“Dyslexia is biological in origin and tends to run in families, but environmental factors may also contribute to it. Dyslexia affects all kinds of people regardless of intelligence, race or social class. About 10% of the population have some form of dyslexia. About 4% are severely dyslexic, including some 375,000 schoolchildren. Dyslexia causes difficulties in learning to read, write and spell. Short-term memory, mathematics, concentration, personal organisation and sequencing may be affected. The effects of dyslexia can largely be overcome by skilled specialist teaching and the use of compensatory strategies.” The Dyslexia Institute, 2002

Dyslexia was first diagnosed in 1896 by Dr Pringle Morgan as ‘word blindness’. Since then our knowledge of dyslexia, and how to help children and adults with dyslexia, has increased.

The McLeod Centre for Learning is associated with Emerson House and we have highly qualified dyslexia trainers. We will assess children and adults, and tailor an individual programme to address their needs. We are trained to use the following programmes:

• Dyslexia Institute’s Literacy Programme (DILP)
• Alpha to Omega (Beve Hornsby, Frula Shear and Julie Pool of The Hornsby Institute, now Dyslexia Action)
• Additional Literacy Kit (Dyslexia Action)
• Units of Sound (Dyslexia Action)
• Adult Literacy Kit (Dyslexia Action)
• Touchtyping (TTRS)
• Lexia

These programmes are all “structured” to help reading and spelling make sense; “cumulative” to build on learning; “multi-sensory” using visual, aural and tactile techniques; and “thorough” with constant revision.

We run a morning school where children attend for intensive literacy, numeracy and typing/handwriting tuition. Children are taught in small groups, no larger than three, from 9-12. Children attend between 2-4 days per week for, on average, 2-3 terms.  Individual afternoon sessions after school are available.