The Benefits of Audiobooks
Listening Books is a UK charity that provides a
postal and internet based audiobook service
for some 38,000 people that would struggle to
read printed books due to a learning difficulty,
illness, disability or mental health difficulty.
Benefits of audiobooks
Using audiobooks in a class setting or at home can provide wide ranging
benefits to pupils that struggle to read or hold a book.
 They enable pupils to listen to the same books that their friends
and peers are reading, meaning they don’t feel left out or isolated.
 They gain greater understanding and enjoyment of literature as
they are not struggling to read the text.
 Pupils can reach their learning potential by utilising audio versions
of set texts and study guides.
 Audiobooks can increase confidence in class discussions, as
pupils have been able to engage fully with the text being studied.
 Being able to listen to the text improves word recognition and
sentence structure.
 By using audiobooks, pupils are encouraged to be independent, as
they are not relying on others to read the text for them.
Robertʼs Story
Kate Smith is the mother of Listening Books
member Robert, 16, who, with the help of
audiobooks, achieved fantastic exam results
despite being diagnosed with dyslexia at an early
age.
‘Robert was a late reader; he’s severely dyslexic
and so isn’t able to decipher new words very well
at all. We eventually got him a part time placement
at a speech and language unit when he was at
junior school where a most dedicated and qualified
teacher managed to turn things around with the
help of Anthony Horowitz (well, his books in any
case!).
Audiobooks are very expensive and, at the time, all of our money went
on obtaining independent, private assessments from speech and
language therapists, occupational therapists, educational psychologists
etc in order to make the best possible case for our appeals to SENDIST.
A friend of mine told me about Listening Books and I couldn’t believe I
hadn’t heard about your service earlier. We only signed up in the final
year of his GCSEs I think but the study guides were really helpful. The
audio version of ‘An Inspector Calls’ really inspired Robert to go and see
the play at the Wimbledon Theatre and prompted a lot of questions and
discussions which I think really helped him in his course work and I was
quite impressed with his interpretation and analysis.
When we first discovered Robert
was dyslexic, the thing I was
most upset about was the fact
that he wouldn’t be able to enjoy
books. I’m an avid reader and I
was very upset when the
teacher – when I asked what
sort of impact this would have –
suggested that he might never
read a book! From this respect, I
think young dyslexics should be made aware that although they may
have difficulty reading at the outset, they don’t have to miss out on the
pleasure of reading.
My advice to any parent in a similar situation would be to sign up to
Listening Books as soon as possible to take full advantage of the
service. Take Listening Books with you whenever you go on car
journeys; a good story can really get you hooked and it really helps
children develop their listening skills. We’ve often reached our
destination but haven’t been able to get out of the car until the end of the
chapter! Robert passed 8 GCSEs in total, including English Literature
Grade A and English Language Grade B – a great achievement for him!’
Audiobooks can prove quite expensive to buy, but low cost subscriptions
to the Listening Books library mean that members can have MP3 CDs
delivered straight to their front door or can choose to listen to titles online
via internet streaming or downloading. Organisational memberships
start from £50 a year and individuals can join for as little as £20 a year.
We can also provide a limited number of free subscriptions to individuals
who may find the fees a barrier to joining the service.
If you or someone you know would be interested in joining the service,
please call the library team on 020 7407 9417, email [email protected] or visit www.listening-books.org.uk/join-us.aspx