The North Tyneside Dyslexia Team are based at The Riverside Centre in North Shields.

The Dyslexia Team offers one of the services available through the SEND Local Offer in North Tyneside. To find out about other services please visit the Local Offer Website.

Who Are We?

• A team of specialist teachers with post-graduate qualifications and Associate Membership of the British Dyslexia Association (AMBDA) who have been trained to assess and teach children with dyslexia/persistent literacy difficulties.
• ​We also assess for specific difficulties with numeracy.
• We work in mainstream schools in North Tyneside.
• We provide an advice and consultation service for school staff in ARP's and special schools.  This includes access to the team’s training workshops and resources to address difficulties with sound awareness, phonics, reading and spelling.

What Do We Provide?

• Assessments of children referred to us by mainstream schools.
• ​Written reports and recommendations for schools and parents/carers.
• Structured programmes of work to support children.
• Advice and resources to help schools deliver support programmes.
• Teaching of some children with significant specific literacy difficulties.
• ​Training for whole schools, groups within schools, individual staff members and other agencies.

Current Information About Dyslexia

• Dyslexia is a term which is used to describe persistent problems with phonics, reading accuracy and spelling difficulties resulting from specific underlying difficulties.
• ​The Department for Education has adopted a definition of Dyslexia from the 2009 government funded Rose Report. This is quoted by the Dyslexic-Specific Learning Difficulties Trust and viewed at www.thedyslexia-spldtrust.org.uk on their resources page in the parents' section.  The trust receives funding from the Department for Education to provide information to schools, parents and teachers and the wider sector.
• ​The Dyslexia Team does not provide a formal diagnosis of dyslexia as the team’s role is to identify pupils’ specific difficulties and devise programmes to address these.
• ​The team provides advice about ways to address difficulties with sound awareness, phonics, reading and spelling, including strategies for supporting children and young people in class.

How Are Referrals Sent to the Dyslexia Team?

• Schools send referrals to the Dyslexia Team. Written parental permission is required before children can be referred.
• ​The Dyslexia Team’s referral system reflects the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice for schools: children’s needs are identified by schools, additional support is put into place and evaluated. Following this, a referral to the team may be the next step if a child is not making the expected level of progress. This approach helps to identify children with more severe needs who may require specialist help.
• If the referral indicates that a child may have significant specific difficulties with literacy or numeracy, a specialist teacher from the team will contact school to arrange an assessment. If the referral indicates that the child's needs are less severe, informal advice and resources will be offered by the team to provide support.
• The team’s specialist assessments begin at the age of 6 years and 6 months. Assessments for specific numeracy difficulties begin at the age of 7 years.

Meeting with Parents and Supporting Schools

• If the child has an initial assessment from the team, parents/carers will be invited by the school to a meeting to discuss the specialist teacher's findings.
• ​We will provide a report and recommendations for a teaching intervention programme to help the child/young person. Some recommendations can be supported through activities at home.
• ​Our assessment results show that individualised programmes which are delivered regularly each week are effective in addressing specific literacy difficulties. This approach aims to support schools in their efforts to address children’s needs.
• ​For some children with significant difficulties with literacy skills, we return to review their progress after 6 months and provide updated recommendations. After this, we are available to provide further advice on request from schools.

Teaching

• For a small number of children with significant, persistent needs, we may provide once weekly time-limited teaching in schools. During this time, we work alongside school staff to provide informal training and develop their knowledge.
• ​We have also provided video training to model teaching intervention sessions for pupils following our programmes. This helps to provide training and support for their teaching assistants.

What Training Do We Offer?

• Twilight training sessions for whole schools or groups.
• ​Workshops on a variety of themes such as:

1. supporting persistent literacy and maths difficulties.
2. developing effective multi-sensory teaching strategies.
3. effective phonics teaching for all phases.
4. reading and spelling longer words and subject vocabulary.
5. spelling choices.

• These workshops are delivered to school staff in all phases across the local authority.

 Our Direct Telephone Number is: 0191 300 0506