Creativity: Dyslexic individuals are often highly creative and have a unique way of looking at the world. They may be excellent at thinking outside the box and coming up with innovative solutions.

What is Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty that affects reading, writing, and spelling. If you suspect that you or a family member may be dyslexic, there are several signs you can look out for:

Difficulty with reading: People with dyslexia often struggle to read fluently, accurately, and quickly. They may also have trouble with comprehension.
Difficulty with spelling: People with dyslexia often make spelling mistakes, even when trying to spell simple words.
Difficulty with writing: People with dyslexia may struggle to organize their thoughts and put them into writing.
Difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological processing, visual processing or processing speed: Dyslexia can impact the ability to process and manipulate sounds, to recognize and differentiate between letters and words, and the ability to quickly and accurately process information. People with dyslexia may struggle to distinguish sounds within words or match sounds with letters.
Difficulty with memory: People with dyslexia may struggle to remember information, such as phone numbers or names. They may find it hard to hold and manipulate information in their mind over short periods.
Difficulty with sequencing: People with dyslexia may have trouble remembering the order of things or following instructions.
Difficulty with time management: People with dyslexia may struggle with planning, organizing, and managing their time effectively.

Spatial reasoning: Dyslexic individuals may have a strong ability to visualize objects in space, which can be helpful in fields such as art, engineering, and architecture.

Problem-solving: Dyslexic individuals may be skilled at finding solutions to complex problems, as they often have to work harder to understand and process information.

Verbal reasoning: Dyslexic individuals may have strong verbal reasoning skills, which can be seen in their ability to use language effectively and express their thoughts and ideas clearly.

Resilience: Dyslexic individuals often face significant challenges in academic settings, but they may develop resilience and perseverance as a result

Supporting Children with Dyslexia

Supporting Reading

There are several ways that parents can support their dyslexic children with reading. Here are some strategies that may be helpful:

Read aloud to your child: Reading aloud to your child can help develop their listening comprehension skills and expose them to the joy of reading. Choose books that are interesting and appropriate for their age and reading level.
Use audiobooks: Audiobooks can help your child access books that are beyond their reading level and build their listening comprehension skills. Encourage your child to follow along in the printed text as they listen to the audiobook.
Provide support for decoding: Dyslexic children often struggle with decoding, or sounding out words. Provide support by using phonics-based activities and games, such as word families and rhyming words.
Use multisensory approaches: Dyslexic children often benefit from multisensory approaches to learning. Encourage your child to use their senses to learn, such as tracing letters in sand or using tactile materials to form letters.
Practise frequently: Encourage your child to practise reading regularly, even if it is just for a few minutes a day. Make reading a fun and enjoyable activity, rather than a chore.
Work with a tutor or specialist: Consider working with a tutor or specialist who has experience working with dyslexic children. They can provide individualised instruction and support to help your child overcome their reading difficulties.

Remember, it's important to be patient and supportive as your child works on developing their reading skills. Dyslexia can make reading challenging, but with the right support and intervention, your child can learn to read and develop a love of books and stories.

Supporting Spelling

Spelling can be a challenge for dyslexic children, but there are several strategies parents can use to support their child's spelling development. Here are some tips:

Use multi-sensory learning approaches: Dyslexic children benefit from multi-sensory learning, which involves engaging multiple senses, such as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic, to help them learn and remember spelling rules and patterns. For example, parents can use foam or wooden letters or other tactile materials to help their child practise spelling words.
Break words down into syllables: Dyslexic children often struggle with longer words, so breaking them down into smaller parts can make them more manageable. Encourage your child to sound out each syllable and then put them back together to spell the whole word.
Use visual aids: Dyslexic children often benefit from visual aids, such as word walls or flashcards, to help them remember spelling rules and patterns. You can create flashcards with commonly misspelled words or phonetic patterns to practise with your child.
Encourage the use of assistive technology: There are many assistive technology tools available that can support spelling development for dyslexic children. For example, speech-to-text software can help children who struggle with writing to get their ideas down on paper without worrying about spelling.
Provide positive feedback and reinforcement: Dyslexic children often struggle with low self-esteem, so it's important to provide positive feedback and reinforcement for their efforts. Celebrate their successes, no matter how small, and encourage them to keep practising.
Work with a tutor or specialist: Consider working with a tutor or specialist who has experience working with dyslexic children to develop a customised spelling program that meets your child's specific needs.

Remember, dyslexia affects each child differently, so it's important to work with your child's strengths and weaknesses to develop a personalised approach to spelling development.

Supporting Writing

Parents can play an important role in supporting their dyslexic children with writing. Here are some strategies that can be helpful:

Encourage the use of assistive technology: Dyslexic children may benefit from using assistive technology to support their writing, such as text-to-speech software, speech-to-text software, or word prediction tools. These tools can help children with spelling, grammar, and organizing their ideas.
Provide a supportive environment: Dyslexic children may feel frustrated or embarrassed about their writing difficulties. It's important to create a supportive environment where children feel comfortable sharing their writing and asking for help. Encourage your child to express their thoughts and ideas freely without worrying about spelling or grammar.
Use multi-sensory techniques: Dyslexic children often benefit from multi-sensory learning techniques that engage multiple senses, such as using sand trays or tracing letters with their fingers to reinforce letter shapes and sounds.
Break writing tasks into smaller chunks: Writing can be overwhelming for dyslexic children. Help them break down writing tasks into smaller, manageable chunks. For example, they could start with brainstorming ideas, creating an outline, or writing just one paragraph at a time.
Provide feedback and praise: Dyslexic children may need extra encouragement and feedback to build their confidence in writing. Praise your child's efforts and provide specific feedback on what they did well and where they can improve. Celebrate their successes and progress, no matter how small.
Read together: Reading together with your child can help build their vocabulary and understanding of sentence structure, which can support their writing. It can also be helpful to read examples of different types of writing, such as stories, poems, and persuasive essays, to help your child develop their own writing style.
Seek professional support: If your child is struggling significantly with writing, it may be helpful to seek professional support from a tutor or specialist dyslexia teacher who can provide tailored support and strategies to help your child succeed.

Supporting Phonological Awareness and Processing

Phonological awareness is a critical skill for reading and writing, and it can be challenging for dyslexic children. Here are some ways parents can support their dyslexic children with phonological awareness:

Reading aloud: Reading aloud to your child regularly can help them develop phonological awareness. Choose books that have rhyming or repetitive patterns, and encourage your child to join in and identify the rhyming words.
Practise segmenting and blending sounds: Phonological awareness involves being able to segment and blend sounds in words. You can practise this skill by asking your child to say each sound in a word separately (e.g., "cat" - "c-a-t"), then blend the sounds together to say the word.
Play phonemic awareness games: There are many fun phonemic awareness games that you can play with your child, such as "I Spy" or "Rhyming Bingo". These games help children practise identifying and manipulating sounds in words.
Use multi-sensory learning: Dyslexic children often benefit from multi-sensory learning, which involves using multiple senses (e.g., sight, sound, touch) to learn. For example, you can use magnetic letters to practise segmenting and blending sounds.
Seek professional support: If you are unsure how best to support your dyslexic child with phonological awareness, seek support from a qualified professional such as a speech and language therapist or a dyslexia specialist. They can provide guidance on specific strategies and activities that can help your child develop their phonological awareness skills.
Provide explicit instruction: Provide explicit instruction on the sounds and rules of the English language, including the different ways that sounds can be represented by letters and letter combinations.
Use technology: There are many apps and online resources that can help dyslexic children with phonological processing, such as speech recognition software or games that focus on phonics.

Remember, every child is unique, and what works for one child may not work for another. Be patient, persistent, and flexible in your approach, and celebrate your child's progress along the way.

Supporting Memory and Working Memory

Dyslexia can affect both short-term memory and working memory. Working memory is a cognitive system that is responsible for temporarily holding and manipulating information in the mind for short periods of time. It is a crucial component of many cognitive processes, such as attention, reasoning, learning, and problem-solving. Parents can support their children in various ways with memory difficulties:

Use multi-sensory approaches: Dyslexic children may benefit from multi-sensory approaches to learning, such as using visual aids, games, videos, auditory cues or hands-on, tactile activities to reinforce key concepts. By engaging multiple senses, the student is more likely to remember the information.
Chunking information: Breaking down information into smaller, manageable chunks can help dyslexic children process and remember information better by focusing on one piece of information at a time. For example, breaking down a long sentence into shorter phrases or bullet points can make it easier to remember, and giving one instruction at a time rather than a set of instructions can make tasks more manageable.
Repetition and reinforcement: Repeating information and reinforcing concepts can help dyslexic children remember important information. For example, repeating new vocabulary words or key concepts several times can help them stick in the child's memory. Small chinks of learning should be reviewed often.
Use mnemonic devices: Mnemonic devices are memory aids that help to associate new information with existing knowledge. Visual or auditory mnemonic devices, such as acronyms, songs, or rhymes, can help dyslexic children remember information.
Provide structured environments: Dyslexic children may struggle with disorganized or unstructured environments and may therefore benefit from clear instructions and routines, visual aids and checklists, and a structured schedule to help them feel more comfortable and focused.
Visual Cues: Dyslexic students often benefit from visual cues, such as charts or diagrams, that help them understand and process information in a way that is easier to remember.
Use technology: Technology combines text, sound, images and video and can be an excellent learning tool for dyslexic children at school and at home. Text-to-speech technology can be used to convert written text into spoken language. This can help dyslexic individuals who struggle with reading to hear the information, which can improve their working memory. Speech recognition technology can be used to convert spoken language into text. This can be helpful for dyslexic individuals who struggle with writing and typing, as it allows them to dictate their ideas and notes. Voice memo or note-taking apps can allow children to record important information, such as reminders or instructions. Mind-mapping software can be used to create visual diagrams that help dyslexic people to organize their thoughts and ideas and there are many educational apps and games that can help improve working memory.

Sequencing Information

Sequencing is a common challenge for many dyslexic children, as they may struggle with remembering and organizing information in a logical order. Here are some ways that parents can help dyslexic children with sequencing:

Use visual aids: Dyslexic children often benefit from visual aids, such as charts, diagrams, or pictures, that help them visualize the sequence of events. For example, parents can create a timeline or flowchart to help their child understand the sequence of a story or historical event.
Practise sequencing activities: Sequencing activities, such as putting events in order or following a recipe, can help dyslexic children develop their sequencing skills. Parents can provide these activities at home, such as playing memory games or creating a sequence of actions for a task.
Break tasks into smaller steps: Dyslexic children may struggle with remembering long sequences of instructions or steps. Parents can help by breaking tasks down into smaller, more manageable steps and providing clear, concise instructions for each step.
Metacognition: Dyslexic children may benefit from learning about how they learn best to help them monitor and regulate their own sequencing abilities. Parents can teach self-monitoring techniques, such as repeating the sequence out loud or using visualization techniques, to help dyslexic children remember the correct order of events.
Use mnemonic devices: Mnemonic devices, such as acronyms or rhymes, can help dyslexic children remember the sequence of information. Parents can provide these aids to help their child remember key concepts or important details.

Time Management

Time management can be a challenge for dyslexic children, as they may have difficulty with planning, organising, and prioritising tasks. Here are some ways that parents can help dyslexic children with time management:

Use visual aids: Dyslexic children often benefit from visual aids, such as calendars, to help them manage their time. Parents can use a calendar to help their child plan out their activities and schedule, and to help them visualise their daily routine.
Break tasks into smaller steps: Dyslexic children may struggle with large, complex tasks, such as pieces of homework or longer projects. Parents can help by breaking these tasks down into smaller, more manageable steps, and by providing clear, step-by-step instructions.
Teach prioritisation: Dyslexic children may have difficulty with prioritising tasks, which can lead to them feeling overwhelmed and stressed. Parents can teach their child how to prioritise tasks by helping them identify the most important tasks and by breaking them down into smaller steps.
Use timers: Dyslexic children may have difficulty with time perception, which can make it difficult to estimate how much time a task will take. Parents can use timers to help their child manage their time more effectively and to help them stay on task.
Provide positive reinforcement: Dyslexic children may struggle with motivation, particularly when faced with difficult or tedious tasks. Parents can provide positive reinforcement by acknowledging their child's efforts and progress, and by providing rewards for completing tasks.

Overall, it is important for parents to be patient, supportive, and understanding of their dyslexic child's challenges with time management. By using effective strategies and providing targeted support, parents can help their child develop the skills they need to manage their time and succeed in school and beyond.

Getting a Diagnosis

If you are worried that your child is struggling to learn and feel that they may have a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia, you may wish to explore the various types of assessment that we can offer.

More about our assessments

Full Diagnostic Assessment

This assessment is needed for a formal diagnosis of dyslexia. We are happy to assess children and adults from age 8 upwards. The assessment takes about 3 hours, but this can take place over two sittings. Within two weeks, you will receive a detailed report explaining the assessment results, making key recommendations for support, and making a diagnosis if appropriate. A diagnosis can be used to support an application for the Disabled Student Allowance (DSA) at university or to support a request for accommodations in the work place. All reports follow guidelines set out by SpLD Assessment Standards Committee (SASC).