Free Audio Resources

As we collectively turn in to home for the foreseeable future, many good resources are now available for free.  The resources I’ve listed below are particularly useful for kids with dyslexia.  Audio books are an excellent resource for people with dyslexia as they can learn, enjoy a great story, and let their imagination run wild without the struggles and restrictions of reading.

Reading aloud (me reading to my kids) was a key component of our homeschool life, and one I highly recommend. I am a good reader, but I found reading aloud to be rather challenging initially.  If you have the same problem, I encourage you to keep going.  Your kids don’t care, they just love hearing you read.  However, if you are working from home you need something to keep the kids busy and engaged that doesn’t require any of your time.  Audiobooks are the answer!

https://stories.audible.com/start-listen   These are free audiobooks, for kids aged 2 – 18.  You do not need to create an account, sign-in, or anything.  Just click, choose a title, and start listening.  They are sorted into age groups, but don’t let that limit you.  For example, the Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling are in the Littlest Listener section, but kids of any age will enjoy it, and as an adult I enjoy listening too.  I would consider the age listings to be more of a guideline to ensure that younger kids aren’t listening to content that is too mature for them, but that does not mean older kids won’t enjoy the younger content.  I’ve used audio books at mealtimes, while kids are doing arts and crafts, playing Lego, or some other quiet activity.  This site has been getting a lot of traffic, so keep trying if you can’t connect right away.  You can use audible on a phone, tablet, desktop, laptop, etc.

www.storylineonline.net This site features actors reading books aloud, with the pictures being shown as the story is read.  All the books have activity guides you can download.  Some books only have activity guides for teachers, some have guides for teachers and parents.  Even the teachers’ guides can be adapted to use at home.  When you look at the books, there is a picture of the book’s cover with relevant information listed underneath including run time and suggested grade level.  There is a link at the bottom for the Activity Guide (which will immediately download when clicked) and a Buy This Book link.  That is only if you want to buy a hardcopy of the book.  You do NOT have to buy the book.  If you click on the picture of the cover of the book, you will be able to watch the video of it being read.  The video and the activity guides are free of charge, and no log in is required.  One of the great things about this website is that if you click the CC (closed captioning) at the bottom right side of the video screen, the words are shown along with the picture.  This way, a struggling reader can follow along with the text while listening to the story.  This will help them to strengthen their speed and fluidity of reading.  If they are reading the story as well as listening to it, make sure to choose stories that are a bit below their grade level, so they don’t get frustrated if the story is read out loud faster than they can read it.  Again, you can use the activity guides, or just enjoy the stories without the extra activities.

These are the best dyslexia friendly story resources I’ve found so far, but I’m sure they aren’t the only ones!  Please add your finds to the comments so we can all benefit from the great resources available right now.