Support For Children

If you can’t learn to read, you can’t read to learn.

Two or three children in every classroom struggle to learn to read and write. Many will progress well with good phonics (sound based) teaching but for those with more severe needs it is essential that they have access to specialist teaching. Currently many of these children do not get the help they need due to lack of trained specialist staff and their difficulties can go unnoticed or unexplained.

Without the correct identification and support dyslexia can be a barrier to learning and can lead to failure at school, exclusion or anti-social behaviour. For many children who struggle to learn, their behaviour and confidence can be badly affected.

Signs of dyslexia:

•    Difficulties with reading
•    Difficulties with spelling
•    Poor sequencing skills
•    Poor short-term memory
•    Lack of phonological awareness – ability to break down words and recognise separate units of sound
•    Confusion with left and right
•    Problems with reading comprehension
•    Difficulties with mathematics
•    Difficulties with musical notation
•    Poor handwriting
•    Difficulties expressing thoughts orally
•    Poor organisational skills
•    Is there someone else in the family with similar difficulties?

If your child is showing a number of the signs as indicated above and is struggling at school Dyslexia Action can help:

What Next?
1. Free advice :You can discuss your child’s educational problems either over the telephone or face to face with one of our experts at your nearest Dyslexia Action Centre, who can then advise on the best course of action.

2. Assessment (test): An assessment or screening test can be carried out, firstly to check if your child is dyslexic and if so, identify areas of weakness. These tests, (many of which are diagnostic), are carried out by an independent psychologist or with one of our specially trained teachers. They look at a child’s; background, education, ways of thinking, learning and problem-solving techniques as well as their reading, writing, spelling and maths. A comprehensive and confidential report of the results with future recommendations is then sent to the parents and/or school.

3. Tuition and Support: If your child has been diagnosed as being dyslexic, together with the results and recommendations from the assessment, an individual teaching programme can then be created to help support your child’s identified issues and future needs. You can download more information here.