What happens in online dyslexia intervention: a session walkthrough

An online dyslexia intervention session is a live, one-to-one video lesson of 45 to 60 minutes. The child works from a notebook at home while the therapist shares letter cards, a whiteboard, and short stories on screen. Every session has the same shape: review known sounds, teach one new rule, practise it with cards, dictation, and reading.

Why parents ask this question

Most parents who write to me have already read about what dyslexia is. What they really want to know is more practical: what does a session actually look like, and can something this hands-on work through a screen? I have been teaching this way for several years now, across India, the Gulf, Singapore, Australia, the UK, and the US, and the honest answer is that the screen changes the tools, not the teaching. This post walks you through one session, built from the ordinary sessions I run every week, so you can picture it before your child sits down for the first one.

A note before we start. This is not a tutoring hour where we go through school homework. The session rebuilds the skills reading depends on, in a fixed order, and we only move forward when the last step holds. If you want the thinking behind that order, I have described it in what does a remedial teacher actually do in a session. What follows is the online version, with the screen in the picture.

Before the session: what is on the table

On the child’s side, the setup is simple: a laptop or tablet with the camera on, a notebook, a pencil, and an eraser. Nothing else. Some families print a set of letter cards I send them; one mother made her own in colour and they worked beautifully. On my side, I have a shared whiteboard, a set of letter cards the child can move on screen, a few decodable stories, and the notes from the last session telling me exactly where we stopped.

The first two minutes are not teaching. I check that I can see the child’s face and that the child can hear me clearly. We talk for a moment about breakfast, or the weekend, or the football match. This sounds like small talk, and it is, but it is also how I read whether the child has slept, whether something is upsetting them, and how much energy we have to work with today. A tired or anxious child learns very little, and it is better to know that before we start than halfway through.

Minutes 3 to 10: the sound drill

Every session starts with the sounds. I say a sound; the child writes the letter or letters that make it in the notebook and holds the page up to the camera. We go through the single letters quickly, then the ones that need more thought: the two letters that make “sh”, the three sounds of “y”, the vowel teams like “ee” and “ea”. For older children I add a quick review of the rules we have already learned, said aloud in one breath: “when do we write ck?”, “what does c say before i, e, or y?”

This is where the online format earns its place. Because the notebook is held up to the camera, I see the letter being formed, not just the finished word. I catch the cross-stroke on a “t” going the wrong way, or a “b” that is really a “d”, and we fix it in that moment rather than discovering it in a spelling test three weeks later.

Children who have been with me for a while also write a key sentence for each vowel sound, a sentence they have memorised that carries every spelling of that sound, and then underline the letters doing the work. It takes four minutes and it is the single most reliable spelling memory tool I know.

Minutes 10 to 25: one new thing

Then we teach one new rule, and only one. Today it might be the rule for doubling f, l, and s at the end of a short word, or why “fence” and “twice” end in “ce” rather than “s”. I write it on the shared whiteboard, give two or three example words, and then hand the next step to the child: “give me a word that works the same way.” A child who can generate “shell” and “miss” after seeing “fell” and “mess” has understood the rule. A child who can only copy it has not, and I would rather find that out now.

The explanations are short and plain. For “ce”, I say: “if you write s here, it looks like a plural, and that doesn’t work. So we use ce.” For syllables: “each syllable has one vowel sound. That’s the rule.” Children remember rules that come with a reason.

The session rebuilds the skills reading depends on, in a fixed order, and we only move forward when the last step holds.

I do not wait for perfection before moving on, especially with older children. If a rule is holding about eight times out of ten, we go to the next one and keep revisiting the old one inside new work. It is like multiplication tables: you go, you go, you go, and you keep coming back to the basics. Waiting for a full hundred percent bores an older child, and boredom costs more than the occasional slip.

Minutes 25 to 35: letter cards and word chains

Now the child gets control of the letter cards on screen. We play a chain: start with “zip”, change one sound to make “zap”, then “chap”, then “chat”, then “chart”. Each move swaps a single card. This looks like a game, and the children treat it as one, but it is doing something precise: it forces the child to hear which sound changed and find the letters for it, without the crutch of guessing the whole word from its shape.

When we count sounds, one card stands for one sound, however many letters spell it. “Goat” has three cards, not four. “Crab” has four, because c and r are two separate sounds. I say this out loud every time until the child says it before I do.

Somewhere in here we take a break. Five jumping jacks, or a frog jump, or a walk to get water. Two minutes, and the second half of the session goes better for it.

Minutes 35 to 45: dictation

Next, I dictate. Sometimes it is ten words on today’s pattern. Sometimes it is sentences: “The weed will grow. I will feed the sheep.” The child repeats the sentence back, writes it, and holds it up. If something is wrong, I do not give the answer. I ask a question instead: “is that an i sound or an e sound?”, “will it be c or k here?”, “check the vowel.” The child works it out and rewrites it. Correcting a word yourself is what makes it stay; being handed the correction is what makes it fade.

With a child whose parent is in the room, this is also the moment I ask the parent to hold back. It is natural to want to help. But at school there will be nobody whispering the answer, and the child needs practice at asking the teacher instead.

Minutes 45 to 55: reading something real

Then we read. Not a random book, but a short story written so that most of its words use patterns the child already has, with a few of today’s words planted in it. The child reads aloud. I pre-teach the two or three words that break the rules before we begin, so they do not become a wall in the middle of a sentence.

I try not to interrupt a child who is reading and getting the sense of it. Stopping at every slip breaks the flow and, worse, teaches the child that reading is a test. Instead I stop at the halfway point and ask, “what do you think happens next?” The child does not know we are doing comprehension. We just are.

With older children, the reading sometimes comes from their own school books. A biology chapter is a perfectly good text for a session on syllable division, and a mind map drawn on the whiteboard afterwards means the session helps with Friday’s test as well as with reading.

The last five minutes

We finish on something the child wants: a short video of a decodable story, a game, or a few minutes of the child showing me something they are proud of. Then one line of homework, always small: finish these two flashcards, or photograph the dictation and send it to me. Most families send it on WhatsApp the same evening.

Between sessions, I write down what held and what did not. The next session is planned from that note, not from a textbook page. That is why the pace is different for every child, and why I cannot tell you in week one exactly what week ten will contain.

What the parent sees

Parents often ask whether they should sit in. For a young child, especially in the first weeks, yes: sit nearby, help with the camera, and keep snacks for afterwards. For an older child, I would rather you were not in the room. The session works better when it belongs to the child, and you will hear everything you need in our monthly call, where we go through what has been covered, what is next, and what you can do at home that matches what I am doing.

You will also see the technology misbehave now and then. Audio drops, a screen share freezes, a hotspot gives out. We lose a minute, we reconnect, we carry on. In several years of teaching this way I have not had a child’s progress held back by the connection, as long as sessions happen often enough that nothing fades in between. That frequency, usually three or four sessions a week, matters more than any single lesson, and I have written about why in the Orton-Gillingham post.

Does online really work for this?

I understand the doubt, because I had it too before I started. What I have found is that the parts of the method that matter most, saying sounds, writing them, building words, reading aloud, and being corrected gently and immediately, all travel through a camera without loss. What online adds is that the child is at home, calm, in their own chair, with no travel and no waiting room, and that I can teach a child in Muscat at eight in the morning and a child in Chennai at five in the evening. If you want more on the practicalities, see can remedial classes be done online.

What does not travel is guesswork. I need to see exactly where your child’s reading breaks down before the first session is planned, which is why every programme at Flourishing Kids begins with a Reading & Spelling Snapshot, an informal reading and spelling assessment done the same way, live and one-to-one.

Frequently asked questions

How long is an online dyslexia intervention session?

Sessions run 45 to 60 minutes, with a short movement break in the middle. Younger children usually do better at the shorter end. The length stays the same throughout the programme; what changes is how much we cover in it.

What equipment does my child need?

A laptop or tablet with a working camera and microphone, a stable internet connection, a notebook, a pencil, and an eraser. A printed set of letter cards is useful but not essential; the cards are also available on screen.

Should I sit with my child during the session?

For children under about eight, sit close by in the first few weeks to help with the camera and keep things calm, but let the child answer. For older children, stay out of the room and rely on the monthly parent call. Either way, please do not whisper answers; the child needs the practice of working it out.

How many sessions a week does my child need?

Three to four a week is the usual pattern, because the method is cumulative and frequent sessions keep review close together. A child seen once a week spends most of each session recovering what faded. Families who can only manage two should expect slower progress rather than no progress.

Can the sessions follow my child’s school work?

Partly. The core of the session is the reading and spelling sequence, which does not follow a school syllabus. With older children, school texts and study skills such as mind maps and flashcards come into the session once the basics are secure, so the work supports exams as well as reading.

Dr. V.S. Gayathri is a Dyslexia Therapist, an Orton-Gillingham trained literacy specialist, and the founder of Flourishing Kids. She has delivered over 4,000 hours of one-to-one reading and spelling intervention, helping children across multiple countries build stronger literacy skills. If you would like to see where your child’s reading breaks down before the first session, get in touch for a free 15-minute conversation.