What has been happening this month?
October has been Dyslexia Awareness Month. What has been happening this month? Have you seen some of the training on offer to ensure more people are aware how to support dyslexic individuals? Here are some not to miss blogs, information and offers, but be quick before the time runs out for some of the offers over the next few days.
Go to Nessy at https://www.nessy.com/en-us/free-resources/dyslexia-awareness-month-2025 for free training, free E books and free resources, before 31st October. Nessy are offering 2 free short courses – both the Understanding Dyslexia parents edition and the teachers edition, which contain really useful information. You can obtain up to 2 free licenses for parents, and 30 free licenses for teachers, so a great refresher for all. Once registered, you have 2 months to complete the short courses, so no pressure and no excuses! Just 3 days left to sign up for free!
Recently, Mike Jones, the founder of Nessy, has retired and the Company has been taken over by ILT Education, but Nessy continues to provide excellent resources for dyslexic individuals.
Mike Jones founded Nessy in 1999 and it was based on teaching materials developed by his mother Pat Jones to help Mike, who was dyslexic himself and struggled at school. Pat Jones’ drive to help her son became her inspiration to start a dyslexia support unit and she founded the Bristol Dyslexia Centre in 1989. In 2015 she was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II for her services to dyslexia.
Tiffany James, Mike’s partner, has also retired from the Nessy company that she helped to develop. Tiffany, a reading and dyslexia specialist is also the founder of the Reading Centre in Texas.
Thank you Mike, Tiffany and Pat for all your work with the Nessy programme, the vision built with love, science and understanding of the dyslexic individual. So many of my students engage and progress with the fun resources you have provided. Happy Retirement and long may Nessy continue!
Make sure you have a look at Louise Selby’s regular blogs at https://louiseselbydyslexia.com/blog/ as she always has some up-to-date and relevant information for the dyslexic learner, their families and educators. Louise Selby is an award winning author, trainer, speaker, adviser, teacher and assessor in all things dyslexia, literacy, and specific learning difficulties. She is the author of many books including ‘Morph Mastery’, a morphological intervention for reading, spelling and vocabulary. I use her Morph Mastery programme a lot in my specialist tutoring work and I find it is a great way to help many learners in KS2 and KS3 progress.
Earlier this month, Jamie Oliver and the BDA (British Dyslexia Association) launched the UK’s first ever national voice-activated petition to advocate for better support for dyslexic children. The voice petition was calling for changes in order to spot the signs of dyslexia within a child’s first two years at school and to support teachers with the training and resources they need to help every child. Have a look on Jamie Oliver’s web page https://www.jamieoliver.com/jamies-world/jamies-dyslexia-revolution/ where you can also find resources that schools can use in assembly to raise awareness and understanding of dyslexia. On 22nd October the BDA brought the voices of young people with dyslexia to the heart of Westminster. Read more: https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/news/voices-for-change-young-people-lead-the-conversation-on-dyslexia-in-parliament
Over the next few months I am going to delve even deeper to find ways how to best support individuals with dyscalculia, to ensure that I am helping students to the best of my ability and I am aware of all their difficulties. Watch this space, as I add more pages to this site regarding dyscalculia and maths difficulties.
SASC (SpLD Assessment Standards Committee – England 2025) defines SpLds in mathematics and dyscalculia as follows: ‘A specific learning difficulty in mathematics is a set of processing difficulties that affects the acquisition of arithmetic and other areas of mathematics. ‘ In dyscalculia, there is a ‘pronounced and persistent difficulty with numerical magnitude processing and understanding’ with ‘naming, ordering and comparing physical quantities and numbers, estimating and place value.’
Just today, individuals from the Dyscalculia Network joined Baroness Barran and Baroness Bull at the House of Lords to discuss dyscalculia awareness and to advocate for change. Check out the Dyscalculia Network’s website at https://dyscalculianetwork.com/ and discover webinars they are producing for Maths Anxiety Day, 10th November 2025.
I am hopeful that dyslexia and dyscalculia are becoming understood by more people as there are lots of helpful website, books, podcasts and blogs for everyone to discover information. Celebrities are constantly adding their voices to help spread the word and backing campaigns to ensure that individuals receive the support they require.
I wish all students and educators who are now on half term holiday a great week. Thinking of all my former school colleagues and other friends in education, I know how hard you all work and how you are all part of an amazing team. Take care everyone. 🙂 PJ
Help your child learn to read, write and spell 