How do we as parents know that our local school is equipped with the best knowledge and resources to support the development of our dyslexic children? In this article, I am going to share a valuable resource with you that can help you locate a school in your area which delivers a level of dyslexia provision that meets a recognised standard.

Let’s face it. As parents of dyslexic children, in the main we just accept (or hope) that our local school is capable of supporting our child through their education. Sometimes, we just know that we have a fight on our hands to get that essential provision in place. But why should we as parents have to fight for something that is our right and that is a requirement by law? Equally, if our local school does give assurances of their ability to support the learning of our dyslexic children, why is it that they are not able to articulate what standard of provision that they are delivering to?

One resource that is really useful for us as parents is the Council For The Registration Of Schools Teaching Dyslexic Pupils or CReSTeD.

This charity, is made up of trustees representing the UK’s leading dyslexia charities (The British Dyslexia Association, The Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity) and other educational organisations such as Dyslexia Action.

CReSTeD, have a stringent assessment process for schools who claim to provide a high standard for dyslexia provision (state and independent schools) who want to be listed on CReSTeD’s register of schools.

In January, I posted an article about CReSTeD and one of my readers wrote back and said that CReSTeD did not have a school listed in their area. This made me think about how to respond. Did this mean that this resource was not useful? Of course not!

What this means is that for that parent, they have schools in their area that are not making it clear as to whether or not they can provide a good provision for dyslexia. With 10% of our population being dyslexic (according to the BDA), shouldn’t schools be making a huge effort to prove their capabilities to support a dyslexic child? In my opinion, given that some of our leading dyslexia organisations are overseeing the work of CReSTeD, the list of schools who are taking part in this register is very much a gold standard in terms of resources. As parents we should be putting pressure on our schools to prove that they are able to provide their dyslexia support to the standard that CReSTeD requires for registration.