Does your child:
Have problems at school? Have difficulty spelling?
Messy handwriting?
2 x 5 ? or 2 + 5? Cannot do math or times tables?
Hates reading aloud? Never reads for fun?
Stressed about homework? Always losing things? Generally disorganised?
– Then take a look around this site and see if there are things to help
Need more help?
Email a question using the form below.
Not sure how to approach your child’s school?
Contact me for a parent to parent chat.
Want dyslexia tuition or additional support for homework?
I am based in South Tonbridge and assessment and support is usually done at my home, or it can be arranged at a location in the town centre. It is sometime possible to arrange tution at school. This may incur a cost for travelling time.
The rate for assessment or 1:1 dyslexia tuition is £30 per hour (£25 during school hours).
What about helping parents to help their children?
As well as working with individual or groups of students I have also run successful after-school groups for parents/carers and their children. Here we have looked at how dyslexia impacts home life and also how to tackle homework effectively. These groups are great way to learn together how to work smarter, instead of having to work harder, all the time. The cost is £10 per student for a group of 4 (parents or carers free!)
I am also happy to help local Tonbridge primary schools to set up their own clubs – for handwriting or parent and child sessions.
Who are you and what qualifications do you have?
Good question and more about me can be found on the ‘About’ page. I am a parent with four children with dyslexia and I trained as a dyslexia tutor with Hornsby in 2005. Since then I have spent the past 7 years putting all this to good use working in a private or voluntary capacity. I particularly enjoy creating new ways for children with dyslexia to learn and I encourage my students to make their own games, or find their own solutions and strategies to help them overcome the frustrations that they often encounter in the classroom. I try to make as much use as possible of computer software and other assistive technology as some children find these fun and well as really useful.
Does my child need a full dyslexia diagnostic assessment and report?
I’d prefer the school do as much as possible and they may well have lots of really important information and test results already. That is why it is important to work together to find the most effective and efficient way for your child to learn, as quickly as possible. There is no point duplicating tests. However there may be formal or informal assessment that I can offer that will help identify any student’s area of weakness and the areas of strength that can be harnessed to support their learning. Assessment is expensive and it really depends on what you need the results for. A full Educational Psychologist report is necessary in a few situations and can be expensive. A 2-3 hour diagnostic report for dysleixa can cost around £200, although this includes both general and specific recommendations to help support the child at home or in a learning environment. My preferred option is to apply the tests and assessments as part of the 1 hour tuition and build these up over a half term culminating in a report to present a fuller picture of the situation to schools or other involved professionals.
What about computerised identification and assessment?
Some computer screeners used in school are good for intial identification. Other products such as the Cognitive Profiling System by Lucid give a printed report covering some areas of strength and weakness that is ideal to speed up the process of assessment . Some schools use Lexia to identify and support areas of weakness.
Further assessment is always uselful to build a fuller picture and to monitor any support put in place. I hope to be able to offer both computerised screening and profiling if there is significant demand. Please register your interest by email. The cost is £75 for a 1 hour session using the computer, followed up with 1 hour 1:1 to ensure the reports are understood and when some additional assessment can be made.
As screening for dyslexia only takes 15 minutes per child I would recommend that Primary schools look into purchasing a computerised screener for themselves although I am always available to answer questions about what to do next.
What about handwriting problems?
This is a really big area and one that most Primary schools are not tackling efficiently. There are lots of children struggling to learn cursive writing and they shouldn’t be. Others have a neat hand, but are writing far too slowly to be successful in exams and they are finding it very frustrating not be be able to express themselves on paper. A one hour Handwriting assessment and report is £60.
Click here for more info Handwriting Assessment.
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