Skip to the content
Peabody HomeschoolEvery homeschool law, plan, record and tool, free

Dyslexia at home

Signs worth an evaluation, and the daily teaching steps research supports while you wait.

Federal special education regulations name dyslexia among the conditions that can make up a specific learning disability, a problem with understanding or using written language that can show up in reading, writing and spelling. Only an evaluation can say whether a child has it. The What Works Clearinghouse recommends teaching letter sounds and decoding directly, and reading connected text daily.

Checked October 29, 2026.

By Peabody editors.

This page points out patterns and tells you how to ask for help. It does not diagnose anyone and is not medical advice: a doctor, psychologist or your school district's evaluation team does that.

Patterns that may be worth asking about

  • Trouble connecting letters with sounds, long after other children have it.
  • Slow, guessing reading, and strong listening and speaking.
  • Spelling that stays very hard, and words that look right in one sentence and wrong in the next.
  • Avoiding reading aloud, or getting tired and upset about reading.

What to do

Ask your child's doctor or your school district's special education office for an evaluation if the pattern lasts and gets in the way. Under the federal regulations either a parent or the school can ask for an initial evaluation, and a state can set its own timeline.

What helps at home while you wait

  • Teach sounds and word-reading directly, a few at a time, in order.
  • Have your child read short connected text every day, and read longer books aloud to them.
  • Keep lessons short and end on something they can do.
  • Use decodable readers that only use sounds your child has learned.

Sources