How Audiobooks Help Students With Dyslexia
Updated: Apr 28

Children's audiobooks are beneficial for all types of readers! However, audiobooks can help children with learning disabilities in ways that traditional methods cannot.
How Audiobooks Help Students with Dyslexia
Makes reading less stressful vs. traditional reading
Increases motivation to learn
Improves confidence in reading
Puts the focus on understanding vs. decoding written text
Teaches new vocabulary
Helps with pronunciation and fluent reading
Improves reading comprehension
While reading can be a frustrating experience for dyslexic students, audiobooks can provide an enjoyable and engaging way to experience stories.
Traditional reading can make it difficult for students with dyslexia to decode and understand written text. By listening to audiobooks, children can focus on understanding the story rather than struggling with sounding out the words. While they're listening, they'll learn new words and strengthen their vocabulary, enabling them to comprehend the text they are reading on a deeper level. Audiobooks take the pressure off of sounding out and decoding the words so the child can comprehend and enjoy the story.
Listening to audiobooks also allows students who struggle with reading to access higher level text than they would otherwise be able to read on their own. This can help with keeping the child engaged and motivated especially as they enter the higher grades where the grade level expectations are much greater.
You'll also find audiobooks for kids can be a great motivator for children struggling with dyslexia. Those who find reading to be challenging, especially those with dyslexia, often resist picking up a book. When we are able to take the pressure off and make reading enjoyable for kids they are much more likely to want to read, be motivated to read, and enjoy the process.
While the list below isn't a complete list of possible books, it's certainly a great start for your young reader. We encourage you to try audio textbooks for dyslexic students, scholastic audio books, and audio books with text. Let your child have access to them while traveling on road trips, on the way to doctor's appointments or while traveling around town. Being able to hear books read aloud can help your child become an independent reader before you know it!
Smart Start Tutors Top Recommended list of Audiobooks for 1st - 5th Graders
Best Audiobooks for 1st graders and 2nd graders:
"Magic Tree House" series by Mary Pope Osborne, narrated by Mary Pope Osborne and other narrators | "Frog and Toad" series by Arnold Lobel, narrated by Mark Linn-Baker |
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