News

Every year, Dyslexia Action Training (a fellow Real Group company), helps hundreds of education professionals realise their dream of becoming qualified specialist Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) teachers or practitioners who focus on literacy difficulties.

This enables them to provide one-to-one tuition for primary, secondary or adult learners with dyslexia and other literacy-related difficulties. Many delegates go on to further study with us in order to become fully qualified dyslexia/literacy assessors.

Becoming qualified with Dyslexia Action Training means you join a community of professionals making a real impact in the lives of dyslexic children, young people and adults. You will also gain full training on our highly regarded structured cumulative multi-sensory literacy intervention – the Dyslexia Action Literacy Programme (DALP). This can be tailored to fit each learner’s profile and age, and provides scripted, interactive activities that can be carried out on a one-to-one basis or in small groups.

DALP has a unique pre-intervention assessment process, creating a literacy profile for each learner. Teachers are then guided to tackle strengths and weaknesses systematically. Read more

We are excited to announce our Dyslexia Guild Annual Online Conference, which will be held on Wednesday 2 July 2025.
The conference offers the opportunity a to hear expert views and examine current topical issues relating to dyslexia and other SpLDs.

You’ll have the chance to listen to our four keynote speakers, who will be providing presentations about morphology, understanding and supporting dyslexia and ADHD, assessing language in adults, and guidance about gathering and interpreting qualitative data during assessments! You will also have the opportunity to attend some add-on sessions, including a talk from a behavioural optometrist, Dyslexia Action’s Shop 30th anniversary, new products for 2025 and funded apprenticeships!

Why not benefit from taking time out of your daily schedule to learn and reflect on cutting-edge practice. Read more

We are thrilled to announce the launch of our newest membership grade: Practitioner of The Dyslexia Guild Assessor of Access Arrangements (PDG3A).

This grade is designed for professionals holding Real Training’s Certificate in Psychometric Testing, Assessment and Access Arrangements (CPT3A) qualification.

Why join?

This new grade will allow members to:

• Gain formal recognition for their expertise in access arrangements assessment
• Connect with a network of like-minded professionals dedicated to supporting individuals with dyslexia or literacy-related difficulties and those that require access arrangements
• Borrow selected assessment tests for free through our library*
• Opportunities for professional development and up to 10% discount through the Dyslexia Action Shop
• Enhance their professional standing and demonstrate your commitment to best practices.

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Date and time: Thursday, January 9th 2025, 9:30 AM — 1:00 PM GMT
Reserve your place: Book a place at this online event here

  
Key Speakers:

Professor Brahm Norwich, Professor Emeritus of Educational Psychology and Special Education at the University of Exeter
Amanda Allard, Director of the Council for Disabled Children
Josie Grainger-Francova, Principal of Dorton College of Further Education & Director of Education at the Royal Society for Blind Children
Dr Susana Castro-Kemp, Associate Professor in Psychology and Human Development & Director of the Centre for Inclusive Education at University College London
Rob Jennings, Co-Founder of the Dyscalculia Network
Lynn Greenwold OBE, Advisor on Policy and Education Development at Patoss & Chair of the SpLD Assessment Standards Committee (SASC)

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We had a fantastic day yesterday at The Dyslexia Guild Online Conference! 

This event provided a valuable platform to explore current trends and expert insights in literacy and dyslexia/SpLD. We would like to express our gratitude to the speakers and panellists for their insightful presentations and engaging discussions and a huge thank you to everyone who attended and helped make this event such a success!

A quick recap:

The conference kicked off with a warm welcome and introduction by Dr. Anna Smith, Head of The Dyslexia Guild, followed by four excellent main speakers:

Read more

We are excited to announce our Dyslexia Guild Annual Online Conference, which will be held on Wednesday 3 July 2024.
The conference offers the opportunity to hear expert views and examine current topical issues relating to literacy, numeracy and dyslexia/SpLD. 

You will have the chance to listen to our four key-note speakers, who will inform you about issues relating to your practice, including why we struggle with maths, the links between dyslexia and anxiety, dyslexia with English as a second language, and a project exploring how neurodivergent young people are at risk of depression. You will also have the opportunity to attend some additional sessions, including an exploration into the free Guild members toolkit and the latest updates from the Dyslexia Action Shop.
Read more

By Jan Beechey, Guild Librarian

It was this time in Spring 1994 – exactly thirty years ago – that The Dyslexia Guild was first established. In the early nineties, knowledge and understanding of dyslexia was expanding with many state schools offering dedicated support. However, the nature of this support varied hugely from setting to setting. The Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) had also been introduced in 1993 so it was increasingly important for young people to receive an accurate assessment of need.

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What a wonderful day it was at our first Dyslexia Guild Online Conference! An opportunity to hear expert views and examine current topical issues relating to literacy and dyslexia/SpLD. Thank you to the speakers and panellists for providing an insightful and engaging day. It was inspiring to hear about your products, services and expertise and witness the vibrant communication and discussions.

The day started off with a welcome and introduction from Head of The Dyslexia Guild, Dr Anna Smith. We had four excellent speakers – Mr. Irfaan Adamally, an accredited member and chairman of the British Association of Behavioural Optometrists gave his presentation on Vision & Learning – Beyond 20/20. Jean-Philippe van Dijck, an experimental (neuro) psychologist with a PhD in Psychology, presented his findings regarding Working Memory and Maths Anxiety. One of our own tutors, Jessica Jarman – who works on our renowned Dyslexia Action specialist teaching and assessment programmes, informed us on Supporting EAL Learners with Dyslexia. Lastly, John Casey and Diane Gardner from Citizen Literacy, demonstrated their free, phonics-based learner web app and new Tutor Platform that offer many ground-breaking teaching tools for literacy development with adults. 

Here are a few words about the day from our attendees 

‘An interesting range of speakers bringing their viewpoints to the discussion; inclusion of theory as well as practical suggestions for practice; I am left feeling well informed’

‘I liked the variety of presentations. Loved the vision impact information and the last lecture including EAL students which is extremely relevant to my work with bilingual students.’ 

‘High profile speakers on topics that are relevant for SEN support ‘on the ground’, equipping professionals at different levels’

We would like to thank our Exhibitors: 

• The Dyslexia Action Shop 
• Real Training 
• Dyslexia Action Training 
• The British Association of Behavioural Optometrists 
• Fonetti 
• Sporting Futures Training 
• The Makaton Charity

Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to making this event a success. Roll on next year!

Join us online on Thursday, 6 July 2023 for a chance to hear expert views and examine current topical issues relating to literacy and dyslexia/SpLD. 

You’ll have the chance to listen to our speakers, who will inform you about issues related to your practice and you will have the opportunity to meet with and hear from our exhibitors in the breaks, including our very own Dyslexia Action Shop.

We are also providing a drop-in room where experts will be available for you to put questions to. Why not benefit from taking time out of your daily schedule to learn, debate and reflect on cutting-edge practice. The sessions will be recorded to watch back. 

Find out more about our speakers on our dedicated web page here. Our booking form will stay open until 5 July at midday. Invoices need to be processed by 18 June. 

We are pleased to confirm that attendance at our conference this year will now count towards your SASC approved 5 CPD hours.

The Dyslexia Guild Online Conference 2023 is open to everyone, however, you can attend at a discounted rate if you are a member of The Dyslexia Guild. Our membership body is open to all those with a professional or general interest in dyslexia and specific learning difficulties (SpLD). 

The Dyslexia Guild Annual Summer Conference was held on Friday 8 July 2022 at the University of Bath. After three years, it was great to finally meet face-to-face again and network with our wonderful members!

The conference provided a great opportunity to meet with dyslexia/SpLD specialists and discuss topical issues relating to literacy, maths, dyslexia and so much more. This year is extra special as we are also celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Dyslexia Action! Our logo transformed from yellow to gold as our attendees celebrated with some delicious cupcakes. We had a number of speakers presenting on a wide variety of topics: 

Visual processing in children with dyslexia and children with autism – Dr. Catherine Manning

Including all learners in schools through student-teacher dialogues – Professor Kiki Messiou

Dyslexia and the Phonology-Reading Disconnection Hypothesis: Why It Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story! – Dr Valerie Muter 

Making mathematics fun through creativity and toys – Professor Chris Budd OBE

Online Teaching – Showcasing the Dyslexia Action Literacy Programme (DALP) Rachel Adkins, Katy Parnell and Tania Rogers (Available to purchase)

Here’s what our delegates had to say about the presentations:

“Interesting and engaging. Theories and knowledge could be applied to all ages which made it very applicable”

“Gained more insight into differences between single and multiple deficit models to inform my practice”

We would like to thank our exhibitors for joining us, including:

Auris Tech                        British Association of Behavioural Optometrists

Phonic Books                   SEN Books 

Dyslexia Action Shop

Plans are now in full-swing for the 2023 conference which we plan to hold in London! Keep an eye out for the dates, venues and location on our website and across all our social media channels.