the IEP, step by step.
Special education is buried under jargon and fear — and it can quietly bankrupt a good family, one therapist at a time. It doesn't have to. So much of what your child's therapists do, you can learn to do at home — for free, in your living room, at the park. You have the ability. We'll show you how.
Made for struggling and dyslexic readers, ages 3–18. Daily story adventures your child stars in, with real decoding practice woven in — 15 minutes a night. Start with a reading check to see exactly where they are.
✅ New here? Don't try everything — pick one idea this week and start there. Want it on the fridge? 🖨️ Print the one-page home cheat-sheet →
Kids with dyslexia don't need more reading — they need a different kind: explicit, systematic, multisensory phonics. That umbrella is Structured Literacy; the best-known approaches are Orton-Gillingham and the Wilson Reading System.
A great reading specialist is trained/certified (O-G, Wilson, or a CALT), teaches sound-by-sound in order, and uses decodable books (only the patterns your child has learned) so they actually succeed.
Worth a pro for: diagnosed dyslexia genuinely benefits from a trained instructor — but you can powerfully reinforce it daily.
These either teach reading the right way (structured, multisensory) or take the pressure off so your child keeps learning while they catch up. Two are free for kids with a diagnosed reading disability.
A massive library your child can listen to with the words highlighting along — free for students with a qualifying reading disability. One of the best-kept secrets for dyslexic kids: they keep up with grade-level content while they learn to decode.
bookshare.org →Audiobooks read by real people (not robots), made for kids with dyslexia, plus parent support. Many schools provide it free — ask yours, and put it in the IEP.
learningally.org →Both put real, science-of-reading instruction into kid-friendly, game-based practice. Nessy is playful and Orton-Gillingham-based; Lexia Core5 is the structured-literacy program many schools use, available to families too. Great for daily reinforcement between tutoring.
nessy.com → lexiaforhome.com →Every device your child owns can read text aloud for free — Speak Screen on iPad, Immersive Reader on Microsoft/Chromebook. A free accommodation that changes everything, and one your child's IEP can require the school to allow.
More dyslexia help →When a child has the ideas but writing them is agony, these tools let the ideas out — by typing with help, or just by talking. Read our full dysgraphia guide — signs, help at home & the accommodations that change everything →
Your child talks; the device types. It's built into every iPad, phone, and into Google Docs (Voice Typing). For a kid with dysgraphia, this can turn a 45-minute battle into a 5-minute story — and it's free.
Co:Writer predicts the word your child is reaching for (even with wild spelling) and reads it back. Snap&Read reads any text aloud and can simplify hard vocabulary. Both are widely used in schools — ask for them in the IEP.
donjohnston.com →A toolbar for Chrome/Google Docs with text-to-speech, dictation, word prediction, and picture dictionaries. Some features are free; teachers can get it free, so your school may already have licenses.
read&write →For kids who understand math but can't physically organize it on paper.
Free "digital graph paper" — each number drops into its own box so equations line up perfectly, no handwriting needed. Built for dyscalculia and dysgraphia; the makers keep it free on purpose.
modmath.com →Snap a photo of a problem and it shows the steps — great for a child (or parent) who needs to see how, not just the answer. Use it to learn, not to skip the thinking.
photomath.com →Honest guardrails from people who've been there. There's a lot of expensive "help" out there that doesn't work — here's what to watch for.
Under federal law (IDEA), your school must provide — at no cost to you — the evaluation, the services written into the IEP (speech, OT, and more), and the assistive technology your child needs, including an AAC "talking" device, when the team agrees it's necessary. They can't make you use your private insurance, and they can't delay it while waiting on funding.
If you disagree with the school's evaluation, you have the right to an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) at the district's expense — a fresh evaluation from an outside expert that the school pays for. Most parents never learn this exists.
Private insurance and Medicaid often cover speech, OT, and ABA therapy, AAC devices, and evaluations when they're "medically necessary." Many states also have Medicaid waivers for children with disabilities that cover even more — sometimes regardless of family income. Ask your pediatrician for the referrals, and your state's Medicaid/waiver office about eligibility.
A fast-growing number of states give families of children with disabilities an Education Savings Account (ESA), scholarship, or voucher that can pay for private school, tutoring, therapy, and learning tech — sometimes $10,000–$30,000 a year (Texas, North Carolina, Arizona, Tennessee, Florida and more). Amounts and rules vary by state and change often.
Used well, free AI tools (like ChatGPT) can be a beautiful, playful help — not to replace anyone, just to make hard things easier and joyful things possible. A few ideas to spark you:
Upload a photo of your child and ask AI to gently imagine them grown up as a pilot, a cowboy, an astronaut, a chef — then make a calendar of the images. Suddenly there are dreams to talk about, conversations to have, a future to picture together. (A real parent did exactly this — it was magic.)
Ask AI to write a short, simple, reassuring story about an upcoming event — "Sam goes to the dentist" — in your child's name, step by step. Reading it a few times beforehand takes the fear out of new situations.
Describe your morning routine and ask AI to turn it into a simple, kid-friendly checklist or schedule you can print. Picture-based schedules prevent a huge share of meltdowns.
Paste a confusing line of education or medical jargon and ask AI to explain it like you're a tired parent at 10pm. (Keep it general — don't paste your child's name or private records into public AI tools.)
Ask AI to write a counting story about trains, a joke about dinosaurs, or practice questions about your child's favorite thing. Meeting them in their world builds language, connection, and joy.
A gentle note: AI is a creativity helper, not a doctor, therapist, or diagnosis. Double-check anything important, and never share your child's name, photos, or private records with public AI tools.
Keep going. Everything here is free and built for parents, not lawyers:
Everything above is for the daily work — and you can do so much of it. But the IEP itself is the legal document that decides what your child actually gets, and one expert read of it changes everything: what's missing, what to ask for, exactly what to say. That's why our free tools walk you through it: understand your IEP line by line, check every goal, and send the right letter — all free. And when you want a real person beside you, our local-help finder points you to credential-vetted advocates near you.
Pick up the tools and start today. And free guides walk you through the IEP — what to ask for, and how to build your plan.
Understand your child’s IEP — free →