Holme Valley Dyslexia Centre

Holme Valley Dyslexia Centre Specialist dyslexia assessments for ages 8-18. Qualified SpLD Assessor (PATOSS, AMBDA) 24 years’ experience as a teacher & SENCo. Based in Holmfirth.

Supporting neurodiverse learners to reach their potential. PM me to book an assessment.

Sunday morning walk with Rocket and Milo, followed by a nap ☀️🐾Hope you’re having a lovely weekend.
04/10/2026

Sunday morning walk with Rocket and Milo, followed by a nap ☀️🐾

Hope you’re having a lovely weekend.

𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 If your child finds reading hard work, they don’t have to do ...
03/10/2026

𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸

If your child finds reading hard work, they don’t have to do all of the reading on their own.

Try reading a paragraph to them first, then let them have a go at reading the same paragraph back to you.

They’ve already heard the words and they’ve heard where you pause, how you use punctuation and how your voice changes with different characters or parts of the story.

You can also take turns reading a paragraph each, or read some of it together.

They’re still getting their reading practice, but you’re sharing some of the load with them 💗

A really lovely video to share with children 💕I sometimes speak to parents who aren’t quite sure how to explain dyslexia...
02/10/2026

A really lovely video to share with children 💕

I sometimes speak to parents who aren’t quite sure how to explain dyslexia to their child, particularly when they’ve recently had an assessment.

I came across this video from What is Dyslexia? and thought it was worth sharing. It talks about dyslexia in a positive way and focuses on strengths as well as the things children might find more difficult.

It’s only around 8 minutes long and is definitely worth a watch with your child.

You can find it at whatisdyslexia.org
Just scroll down the homepage to the video.

A few of the things children have said to me during their assessments 💗
01/10/2026

A few of the things children have said to me during their assessments 💗

29/09/2026

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗼 𝗜 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀? ✏️

We’d been working on the different ways of spelling the /j/ sound and then moved on to using some of the words in dictated sentences.

𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱.

There’s a definite pause while she works out how to spell it.

That’s useful for me because it shows that although something might be secure when we practise it on its own, it isn’t quite secure enough yet when there’s more to think about.

So we stopped, went back to try and looked again at what happens when we add -ed.

And now I know that’s something we need to come back to again.

28/09/2026

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁?

I can usually offer a dyslexia assessment appointment within a couple of weeks.

Reports are completed within 4 weeks, although they’re often ready sooner.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗱𝘆𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗮?Have a good look at the 7 items in the photo and see if you can remember them.No...
27/09/2026

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗱𝘆𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗮?

Have a good look at the 7 items in the photo and see if you can remember them.

Now keep reading…

Memory is one of the areas I look at as part of a dyslexia assessment.

Not every child with dyslexia has difficulties with memory, and a weakness in memory doesn’t mean that a child is dyslexic. But for some children, it can help explain some of the difficulties they’re experiencing with learning.

Think about how much information a child might need to hold onto during an ordinary lesson.

They may need to:

• remember several instructions while they get started
• hold sounds in mind while reading or spelling
• keep a sentence in mind while writing it down
• remember what they’ve just read as they continue reading
• hold onto information while doing something with it

A child might understand an instruction but forget part of it before they’ve completed the task.

They might know exactly what they want to write but lose their sentence halfway through.

Or they might need to go back and reread something because they’ve lost some of the information they’ve just read.

When I’m assessing memory, the scores are only part of what I’m interested in. I also want to know whether what I’m seeing fits with the rest of the assessment and with the difficulties parents and school have described.

Most importantly, I want to know whether it’s having an impact on the child’s learning and what that impact looks like for them.

Now, without looking back at the photo, how many of the 7 items can you remember?

Today’s dyslexia assessment involved a little more than reading and spelling… I’d read in the questionnaire beforehand t...
25/09/2026

Today’s dyslexia assessment involved a little more than reading and spelling…

I’d read in the questionnaire beforehand that she loves making things, so I got the Fimo out ready for one of our little breaks.

We decided to make conker snails. 🐌

Mini breaks are really important during an assessment. It’s a long session and I want children to feel relaxed and comfortable, so I always try to find out a little bit about what they enjoy beforehand.

She then produced some of the sweets she’d got for her birthday, so apparently refreshments were sorted too 😂

We had a lovely afternoon. 💗

“𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝘆𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗮 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 £𝟱𝟵𝟱 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿?”A parent asked me this on the phone yesterday.And to b...
25/09/2026

“𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝘆𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗮 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 £𝟱𝟵𝟱 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿?”

A parent asked me this on the phone yesterday.

And to be fair, it’s a perfectly reasonable question.

When someone enquires, I usually phone them first to talk about their child, their concerns and what the assessment involves.

If they decide to book, I gather detailed information from both parents and school before I meet their child.

The assessment itself takes around 2–3 hours. I’m a Level 7 qualified dyslexia assessor, hold a current Assessment Practising Certificate with PATOSS and am an Associate Member of the British Dyslexia Association.

I’ve also worked in education and SEND for over 24 years.

I know assessments can feel daunting, so I take time to get to know each child and help them feel comfortable. Although the assessments are standardised, the way I support each child through the session is very individual. We work at their pace and have breaks when needed.

Afterwards, there are several more hours of scoring, analysing and writing the report.

The finished report is usually around 30 pages, with recommendations specific to that child rather than a generic list of strategies, plus an at-a-glance summary sheet.

Reports are completed within 4 weeks, usually sooner, and parents can also have a 15-minute follow-up call.

The parent went away, compared what was included and rang me back later to book their child in.

𝗜𝗳 𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺, 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗱𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄.

𝗔 𝗱𝘆𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗮 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝟭𝟬 𝗼𝗿 𝟭𝟭 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹.Some children get quite a long way through school befo...
24/09/2026

𝗔 𝗱𝘆𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘅𝗶𝗮 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝟭𝟬 𝗼𝗿 𝟭𝟭 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹.

Some children get quite a long way through school before their difficulties become more noticeable. They may have found ways to manage, but once GCSEs start there’s much more reading, writing, revision and information to remember.

An assessment can help them understand why they’ve found certain things difficult, but that’s only part of it.

For older students, I also make the recommendations really practical and relevant to where they are now. This might include:

• different ways to revise
• strategies to help them remember information
• ways to organise their work
• strategies for reading and writing

The aim is to give them things they can actually try now, while they’re doing their GCSEs, and continue to use when they move on to sixth form or college.

Address

249 New Mill Road, Brockholes
Holmfirth
HD97AL

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