Listening to Books Read Aloud, An Entryway to Literacy
In my experience as a special educator, and dyslexia therapist, offering students the opportunity to listen to books while following along with text often provides a gateway to reading for children who would otherwise not be able to access text. For many children with reading disabilities the task of sounding out words can be overwhelming and exhausting, leaving little mental energy left over to comprehend what they encounter. For these children, reading can become a dreaded chore. Pairing text with a read aloud feature can enable many of these children to access literature and begin to enjoy books on their own while leveling the playing field of the classroom.
There are several free internet programs that offer access to digital books for children that come with a read aloud feature. For younger children, Unite for Literacy (www.uniteforliteracy.com) provides free digital access to books with read alouds available in different languages. Oxford Owl is another source for free digital read alouds. You will need to sign up for a free subscription and books are read with a British accent since it’s from the UK. Youtube is also a great source for read alouds, especially thanks to the pandemic. While doing some remote reading instruction, I found many popular children’s books read aloud by teachers and posted with the text on youtube.
For students with documented print disabilities two programs offering digital text read alouds are Bookshare and Learning Ally. Both programs allow students to track text and take notes while reading. You can apply on your own and provide the necessary documentation of your child’s disability or your school district can provide you with an account.
For children and adults with reading disabilities, the opportunity to experience the joy of reading through listening to books can open a new world of possibilities and opportunities. Whether it’s joining in a conversation about the escapades of James Marshall’s Fox in first grade or being able to give a personal opinion on SE Hinton’s The Outsiders in eighth or ninth grade, listening to books can be the key that unlocks the door to the world of reading.
