Last term we finally undertook a well overdue task. That was to deliberately purchase books to support our dyslexic readers. We had some books in dyslexia-friendly fonts and formats and a few from publishers like Barrington Stokes, but I hadn’t spent the time I should have to deliberately purchase more of these titles.
I was prompted to finally take action thanks to a conversation with a year 7 student in one of my library lessons. She shared with me some of the things that would make reading easier for her. Things like short chapters, images on the page and text that was spread out. She shared some of the challenges she had with reading and with being able to find books that interested her but that she was still able to read. That prompted me to take action and make sure we had a diverse range of titles that would appeal to all our readers.
Here’s some of the ways we are now supporting our readers with a variety of formats.
Ebooks and audiobooks
This one is not new but it’s worth mentioning. I always show our students how to access ebooks and audiobooks. I particularly show them how to change the settings on ebooks so they can use different fonts, including the dyslexia friendly font, increase font size and spacing, change the background colour and use the immersive reader tool. The Wheelers ePlatform is wonderful at providing these features for our readers. I also show them how to use the immersive reader tool to translate between languages, which is great for our students for whom English is an additional language.
We also talk about how audiobooks are so good for reading and do count as real reading. My heart has broken when I hear my young students tell me that they haven’t been allowed to read audiobooks because it “doesn’t count”. I’m hoping to always to continue to fight these myths and falsehoods that cause so much damage.
Books in dyslexic friendly font
We are able to purchase a wide range of books in dyslexic-friendly font. These are books that are usually mainstream published and are reprinted in this font and in a large font format. They have the same mainstream published cover on the front but also have a distinctive spine and edge around the cover that make them easy to spot. We have a list of these books but they are shelves within each genre, sitting alongside the mainstream printed version.
Dyslexic-friendly editions
There are some awesome new series out that are specifically catered to dyslexic readers, like the Shakespeare Dyslexic-Friendly series. These are unabridged original editions that formatted with tinted pages and dyslexic-friendly font. These have been shelved within their genres within our collection.
Dyslexic-friendly specially printed books
These books are written with dyslexic readers in mind. Not only is the font dyslexic friendly and the pages tinted, they are specifically written to be engaging but quick reads. These have been shelved in our new Quick Read section.
High low books
These books are written with a low reading level but with an interest age that is much higher. They are short and catchy. Some do stereotype the kind of students who are reading them and I’ve found a few of them to be quite mature, better suited to our year 10 and up students, rather than our year 6-8 students, but they are good to have in the collection. These have been shelved in our new Quick Read section, along with our choose your own adventure titles.
Where to source these books
Here’s a few of my favourite places to find these books or publishers creating these works.
Larrikin House curated dyslexia friendly variety packs and books
The Response
The response from students has been overwhelmingly positive. Some students thanked me for purchasing these titles. We purchased them collaboratively with students, following our student-driven collection development approach, which means I asked students to browse the above websites and pick titles they were interested in. Students commented that they’d never had a librarian take interest in what they needed to read before, which was sad to hear and reminded me of the importance of catering to all our students. I’ve had other students ask to see the list of the titles we hold and are enjoying browsing and borrowing from our selection. We are already adding more books and will continue to do so.