Imogen Barber
Paula Randall has dyslexia and slipped through the net at school, being diagnosed a matter of weeks before her GCSEs. It was only in her early 40s that she learned to read, with the help of national adult reading charity Read Easy.
Paula is now a Reading Ambassador for the charity and shares her story to inspire and support others.
“I want other people to think: if she can learn to read, I can too. If my story helps even just one person, I’ve done what I needed to do”, she says.
Imogen Barber
Screen reading is often thought to be the reason for shorter attention spans and poorer reading skills in children and teens.
Yet, while print reading is associated with deeper comprehension than screen reading in many contexts, its superiority over screen reading is not absolute. Nick Morgan-Baker argues that we need to meet young readers where they are and that digital content can be an important bridge to print reading for some individuals, especially boys who have dyslexia or who are reluctant readers.
By blending digital and print media in authentic reading activities, classrooms can foster what Maryanne Wolf calls “bi-literate brains“, equipping students to navigate deep analogue meaning accessed through print, alongside fast digital skim reading.
We are delighted to be exhibiting once again at the Tes SEND Show!
Come and find us on stand D35, situated at the Business Design Centre, London on 9 and 10 October alongside our sister companies Real Training, ESF Apprenticeships, The Dyslexia Guild and the Dyslexia Action Shop.
The Tes SEND Show is the UK’s leading SEND event and an annual must-see. Find out how we can support you or your learners through flexible, high-quality online training. You can chat in-person about our opportunities for specialist dyslexia teaching, assessment, and more.
Stop by for a conversation and some a bag of freebies!
Register HERE for this free event.
Imogen Barber
Across England, an estimated 2.4 million working-age adults either cannot read, or struggle to do so. For many, the weight of keeping this a secret creates decades of shame and low self-esteem.
Last week I had the pleasure of chatting to Stephie Bradshaw. Stephie was diagnosed with dyslexia aged 11 and left school pretty much only able to understand three-letter words.
She believed she would never read fluently, but with the support of national adult reading charity, Read Easy, she learned to do so when she was 33 and pregnant with her daughter. Now, Stephie is keen to share her story in the hope it will inspire others.
Imogen Barber
Kay Vallely works for the Shropshire Hills group as a volunteer coach for national adult literacy charity Read Easy UK. She is also a Volunteer Referrals Networker on their management team.
She explains why she got involved in volunteering, what the role of an adult reading coach involves, and how studying with Dyslexia Action is helping to support her work. Read more
Imogen Barber
Could the approaches we use to help our most vulnerable learners sometimes hold them back? The well-intentioned goal of making language accessible in the classroom for autistic and ELL pupils risks embedding an absolute and inflexible practice and literal bias, says Nick Morgan-Baker, Dyslexia Action Tutor, member of The Dyslexia Guild, and Local Authority SEND Adviser.
Nick’s article first appeared in The Dyslexia Review, Spring 2026. A condensed version appears below.
Read more
On Wednesday, graduates braved the summer heat to attend a wonderful graduation ceremony at Middlesex University.
The event was a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the incredible hard work and dedication of everyone who has completed a Postgraduate certificate, Diploma or MEd with Dyslexia Action and our sister company, Real Training. We are incredibly proud of our students, who apply their learning to build truly inclusive environments for adults and children with dyslexia.
One of our amazing students, Annie Fowler, was collecting her Postgraduate Certificate (PG Cert) in Specialist Teaching in Literacy-Related Difficulties alongside an MEd in SEND and Inclusion through Real Training.
For those of us who write assessment reports, one of our major aims is to try to save time where possible and the other is probably to make sure that our reports are as accurate as they can be: so that we can achieve a professional feel to our reports. Our concerns about accuracy can often cost us time and I am sure I am not the only one who spends hours re-reading and correcting while watching precious time ebb away on the clock.
Imogen Barber
Adrian is a dedicated learning support specialist at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. He recently completed the Level 5 CPD Certificate in Supporting Adults with Dyslexia and Co-occurring Difficulties, which also qualified him for ADG FE/HE membership with The Dyslexia Guild.
We caught up with him as he shared his journey from higher education lecturer to becoming a specialised study skills tutor. Adrian shared what he finds so rewarding about supporting dyslexic students and why he prefers being a “guide on the side” to “sage on the stage”.
Imogen Barber
After twenty years in the classroom and a successful tenure as a Headteacher at a school with enhanced specialist provision for autism, Shelley England left her role in leadership to train as a psychoanalyst.
While training, she wanted to take on a position that would allow her to continue supporting young adults with additional needs. Her search led her to the role of a Specialist One-to-one Study Skills and Strategy Support – Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD), also known as Non-Medical Helper or Study Skills SpLD tutor in Higher Education.
Shelley chose Dyslexia Action’s Level 5 CPD Certificate in Supporting Adults with Dyslexia and Co-occurring Difficulties as it would qualify her to practice as a Study Skills SpLD tutor by awarding her Associate FE/HE of The Dyslexia Guild membership after completing just three online CPD Units of the six Unit Certificate.
