A simple coloured overlay can really help overcome difficulty with reading.

Parents often come to our tuition centre and ask us how to deal with reluctant readers and writers.  This issue is a real worry for those parents.  A lack of reading or writing can easily lead to slower learning and a lack of motivation when it comes to school.

The very first thing to do is to rule out any specific reason for their reluctance in reading and writing.  Many reluctant readers and writers are dyslexic and lots have dyslexic tendancies. 

Having ruled this out or in, you still need to motivate your little learner.

First of all, what do they already read?  Many reluctant readers prefer factual books to story books, so bear this in mind.  Reading is reading so if they will only read comics, keep encouraging them with this, and you might like to buy them some manga books  to extend their interest.

We love the Mega Mash series – with titles such as Romans v Dinosaurs on Mars, they may be targeted at boys but we often find that reluctant reader girls take to ‘boy-type’ books far more readily than they do to the ‘sparkly princess’ genre of literature.  There is space in the books to add to the pictures and blank speech bubbles to add dialogue.  The website has lots of activities and is well worth a look.

Spending time writing outside of school can be a tough sell if your child doesn’t generally enjoy it, so why not take the opportunity to work on their spellings, grammar and creative writing skills online? 

The BBC can’t be beaten for spelling activities; there are oodles of them, but two we especially love are the mnemonics activities here and the haunted house activity here.  

An abundance of grammar related links can be found here – you will need to pick out the areas your child needs to focus on, and we also recommend Power Proofreading.  

Homophones are commonly confused, so have a look at this comprehensive guide here  – again this is the BBC, and it includes a fun game to play. 

To spark your child’s creative writing interest, visit story plant.  It’s more of a reading activity than a writing activity, but its engaging visuals will draw your child in.

Next, story starts are a very engaging, easy to use resource for reluctant writers and this myth machine helps you come up with a myth of your own.

Finally, when your child is fully enthused and ready to produce their own written creations from scratch, visit Storybird, which allows your child to write their own (short) book and add beautiful graphics.  You can even have it printed up as a real book for a small fee.

If your child needs more support with reading and writing (or maths, science or entrance exam preparation), why not give Better Tuition a call on 0161 748 3912?  You can book a FREE assessment and find out today why we’re better.