Students with learning disabilities in basic reading and reading comprehension are often severely disadvantaged in early school years while learning to read. This difficulty may continue in middle, high school, or college years where reading is necessary to learn in any content class. Out of frustration, many children with LDs or dyslexia are reluctant to read and will avoid it whenever possible. Fortunately, there are many ways to help.
More Learning Disabilities Quick Tips
Audio books can be used as part of a special education program and can be included in individual education programs or section 504 plans as adaptations for assessment and classwork.
Using audio books is one way to help your child continue to learn content in the classroom despite having a reading disability. Students are usually open to using audio books, and many are available free from the web for download for playback through computers or mp3 players, making them pass the "cool factor test" so important to teens and tweens. Students may also use audio books along with reading to help with reading assignments in literature or those in the widely used Accelerated Reader program.
Find Free Audio Books for Download:
- AudioBooksforFree.com - This site has a wide selection of classic and modern literature, as well as fairly recent non-fiction. It has a nifty rating system for parents. Audio books having adult content or strong language are clearly marked.
- Literalsystems.orgThis site has a limited collection, focusing mainly on classic literature. The quality, however, is quite good.
- LibriVox.org has a collection of nearly 1000 works of literature in the public domain. Works were generally published before 1923.
- Project Gutenberg is possibly the most comprehensive collection of free audio books on the web. Many are read by volunteers, and some are computer-generated. The site also carries selections in several world languages.
