Students with reading challenges often need alternate pathways to concept mastery, and one powerful tool is color. Visual learners, in particular, respond well to color cues. Students with memory impairments also can be helped in this way.

There are a number of avenues to introduce color in reading instruction. Strategies include changing contrast on the page, color coding letters or phonic elements, highlighting specific types of information with colored cues, and using colored highlights to promote phrasing.

Contrast level between print and background has been shown to impact reading efficiency for students with certain kinds of dyslexia. Teachers and readers can adjust contrast by changing print color, background color, or both.

Digital text makes it easy to change color and contrast on the screen in a word processor or presentation program, but often is not practical to print. It’s fabulous for experimenting, though. Black print on a white background (standard print) is the highest level of contrast available. However, lowering contrast can sometimes improve problems such as tracking, fatigue, headache, and more sometimes associated with reading. Try light yellow or other pastel colors for a background of black print, or darker colors like green, blue, or brown on a white background.

Another way to change contrast level is to use colored plastic overlays. These clear pieces of plastic come in a variety of colors, and lay right over a page of print. They serve as a filter to change the contrast level. Overlays are sold at bookstores, educational supply stores, and internet outlets. They can be purchased individually or in multi-packs with a variety of colors to try.

A set of highlighting markers in at least four colors can be an invaluable tool to experiment with color cues. The colored markers allow you to cover print without obscuring it. Teachers and mentors can pre-highlight text for readers in several ways to aid comprehension. Try highlighting information about characters in one color, or causes in a color and effects in a different color.

It’s also a great tool to teach and improve phrasing. Many struggling readers read word by word, ultimately losing track of the meaning of the text. Try highlighting groups of words, such as prepositional phrases or dependent clauses, to help students read the words as a group. Ideally, teachers can help students learn to identify and highlight phrases on their own, then gradually fade the color system until readers are phrasing on their own.

Finally, color can be a helpful clue for teaching phonics and word analysis. Some commercial programs already take full advantage of this strategy, such as the Wilson System and other Orton-Gillingham-based methodologies. It’s easy to produce color-coded letter cards, either by using various colors of card stock or index cards, or by creating digital/printable letter cards on your favorite design program.

There are several strategies for color coding phonic elements. Some programs use different colors for long, short, and irregular vowel sounds. Others code consonants, vowels, and digraphs differently. Still others code letters and letter clusters to distinguish mastered from newly-introduced.

Color coding vowels and consonants differently will produce color sequence patterns that students can use to predict vowel sounds based on syllable construction. Closed syllables with short vowels form a different color sequence than syllables ending with a silent e. It can by an eye-opener for struggling students, and an invaluable tool for nearly every learner.

No matter which strategy you choose to try, break out of your black-and-white reading world and give students more opportunities to succeed by adding color to your reading lessons.