What happened to Dyslexia Action?
In 2012, I took my daughter for a diagnostic assessment to determine whether or not she had dyslexia.
The assessment was delivered by an educational psychologist at Dyslexia Action in Peterborough. It was this assessment that unlocked resources for support at secondary school and currently my daughter is doing a Musical Theatre Degree in London.
So as a parent I was grateful for the work of Dyslexia Action.
Last year many of us heard the news that Dyslexia Action had hit upon hard times financially and that the organisation had gone into receivership. This was a huge concern as they (at least from what I thought) were one of the major organisations in the UK providing support on many different levels for people with Dyslexia. With Dyslexia Action, as I knew them, gone there was going to be a huge gap in the UK for dyslexia support.
So now we are a year or so on, what happened to them?
The name 'Dyslexia Action' was a trading name for The Dyslexia Institute, a charitable organisation and on the 17th April 2017, all staff within the charity were told that all activities will cease apart from within the Training Department , The Dyslexia Action Shop and The Dyslexia Guild.
On the 23 June 2017, training provider, The Real Group announced that it had acquired the Training Department, the Dyslexia Action Shop and the Dyslexia Guild.
The Dyslexia Action name, branding and logos were also acquired by Real Group Ltd as they wanted to continue the great legacy of professional training advice that has become so widely recognised and trusted by educators and parents. The training courses, the Dyslexia Guild and the Dyslexia Action Shop all ensure that educators who support those with dyslexia and other SpLDs, continue to have access to the knowledge, skills, understanding and resources they need no matter which sector they work in, whether it be primary, secondary, further or higher education, SEN departments or working with adults.
So where can parents now go for advice and other services?
Dyslexia Action has a downloadable document called “Where can I get an assessment and other useful information” which lists other providers such as the National Dyslexia Network on the Dyslexia Action website here:https://dyslexiaaction.org.uk/contact-us/
The Dyslexia Guild also has a directory of specialist teachers and assessors that can also be accessed from the same page: https://dyslexiaaction.org.uk/contact-us/ This Directory can help parents search for Guild members who have the correct qualifications to carry out either specialist tuition or assessment or both, in your local area. You can also find it here: https://training.dyslexiaaction.org.uk/membersdirectory
The Dyslexia Action Shop: https://www.dyslexiaactionshop.co.uk/ offers all sorts of books, games, visual aids and other learning resources to help parents support their children in many areas.
I would like to thanks Jan Beechey, Dyslexia Guild Administrator and Librarian for her input into this article.