Free Resources for Parents at Apricot Tree Academy

Apricot Tree Academy gives parents a collection of free tools—guides, a checklist, a sample IEP, syllable songs, instructional videos, and a free lesson sample—to support a child with dyslexia at home. A dyslexia diagnosis can feel overwhelming, and you may not know where to begin tonight. These resources are designed to answer your first questions, help you advocate at school, and give you practical, structured-literacy activities you can use right away.

What free resources does Apricot Tree Academy offer?

Discovering that your child has dyslexia can be overwhelming. You may have a stack of questions, a child who is frustrated, and no clear sense of what to do first. That is exactly why we offer a selection of free resources—designed to empower parents and support struggling readers without asking anything in return. Free resources are practical, research-based tools that any parent can use immediately, with no purchase or sign-up required.

Here is what you will find:

• Parent Guide — My Child Has Dyslexia, Now What? A practical walk-through of the first steps after a diagnosis.
• Testing Guide — Does My Child Have Dyslexia? Common signs, testing options, and how to pursue an evaluation.
• Dyslexia Checklist. An easy-to-use list of typical indicators of dyslexia in children.
• Sample IEP Form. A parent-friendly example of an Individualized Education Program for a child with dyslexia.
• Syllable Songs. Memorable songs that teach syllable types and build phonological awareness.
• Instructional Videos. Short demonstrations of decoding and multisensory reading strategies.
• Sample Lesson. A free lesson from our structured-literacy intervention program.
• Blog Posts. Articles full of parent tips on confidence, support at home, and navigating school.

Which guides help right after a diagnosis?

The hardest moment is often the first one. Our parent guide, My Child Has Dyslexia, Now What?, is built for that moment. It walks you through understanding your child’s needs, advocating effectively, and beginning the journey toward confident reading. If you have ever felt paralyzed by not knowing the next step, this guide gives you one. It pairs well with our article on what to do when your child was just diagnosed with dyslexia, which lays out the same first steps in a longer, conversational form.

If you suspect your child is struggling but have not received a formal diagnosis yet, start with the testing guide, Does My Child Have Dyslexia? It outlines the common signs to watch for, the testing options available to families, and the steps to take toward a formal evaluation. For a deeper look at the evaluation process, our dyslexia testing guide for parents explains what assessments measure and how to read the results.

Both guides are written in plain language on purpose. Dyslexia comes wrapped in jargon—phonological processing, decoding, fluency, accommodations—and that vocabulary can make an already stressful moment harder. Our aim is to translate it. You should be able to read a guide in one sitting, understand what is happening with your child, and walk away with a concrete next action rather than a longer list of worries. That is the difference between information and support, and these resources are built to be the second kind.

How do the checklist and sample IEP help with school?

Two of our free resources are aimed squarely at the school relationship. The Dyslexia Checklist helps you identify typical indicators of dyslexia and gives you concrete language to bring to a teacher or specialist. It is especially useful for early awareness, before a problem becomes a crisis, and it pairs naturally with our parent’s checklist of the signs of dyslexia in children ages 5–10.

The Sample IEP Form demystifies one of the more intimidating parts of having a child with dyslexia: the Individualized Education Program meeting. It shows you how accommodations and goals are actually written, so you walk into a meeting knowing what to expect rather than reacting in real time. Reading a real example ahead of time is one of the simplest ways to feel prepared—and our guide to prepping for your IEP meeting takes you the rest of the way.

What can I use to teach reading at home?

Support does not stop at the school door. Several of our free resources are made for the kitchen table:

• Syllable Songs turn syllable types and spelling patterns into something your child can hum, which is a friendly on-ramp to phonological awareness.
• Instructional Videos show effective reading strategies, decoding techniques, and multisensory methods in short, clear clips you can watch and then try together.
• The Sample Lesson gives you a real peek into our structured-literacy approach, so you can see how explicit, sequential, multisensory instruction supports lasting progress.

What ties these together is that none of them ask you to be a reading specialist. Structured literacy is an explicit, systematic, multisensory method for teaching reading that is especially effective for children with dyslexia. The free materials are deliberately small bites of that method—a song, a short video, a single lesson—so you can build confidence as a teacher before committing to a full program. Even ten or fifteen focused minutes a day, done consistently, helps lay down the brain pathways a struggling reader needs. You do not have to do everything at once; you just have to start, and then keep showing up.

These tools reflect the same Orton-Gillingham and Science of Reading principles that run through our full Dyslexia Intervention Curriculum. If you want a structured, lesson-by-lesson path after sampling the free materials, that is where it lives, and our parent courses and supplementary materials extend it further. Parents who want a print companion can also pick up the workbook on Amazon.

How do I access these free resources?

There is no gate. You do not need to create an account, hand over a credit card, or sit through a sales pitch. Just browse our site and open whichever resource fits where you are right now. Everything is practical and research-based, chosen to help your child thrive rather than to upsell you.

If you are not sure where to begin, a simple order works for most families. First, figure out where your child stands: use the checklist and the testing guide if you are still gathering evidence, or move straight to the parent guide if a diagnosis is already in hand. Next, get ready for school with the sample IEP form so the next meeting feels familiar instead of foreign. Then start practicing at home with the syllable songs, the instructional videos, and the sample lesson, a few minutes at a time. Finally, keep learning alongside your child through our blog, which covers building confidence, supporting reading at home, and working with school systems. Take them in whatever order serves your family—there is no wrong way to use a free resource.

If you have questions about which resource to start with, or you want help mapping the free materials to your child’s specific needs, reach out through our contact page and we will point you in the right direction. You are not alone in this. With the right guidance and support, your child can become a confident, joyful reader—and these free tools are a real place to begin.