What Are Dyslexia Games?

Dyslexia games are designed to help children with dyslexia learn strategies and skills that will help them at least partially overcome or compensate for this learning disability. Depending on the age of the child when diagnosed, there are a variety of different dyslexia games that can be used to help children learn. Phonics games are some of the most common types of dyslexia games and include matching sounds that have student pair up letters with common objects that start with those sounds and those that have students correctly identify irregular or complex letter combinations. Many games are also designed to allow a child to explore written language through the use of their bodies, adding a kinesthetic element to reading that helps many children with dyslexia.

The symptoms of dyslexia may be caused by a physiological abnormality in the brain or by the learning of whole-word reading rather than phonetic reading. Different strategies are used to teach children with different types of dyslexia, and parents and teachers need to fully understand the specifics of each child's dyslexia before intervening with teaching strategies such as dyslexia games. Though these games are designed to be fun, for some children with severe written language impairment, they may lead to more frustration and feelings of inadequacy.

Many children do, however, benefit from the use of dyslexia games. Young children may be introduced to a number of different phonics games that help them learn to associate sounds and letters with one another. These games focus on the actual sounds the letters make rather than the names of the letters which, when different from the sounds, can lead to further confusion for a dyslexic child. Some of the more common types of phonics games for young children include letter and sound matching games that ask children to match a picture to the letter that has the correct sound and body movement games that have the child jump to a letter when an instructor makes that letter's sound.

Older children can also benefit from the use of dyslexia games. Some of these games are played more like traditional board games that ask students to perform spelling, reading, or writing tasks as a part of the gameplay. These games allow drill-type practice of skills without forcing students to complete uninventive worksheets. Children with difficulty in math can also benefit from dyslexia games. Some of these games allow for the practice of multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction, often through the use of objects that the child can move around when solving problems.