Most parents of multiple children have uttered, “They’re all so different!” While uniqueness is an unsurprising aspect of being human, we may not anticipate all the ways our children’s differences affect our parenting—how we discipline them, what sports and activities they pursue, and so on. But do we consider how differences affect discipleship?
As parents, we want all our children to love the Bible, follow God’s Word, and grow in relationship with Christ. But some children face significant obstacles to reading the Bible due to dyslexia, visual processing disorder, or other reading challenges.
While literacy isn’t a prerequisite for growing in Christlikeness, the gift of reading enables a child to approach the Bible on his own and prompts individual growth in the wisdom and knowledge of God. For children who may not be able to read from their own unabridged Bible right away, parents can provide resources to alleviate some reading challenges.
Resources for Reading God’s Word
In our family’s quest to equip a struggling reader with compelling Bible stories and Scriptures with clear, readable font, a few resources have proven invaluable.
1. Read-Aloud Bible Stories: Volumes 1–5 by Ella K. Lindvall
We’ve read this series with all our children, regardless of reading ability. But it has particular benefits for struggling readers. The bold graphics, large-scale print, and small amount of text on each page make the books accessible as beginning reading texts. Each volume consists of a few Bible stories (with accompanying chapter and verse references) retold in simple language.
2. The Big Picture Story Bible by David Helm
One challenge is finding clear, easy-to-read texts that include more than just a sampling of random Bible stories. As a step toward reading the whole story of Scripture in one book, we’ve loved The Big Picture Story Bible. While there are more words per page than in Lindvall’s volumes, the text is still presented in a clear, readable font, and the spacing between words and lines makes it a great choice for struggling readers.
3. The Jesus Storybook Bible Deluxe Edition by Sally Lloyd-Jones
Companion audiobooks can help struggling readers. For example, listening to the Jesus Storybook Bible CDs (included in the deluxe edition) can help children become familiar with the language, enabling them to read the text more easily. Or the audio version can be used to remove the difficulty of reading altogether. Undoubtedly, there are days when struggling readers need a break from the high demand of reading-heavy school days and homework. The Jesus Storybook Bible audiobook offers a winsome way to meet that need.
4. ESV Super Giant Print Bible by Crossway
While volumes of Bible stories, simplified texts, and audiobooks are wonderful resources for Christian discipleship, there’s no replacement for the Bible itself. So we want to get the whole Bible into our children’s hands as early as possible.
Most children’s or youth Bibles include line after line of small print, often accompanied by distracting inserts and sidebars that are unhelpful for struggling readers. Standard versions offer little better, with thin pages of tiny print that make for shadowy, difficult-to-read text.
At last, we stumbled upon the ESV Super Giant Print Bible—and our son’s personal Bible reading was transformed. This particular version boasts 17-point font and includes a black piece of cardstock to tuck behind the page in view, eliminating the distraction of bleed-through shadows. While the number of words on a page can still be challenging, this Bible has enabled our struggling reader to read God’s Word for himself—what a gift!
5. Guided Reading Strips and Other Aids
For children with dyslexia or other reading challenges, using guided reading strips or a ruler can help focus their attention on the text they’re reading and eliminate the distractions of surrounding words and sentences. Placing a folded piece of paper or an index card over a portion of a page can offer similar benefits.
While Bible stories, simplified texts, and audiobooks are wonderful resources, there’s simply no replacement for the Bible itself.
Digital tools abound, such as the options on many electronic reading tablets to select a clear font and manipulate the text size for optimal readability. However, in our experience, holding a book in your own hands, leafing through its pages, and interacting with it tangibly offers something that reading on tablets can’t replace.
Of all the tasks we perform as parents, surely leading our children toward God’s Word is one of the most important. The Bible is the foundation we want our children to build their lives upon because it is “able to make [them] wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 3:15). With guidance from parents and help from these wonderful resources, even struggling readers can access God’s Word.
The Gospel Coalition