Dyslexia
Dyslexia is more than a difficulty reading. For many children and young people, dyslexia affects how they process and manipulate the sounds of language, and that has consequences that ripple across reading, spelling, writing, and confidence. It can make school feel like an uphill struggle every single day, not because a they aren't trying, but because their brain processes written language differently.
Speech & Language Therapy can make a significant difference: not by teaching children and young people to read, but by addressing the underlying language processing difficulties that make reading hard in the first place.
How Dyslexia Can Affect Daily Life
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Difficulty decoding unfamiliar words: reading feels slow, effortful, and unreliable.
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Weak phonological awareness: trouble hearing, identifying, and manipulating the sounds within words.
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Spelling difficulties that persist despite practice and effort.
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Slow or laboured written expression that doesn't reflect a child/young person's verbal ability or intelligence.
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Difficulty retaining sequences: days of the week, times tables, instructions.
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Avoidance of reading and writing tasks, and the knock-on effect on confidence and self-image.
How Speech & Language Therapy Can Help
Our speech and language therapists support children and young people with dyslexia by targeting the underlying language processing skills that underpin literacy. This includes phonological awareness training: building a child/young person's ability to hear and manipulate the sounds in words, as well as vocabulary development, verbal memory, and the language skills needed for reading comprehension and written expression. We work closely with schools to ensure that our clinical input is reflected in classroom practice and any examination provisions in place.
Working With Schools
We work closely with SENCOs and class teachers to translate Speech & Language Therapy findings into practical classroom strategies. This might include recommendations for reading programmes, adaptations to written tasks, or support for access arrangements such as extra time or the use of assistive technology. We are happy to liaise directly with school staff and contribute to EHCP assessments and annual reviews where relevant.