Confidence Boost Assessment and Tuition

Popped into my local bookshop The Small City Bookshop this weekend and was delighted to see this display of graphic novels in the children’s section. The formatting is often great for dyslexic readers and they’re a really accesible way into reading for pleasure for under-confident or reluctant readers There are so many being published at the moment that there really is something for everyone! It’s not just Dogman-style comedy (although that is super popular with lots of my students). I’d suggest asking at your local bookshop or library for personalised recommendations.

Louise Selby Dyslexia has written a fantastic blog about how the SEND White Paper considers (or doesn't) children with dyslexia and dyscalculia. Highly recommend a read if you work with or have a child in school in the UK - I totally agree with Louise's thoughts here.

This sums it up:
"Where are dyslexia and dyscalculia in the 2026 SEND reforms?
This is the issue. The developmental areas underlying them are not adequately covered within the proposed five areas of development."
"Surely schools would just identify need, and literacy and maths difficulties would be high on the list of priorities, whatever the developmental labels are?
But my concern, and that of other specialists in this field, is that they won’t."

It's well worth taking a look at her suggested ways you can take action at the end of the post too.

Where are dyslexia and dyscalculia in the 2026 SEND Reforms? - Louise Selby Dyslexia Specialist The 2026 SEND reforms set out an ambitious vision for a more equitable system. There is much to welcome, particularly the focus on early identification, needs-led support, and greater consistency across schools. But as I have read, listened and reflected, one question keeps coming back to me: where....

So much maths teaching stops just before it clicks!

If you know me off the internet, you’ll probably already know that spring is my very favourite time of year. I love the anticipation, that moment just before everything bursts to life.

It’s exactly the same feeling I get when I’m teaching, right at that moment when I can tell the pieces of the puzzle are about to come together for a student so that they can truly understand a concept. It’s why I do what I do.

It’s also one of the things I found most frustrating about classroom teaching. So often, I had to push children to move on before they had reached that point. To employ the cheesy metaphor, they never really got the chance to blossom because we couldn’t quite afford the time to move from picture 1 to picture 2.

This is a particular problem for many neurodivergent learners. If processing speed is often slow for them, they can take longer to fully understand concepts. And if teaching is always delivered at the ‘average’ speed, that will never meet their learning needs.

Imagine the frustration of the spring flowers staying forever in bud, and never quite breaking free. Now imagine that feeling in a maths lesson - just when you’re about to grasp it, the learning moves on.

If I could tell people one thing about teaching learners with dyslexia and dyscalculia it would be this:

✨ Keep going! ✨

Taking a long time to understand a concept doesn’t mean it’s impossible. The adult teaching them will probably get bored and give up long before the learner will. Sometimes a break is needed, sometimes it can take months, but it is possible.

The usual solution to this problem in maths is to give up on chasing conceptual understanding and to just teach a method.

Don’t understand equivalent fractions?
Just multiply the top and the bottom.

Don’t understand multiplication?
Memorise your times tables learning a song instead.

Of course these ‘solutions’ cause far more problems in the longer term. I am yet to meet a child who can’t understand maths with the right support - and I’ve met many who truly believe that they can’t.

So what does that support actually look like in practice?

🧱 Go back to the concrete. If a concept isn’t landing, the answer is almost never more of the same explanation. Go back to physical objects, real contexts, something tangible. Abstract methods come after understanding, not before.

🔙 Don’t be put off by going back to basics. If your child has moved on to something new at school but the foundations aren’t secure, it’s worth spending time at home on the earlier concept. It isn’t going backwards - it’s building the foundations that make everything else possible.

🔄 Repetition is part of the process, not a sign of failure. For many dyslexic and dyscalculic learners, a concept needs to be revisited many more times than you’d expect before it fully sticks. That’s overlearning, and it’s how long-term memory works for lots of people. It doesn’t mean they haven’t understood - it means the understanding needs more time to become automatic.

🌱 Celebrate the almost. If your child is nearly there, name it. “You nearly had that - I could see it.” The moment just before it clicks is worth acknowledging, not rushing past.

⏳ Trust the process even when it’s slow. Understanding that takes a long time is still understanding. A child who truly grasps why equivalent fractions work will always be in a stronger position than one who can multiply the top and bottom without knowing why.

The lightbulb moments will come. Sometimes they just need more time, a different angle, and someone who hasn’t given up on them yet.

This is fantastic progress - with all the discussion around SEND reforms, it's a great opportunity to raise awareness of dyscalculia and actually put good provision in place!

It's wonderful to finally have a UK Parliament post on !

Link to read -https://post.parliament.uk/dyscalculia-scientific-evidence-and-policy-implications/

A bit more of a controversial view today… I’d love to hear your opinion!

This is a phrase that is thrown around often, particularly in schools, and it’s never quite felt right to me. But as always, I never actually mean never - if a child proudly told me their dyslexia was their superpower, of course I would affirm this and celebrate their positive self-image.

But “I never call dyslexia a superpower - unless a person I’m speaking to uses that language themself, in which case I would be led by them” doesn’t fit quite as well on the slide…

Manchester!

I have some availability for screenings and assessments in the North West over the Easter holidays 🙌

If you'd like to book a dyslexia or dyscalculia assessment for your child, leave a comment or drop me a message.

Find of the day today in the wonderful Padstow Bookseller - including some of my personal favourite books! If you haven’t read Piranesi yet, send it to the top of your list.

Apparently Bloomsbury are starting to publish contemporary fiction titles in a dyslexia-friendly format. This has been a big thing in children’s publishing for years, without seeming to take into account that dyslexia children grow into dyslexic adults!

While no one format will ever work for everyone, these could be great for people who love the sensory experience of a paper book (me 🙋‍♀️), but struggle with inaccessible formatting or colours in traditional publishing for adults. And not just for the classics, but for books that people actually want to read 🎉

It's been more than three years now since I left the classroom, and I've never regretted that decision for a second.

But it didn't take me long to realise that I wanted to dig deeper and learn more about how people learn (or don't) and why we are all so different.

I always knew I loved teaching, but now I'm so excited to spend more time assessing. I often describe the process to children as getting to x-ray what's going on in their brains, and seeing the amazing ways their mind is able to help them. It is completely fascinating, and a genuine privilege that people trust me with this information.

If you're interested in a dyslexia or dyscalculia assessment in Bristol with me, I'd love to speak to you more about how I could help.