News

The best study hacks for dyslexic learners – send in your videos!

Dyslexia Awareness Week is coming up in October and we want to hear from learners who have dyslexia about their top study hacks! The best three will receive a £50 voucher each – but more than that you’ll also be helping our wider learning community.

Are you dyslexic or do you work with a dyslexic student (16+) at college, university or in another FE setting? Have you come across a smart way to make learning more efficient?

If so, we’d love to hear from you! Send us a short selfie video (1 min max) and tell us more. We’ll be sharing your videos on our social media channels. 

Send your videos to imogen.barber@realgroup.co.uk  by Monday 29th September. Full terms and conditions are below. Read more

We are delighted to be exhibiting once again at the Tes SEND Show!

We will be at stand D39 at the Business Design Centre, London on 10-11 October alongside our sister companies Real Training, Educational and Sporting Futures, The Dyslexia Guild and the Dyslexia Action Shop.

The Tes SEND Show is the UK’s leading SEND event and an annual must-see. We are looking forward to returning and meeting you.

If you’d like to chat in-person about our opportunities for specialist dyslexia teaching, assessment, and more, please stop by for a brochure and some new freebies!

Register HERE for this free event.

We are excited to share that accessing our Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes is now even easier. You can now book your CPD Certificate as a complete package online, allowing you to benefit from a more streamlined booking experience and a smoother experience. This means less hassle and more focus on what matters: enhancing your skills to support learners with dyslexia.

There are three CPD Certificates for you to choose from, each comprising six Units: Supporting Literacy in Learners with Dyslexia (primary/secondary), Supporting Adults with Dyslexia and Co-occurring Difficulties and Supporting International Learners with Dyslexia (primary/secondary).

Delivered entirely online, our CPD Certificates have been created by experts with real-world educational experience and will provide you with practical and actionable skills, allowing you not only to engage with students with increased confidence, but also join a professional pathway for progression onto the Level 5 Diploma in Specialist Teaching for Literacy-Related Difficulties-DIST CPD Pathway Route (available to a wide range of delegates, including those who do not hold a degree).

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We were delighted to celebrate our 2025 graduates yesterday at Middlesex University, together with our sister company Real Training. Delegates were invited to don their caps and gowns in recognition of achieving their Postgraduate certificates, Diplomas and Masters of Education.

This graduation event is more than just a ceremony; it’s an opportunity for our graduates to celebrate their incredible hard work and connect with their peers.

We extend our warmest congratulations to all of this year’s graduates and for those delegates currently enrolled in our programmes, we can’t wait to celebrate your achievements with you in the future!

Feeling inspired? Why not take a look at our courses to see how you could further your career.

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Are you looking for accessible, accredited CPD to support learners with dyslexia other SpLDs? Dyslexia Action’s new CPD video is here to guide you! See how our online programmes accredited by The CPD Standards Office provide crucial training for education professionals in literacy, numeracy, and specific learning difficulties. By undertaking accredited CPD training, educators are given the opportunity to ensure their qualifications, and therefore their skills and knowledge, are maintained and up to date. 

Find out more by watching our video: Read more

Working in the field of dyslexia (and other literacy difficulties) is incredibly rewarding. You will have the potential to make a meaningful difference in the lives of young people or adults, helping dyslexic students learn to read, as well as develop vital life skills. 

To become qualified to provide one-to-one or group tuition for dyslexic primary, secondary or adult learners, you will need to gain a literacy-focused Level 5 or Level 7 qualification in Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD). This will allow you to practice as a Specialist Teacher/Practitioner for Literacy-Related Difficulties – also referred to as a Dyslexia Teacher/Practitioner.  Read more

  
Teaching assistants have the opportunity to build close bonds with the pupils they support and play a highly significant role in shaping their experience of learning. In this article, we take a look at how TAs can provide the best support to dyslexic pupils, not only in terms of developing reading and writing skills, but also helping to build self-confident, independent learners.

We’ve included some top tips from teaching assistants currently working in Primary and Secondary schools as well as other Specialist Practitioners and Dyslexia Action tutor, Claire Green.
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We are excited to share that our affiliated SpLD membership body –  The Dyslexia Guild have announced their Annual Conference. 

The conference will be held online on Wednesday 2 July 2025, and offers the opportunity to hear expert views and examine current topical issues relating to dyslexia and other SpLDs.

Attendees will gain a 5-hour CPD attendance certificate (2.5 of which is SASC accredited) when attending this event.

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Cameron Downing is a Senior Lecturer at Leeds Trinity University where he continues to build on his doctoral and postdoctoral work at Bangor University focusing on typical and atypical development of spelling and handwriting skills. This article was first published in The Dyslexia Guild Review Magazine (Volume 33(2) Autumn/Winter).

Introduction

Handwriting continues to be an important skill for children to use to communicate their knowledge in the classroom. It also remains an important component of wider literacy development. Furthermore, handwriting difficulties are often reported amongst people with dyslexia. Despite the importance of handwriting, there has been relatively little effort to understand handwriting development compared to reading and spelling. In this article, I explore what recent research tells us about handwriting and its relationship with other developmental skills, and what this means in school. Read more

Professor Julia Carroll, Caroline Holden and Paul Thompson have released a paper looking at a new definition of dyslexia. 

The highly anticipated Delphi study was published in May 2024 and presented at the SpLD Assessment Standards Committee SASC conference. It outlines a new definition for dyslexia and will have implications for the assessment of specific learning difficulties (SpLD). The papers are free to access but are yet to be peer-reviewed and further edits may occur.

We highly recommend that dyslexia assessors and teachers read the articles in full, these are available on the Open Science Framework and also on the SASC website.

You can read more about the definition in the article below.

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