Support for Dyslexic Pupils

Adam Dance Excerpts

Tuesday 11th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[Adam Dance (Yeovil) (LD)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered support for dyslexic pupils at school.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Butler. I start by thanking the Backbench Business Committee for granting this debate and hon. Members from across the House for supporting it. I thank all the young dyslexic pupils, their families and the campaigners for their tireless work to raise awareness. They are all such inspirations.

Dyslexia is a neurological difference that affects around one in 10 of us. That is more than 1 million children in classrooms across the UK. It presents in a range of ways and with different degrees of severity. For me, words float on the page—Members may be able to tell that they are doing so at the moment. I struggled with reading, writing and spelling, and I have the reading age of a 12-year-old, so I ask Members to bear with me through this speech.

Dyslexia is not a flaw or something to be ashamed of; that is the most important thing we can take away from the debate. It breaks my heart when I hear young dyslexics say, “I wish I never had it”, “I feel ashamed”, “I felt stupid” or “I will never achieve anything”. Intelligence and poor behaviour are not linked to dyslexia. Being dyslexic just means that one learns and expresses oneself differently. That comes with challenges, but it also often comes with strengths in problem solving, resilience, creativity or practical work. That is my message to all dyslexic young people: they can do anything in life, and it is the job of schools and the Government to help them achieve that.

Unfortunately, support for dyslexic pupils at school is still not where it should be. I have said this before, but in Somerset, chronic underfunding means that support has got worse since when I was at school, despite the hard work of educators. I left school in 2008, and I had more support in school then than there is now. We have gone backwards as a country, and it is not good enough.

[Afzal Khan (Manchester Rusholme) (Lab)]

The hon. Member is making an excellent speech on a very important subject. Early diagnosis is key for dyslexic students to access the necessary support and assistive technology, yet as the hon. Member pointed out, 80% of dyslexic children leave school without a formal diagnosis. Does he agree that a universal screening programme could help to ensure that all children, regardless of their background, have their needs recognised and talents nurtured by our education system?

[Adam Dance]

I totally agree, and I will come to that later. The hon. Member has probably seen my ten-minute rule Bill about getting support, and I ask him to sign it.

The biggest problem is identifying dyslexia. Although three children in an average class likely have dyslexia, four in five dyslexic pupils leave school without having their needs properly identified. There is no NHS pathway to diagnosis for dyslexia as it is not a medical condition. That means diagnosis and support is based on a postcode lottery and family income. The average cost of diagnosis is £600, which is unaffordable for too many of my constituents and creates real inequality. Some 90% of dyslexic children in higher-income households are diagnosed compared with 43% in lower-income households. That is not good enough.

If we cannot identify needs, how can we support young dyslexics through education? For those whose needs are identified, it often comes far too late. Even then, the support they need may be unavailable. Our councils are in desperate need of financial support to keep up provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. Our brilliant teachers just do not have the appropriate training or proper resources to support all their pupils’ needs. Teachers should not have to learn about dyslexia and work out classroom adjustments in their spare time. They should be supported from day one.

Even simple things just are not available. In this day and age, getting access to assistive technologies such as word processors should not be a challenge, yet the British Dyslexia Association has found that only 18% of dyslexic people reported having access to assistive technology at school. Without support, the classroom becomes inaccessible for dyslexic people. The curriculum is too narrow and not developed with dyslexia properly in mind. Exams such as GSCEs test written ability and recall in timed environments, rather than testing knowledge. That ends up punishing dyslexic people who do not have enough alternative qualification pathways.

[Mr Angus MacDonald (Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire) (LD)]

It is an incredibly important subject. I left school before I was 17, and that was the end of my education. I have had a fantastic business career, I have written lots of novels and I am now an MP. That is despite no help at all from the educational system, and society as a whole putting across the message that people such as me at school are not on the same level as more intellectual people. The subject is close to my heart. Does my hon. Friend agree that society should better recognise people such as him and me, to help people get on with their careers?

[Adam Dance]

I agree with my hon. Friend. The impact is devastating on young dyslexic people’s education and their mental health. We know that 26% of 11-year-olds leave primary school below the expected reading standard. At GCSE, only one in five pupils with dyslexia achieve a grade 5 or above in English and maths, compared with over half of pupils without special educational needs.

The British Dyslexia Association’s most recent research found that 70% of young dyslexic people report feeling bad about themselves because of their dyslexia, and that 78% report having experienced people assuming that they are not as clever as others due to their dyslexia. That is not true—we have heard that today in the interventions.

I know that if I had not had the support I had at school, I might have ended up in prison or even taken my own life, like too many others who never get the help they need. Sadly, young people with dyslexia are three times as likely to be suspended from school and twice as likely to be repeatedly absent from school.

[Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)]

My son is dyslexic, and the statistic that shocked me is that 80% of people with dyslexia leave school without it being diagnosed, and that is the concern—that people will go through life not even realising why they struggle with certain things. Does the hon. Member agree that that needs to change?

[Adam Dance]

I definitely agree and I thank the hon. Member for her comment.

Young people with dyslexia are also three times as likely to not be in employment, education or training by the age of 16 to 17. Research suggests that about half of people in prison may have dyslexia, compared with one in 10 in the general public. I have heard from people who have come out of prison and found out that they were dyslexic. They realised that had they had the right support, they may not have given up on school and ended up where they were. That tells us all we need to know about the dire consequences of not getting support for dyslexic people.

What can we do? Action is long overdue. We have to make dyslexia and other neurodiversities—such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism and dyscalculia—a priority by having a national dyslexic strategy, and a national body for SEND to oversee it. Any changes must start with early identification and teacher training. That is why I proposed my Bill on universal screening and teacher training. The idea is simple: that the Department for Education uses its expertise and resources to work with us all to create a universal screening programme for neurodiversity in primary school-aged children to identify their needs, and to provide statutory guidance on training on neurodiversity in initial teacher training and continuous professional development. The screener can be classroom based and the assessment done in a cost and time-effective way. That will allow teachers to better recognise the signs early.

With better training, teachers can make those all-important in-class adjustments, such as using more visual, auditory and physical aids, as well as offering tailored support. Teachers also need to be taught how to use assistive technologies throughout teaching and assessment. That targeted early intervention can move some children at risk of being adversely impacted by dyslexia to no or low risk. That is important.

More broadly, we need to rethink assessment design, so that assessments focus on measuring understanding, not memory recall or spelling accuracy—and I make many mistakes with spelling—except where essential. That has to start by looking at other forms of assessment beyond exams, and strengthening vocational education. I hope that V-levels will offer some of that. Access to assistive technology must be standard, and how to use it must be properly taught through key stage 2, to support independent learning.

I cannot end without addressing the elephant in the room—the now delayed SEND White Paper. I think the Minister and her team will have heard the fear and anxiety about the reports of cuts, and the real frustrations at the delay. Will the Minister address reports that dyslexic children may lose one-to-one support and extra teaching staff support? If that is the case, I urge the Government to think again. Cutting costs at the expense of young people’s futures is never worth it.

Ultimately, I think we all want the same thing—an inclusive and fair education system that gives young dyslexic people the chance to shine. With the changes I have set out, we can take a big step towards that future. I hope the Minister will take these ideas on board and work with us as the SEND White Paper is finalised. Without the changes, I fear this will be another missed opportunity and an entire generation of dyslexics will be failed by the Government.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

--- Later in debate ---

[Dr Scott Arthur (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)]

What a privilege it is to serve under you today, Ms Butler. I thank the hon. Member for Yeovil (Adam Dance) for introducing this debate, alongside my hon. Friend the Member for Broxtowe (Juliet Campbell).

As others have noted, dyslexia affects around 10% of the UK population, with 4% experiencing severe dyslexia. Up to 80% of children with the condition leave school without a diagnosis or the support they need to reach their full potential. When I was at school, dyslexia was understood even less than it is now. I was one of those kids who took a long time to progress through English. Some people might not be surprised to hear that it took me three attempts to pass my O-grade English, which was Scotland’s equivalent of O-level English. It was not until I became a university lecturer and encountered kids with a proper diagnosis that I started to understand the condition and how it affected me. I developed coping strategies that enabled me to try to sit my higher English at evening college. I did succeed, but it was not a journey I entirely enjoyed.

As a university lecturer, I met students who had been really well supported at school, and that had helped them to reach their full potential. I taught civil engineering, a subject that often attracted students with good mathematical skills but perhaps not the best English skills. I also encountered students who had not been diagnosed at school, and it was not until their first set of exams that they started to be flagged as needing extra support.

[Adam Dance]

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that if someone with dyslexia has not been identified and fails English at GCSE level, and then has to go to college and retake it, that puts them off going to university? It certainly put me off.

[Dr Arthur]

Absolutely. Particularly if the condition is not understood, they just assume—let us face it—that they are not the smartest kid in the class, whereas often the opposite is true. Through working with dyslexic students in my job as a lecturer, I know they are often real problem solvers, as we have heard, and systems thinkers able to see the bigger picture. Once they had a diagnosis, we were able to support them in their studies.

I worked in the sector for a long time. I started lecturing in the late ’90s, and when staff back then discussed dyslexia we had spectacularly uninformed debates about the condition. I remember one well-intentioned colleague talking about his hope that a student could shake off dyslexia by the time they left university. If only that had been possible, that lecturer would be world renowned by now. He is still a great person, though.

In Edinburgh we are lucky to have organisations such as HealthCare in Mind stepping in to help parents in Edinburgh South West to secure a recognised diagnosis, so that their children can finally access the support they deserve. But receiving a diagnosis and the associated help should not be down to a postcode lottery. It should come early enough in a child’s life to allow them to adapt their style of learning and make the most of their school experience.

A recent survey by Dyslexia Scotland showed that dyslexia is still widely misunderstood. Many parents, and I dare say some teachers, still think it is something that children can grow out of, that it affects only boys, that it is about eyesight, or that children can overcome it if they just try harder.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Butler. I am sure you will cough at the appropriate time if I am going on.

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Broxtowe (Juliet Campbell) and the hon. Member for Yeovil (Adam Dance) for securing this important debate. As others have said, they are both really important champions on this issue. The hon. Member for Broxtowe has huge experience from their previous life in training teachers and parents, and they have brought that into their work for the APPG. Since I have had the privilege of taking on this role, I have seen the hon. Member for Yeovil at almost every debate, which I think says something about their passion. The way that they speak about their own experience and the challenges they have overcome is inspiring for many young people. As we have heard from many across the Chamber, dyslexic people and parents of dyslexic children are important voices in the debate, and this place is stronger as a result.

I appreciate the constructive tone of everyone in the Chamber. As has been said, this is a critical issue for many young people around the country. In my own experience as a council leader, I have seen the huge challenges in the system and am deeply motivated to change it. We are not waiting for the schools White Paper: interventions are already happening to support the SEND system. Mention was made of Ofsted; changes to include inspection on inclusion are already happening. Changes are being made to teacher training to help teachers support young people with SEND, in particular on adaptive teaching. We have invested an extra £1 billion this financial year into the high-needs block and an extra £740 million into specialist places across the system. Those changes are happening, but we recognise the need for wider reform. I support the desire to work cross-party and we wish to hear from Members across the House to help us shape those proposals and to scrutinise them as we go forward.

On the issue of dyslexia, which Members spoke about powerfully, recently I attended a parliamentary reception hosted by the British Dyslexia Association, where we heard some of the stark research referred to in the debate. The statistic that stays with me is the 70% of children and young people who feel bad about themselves because of their dyslexia. Earlier, we heard a powerful story about Lucy and her experiences. At the event, I spoke about my dad’s experience. He was severely dyslexic and failed his 11-plus, later leaving school with only one A-level. He talked to me about how he felt like a failure at school, but he was one of the most creative and brilliant people I have known.

I have heard from too many young people who still feel that same way so many years on—that sense, which someone described as humiliation, that they are not good enough and that their huge creativity and contributions are not recognised. That has to change. This debate and the ideas we have heard are important within that. On Thursday, I will visit the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (Peter Swallow), who was present earlier, where the British Dyslexia Association is based, to meet young people to hear their experience, to feed into the White Paper. As I said, however, we are not waiting and work is already happening to improve things on dyslexia while we look at the wider reforms.

I want to start with the focus on reading that we heard about, and on identifying needs around reading. Many MPs talked about early identification, which is vital. We heard about phonics and some of the great successes with that: 80% of young people pass their phonics screening checks, but 20% of young people do not. Putting in more support and intervention for those young people is a key priority for us. In the curriculum assessment review response, we set out a new reading test for all pupils in year 8. That is focused on identifying young people who are struggling at key stage 3, because given some of the statistics, by the time we get to GCSEs, it is too late.

[Adam Dance]

On reading, does the Minister agree that teaching assistants are vital? Without teaching assistants, I would not have got through education. To this day, if someone gives me a book to read, it daunts me; I have probably only ever read one or two books to the end in my whole life, because it takes me so much time. Does she agree that teaching assistants are important to help with reading?

[Georgia Gould]

I do agree. Teaching assistants play a vital role in supporting children with special educational needs, which can include reading, and there is good evidence that that support is working. Today, we have heard about some of the huge challenges, but I want to mention a school I visited in Amber Valley, which had brilliant support for young people struggling with reading.

I spoke to a child who said that, in the transition into year 7, he had had the reading age of a four or a five-year-old. He talked about trying to access the curriculum, but getting increasingly frustrated and not listening. The school had put in place a small nurture group, focused on supporting young people with reading, with a range of children—some had dyslexia and some did not. He is now 14, and that extra support and intervention means that he is fully accessing the curriculum and thriving. That was a teacher-led intervention.

--- Later in debate ---

[Adam Dance]

I, too, thank my co-sponsor of the debate, the hon. Member for Broxtowe (Juliet Campbell). It has been absolutely fantastic to hear so many supportive remarks about dyslexia from across the House. It is important to get across that this issue should not be political; it should be cross-party, because we want the best for our young people and their future. It is clear that in Parliament, dyslexia is on the agenda; that is great news, but it has to stay there and translate into real change. We need to make sure that it does not come off the agenda, so I will carry on pushing. I am sure that the Minister will get fed up of me eventually, but I look forward to meeting her tomorrow. We need to make sure that school is not somewhere dyslexic people fear, but somewhere to set them up to do what they want in life.

Something stays with me; we all, as Members of Parliament, visit schools in our constituencies, and the other day I visited a rural school to talk about my life and background, and why I got involved in politics. At the end, two lads asked their teacher whether they could stay behind. The teacher said, “You’re not going to say anything you shouldn’t be saying to Adam, are you?” They said, “No, we just want to talk to him,” and I said, “Let them stay behind.”

Those two lads were primary school-age children, and what they said stuck with me: “Thank you. We both have ADHD and dyslexia. We keep thinking we’re going to fail in life, and you’ve taught us that we’re not going to fail in life. We want to thank you for that.” Just before that, the teacher had said to those children, “What do you want to stay behind for?”. Children are already hearing, “Oh, you’re going to stay behind to say something you shouldn’t.” That is the perception we have to change in our education system. I will follow those two lads’ careers and see where they get to, because that really has stuck with me. I think they will succeed.

Let us keep working together on this. As I will say to the Minister tomorrow, “Let’s get on with it, move positively and make real change together.”

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered support for dyslexic pupils at school.

Educational Assessment System Reform

Adam Dance Excerpts

Wednesday 15th October 2025 Westminster Hall

[Adam Dance (Yeovil) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Ms Lewell. I thank the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford (Josh Dean) for securing this debate.

With severe attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia, I struggled at school and hated exams. The current system of exam-based learning has a role to play in higher education, but it is far from perfect. Today I will focus on the changes we can make to the assessment system so that it is fairer on neurodiverse students because there is an attainment gap. The British Dyslexia Association found that in the 2023-24 academic year, just two in 10 students with special educational needs achieved a grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSE, compared with over half the students without SEND—that is an attainment gap of over 30%. Current assessments, such as GCSEs, are focused on an intense number of written exams, which favour good memory recall, fluent reading and writing and correct spelling in a high-pressure, timed environment.

When someone’s strength lies in creative thinking, problem solving or practical or artistic work, then exams are not testing or rewarding for their strengths. While assistive technologies can make a huge difference, they are not available for too many neurodiverse people. The BDA found that only one in five dyslexic pupils say they have access to assistive technology at school—that is shocking. The bigger problem is that too many neurodiverse kids do not have their needs identified at all. I come back to to dyslexia: 80% of dyslexics will leave school without their needs formally identified—unless, of course, they are lucky enough to come from a high income family, as 90% of children from households earning over £100,000 have a formal diagnosis, according to the BDA. That is just not fair. The result is not just an attainment gap, but damage to mental health. Seven in 10 people with dyslexia say it has made them feel bad about themselves—I know that all too well. Nearly eight in 10 say people assume they are not clever.

I have a list of demands for the Minister today—and they are demands, because things as they stand really are not good enough. One, identify and support needs for early universal screening and better teacher training on neurodivergence. I have written to the Minister to ask for a meeting on that and I am still waiting to hear back. Two, reduce the intensity and number of exams and have more coursework or continuous assessments where possible. Three, introduce and properly invest in more vocational and functional pathways. Yeovil college in my constituency is fantastic at that. Four, invest in access to assistive technologies and integrate it into teacher training and testing as early as possible. Five, get a designated mental health professional in every school who is trained to support SEND children with anxiety at school. Finally, look at removing spelling, punctuation, and grammar marks from non-English exams.

As listeners can tell, I struggle even reading my own speech. People are struggling on a daily basis and we need that support. If we act on this, we can finally move towards an education system that teaches and tests for the strengths in all of us. Surely that can only be a good thing.

Children with SEND: Assessments and Support

Adam Dance Excerpts

Monday 15th September 2025 Westminster Hall

[Adam Dance (Yeovil) (LD)]

Although it is great to see so many Members here to debate this issue, it shows how dire things are in the SEND system. Somerset is one of the 40 lowest-funded education authorities in the UK. I have heard from many constituents, such as Becky, whose son has been denied mainstream education for over a year because no school feels that it has the resources to support him, and Kayleigh, who is struggling to get the one-to-one provision that her child’s EHCP requires. People in Yeovil are worried about the planned changes in the upcoming SEND White Paper: Ministers have failed to rule out scrapping EHCPs without a clear vision of what comes next, and people fear a similar mess to the recent attempts at personal independence payment reforms.

In the time that I have, I will focus not on negativity, but on what steps we can take to change things. The Government have to make sure that they do several things if they want to start fixing the SEND system. They must not just cut provision to save money. A child’s right to assessment must be protected. For a start, I suggest that the Government support my ten-minute rule Bill on universal screening and teacher training on neurodivergence. We also need to invest in new special school places and education centres. Finally, all our councils need funding fairly, by extending the profit cap from children’s social care to SEND provision, and by making sure that the national Government support any child whose needs exceed a specific cost threshold.

The Government cannot afford to get this wrong. Change cannot just mean more cuts; it has to be built on the experience and knowledge of everyone involved in education. Young people across the country deserve so much better. Since my ten-minute rule Bill, I have had thousands of people across the country support that motion, and my casework is going through the roof. We need change now, and I hope the Government listen.

--- Later in debate ---

[Georgia Gould]

I am going to make progress.

This morning I visited a school that is doing amazing work to provide support in the classroom, in mainstream provision, for children and young people. The children I meet have big dreams and deserve the chance to thrive. The Secretary of State for Education has made it absolutely clear that under this Government no child will be left behind, and we will reform the system so that children with special educational needs are at the heart of the education system. There will always be a legal right to additional support for children and young people with special educational needs.

As I approach this new role, there are a number of principles guiding me. First, the voices of children, young people and their families, and of teachers and those supporting them, must be at the forefront of reform.

[Adam Dance]

Will the Minister give way?

[Georgia Gould]

I will make progress, because we do not have much time.

Over the last year, the Secretary of State and my predecessor have spent a huge amount of time with families to make sure that their voices are heard. Secondly, children should get support when they need it, as early as possible.

[Adam Dance]

Will the Minister give way? It will take 10 seconds.

[Georgia Gould]

I will.

[Adam Dance]

With my ten-minute rule Bill, I have given the Minister good ideas to take forward. Will she look at including them in the White Paper?

[Georgia Gould]

I heard the hon. Member introduce his Bill. He spoke so powerfully about his personal journey, and this House is a better place because he is in it. The points he raised about investing in teacher training across the board are critical and have to be part of the future.

The second principle, which we have heard about from almost every speaker, is that children need to get support when issues first appear; early intervention has to be the basis of reform. Thirdly, children with special educational needs should not have to go miles away from their families and communities to get the right support. We need to invest in support within our communities.

Finally, support for young people to thrive is not just for schools. I have heard the words “collaboration” and “co-design” so many times in this debate. It is about play, it is about youth clubs, it is about local health services; it is about workplaces that celebrate neurodiversity. We are talking about one in five of our young people: we all know somebody who has special educational needs, and those individuals bring so much creativity and so many ideas.

Department for Education

Adam Dance Excerpts

Tuesday 24th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Adam Dance (Yeovil) (LD)]

I welcome the investment for our teachers, school buildings, free school meals and SEND support, but I remain concerned about SEND provision in Somerset. I know from personal experience and from listening to constituents just how much of a difference giving SEND children the support they need can make. Teachers go above and beyond to give children in their classes the education they deserve, but we have a SEND system in crisis. It feels like we have gone backwards from when I was at school, which is, I am sorry to say, thanks to the cuts made under the previous Conservative Government over many years. As in so many other areas of life, parents in Yeovil are often left with a losing draw in a postcode lottery, waiting months to get the support their children deserve.

There are two really effective ways that the Department can invest its budget to improve the outcome for SEND children at school. The backlog for education, health and care plans is too high in Somerset, and it is of course right that Somerset council receives more money to urgently support EHCP provision, but not every SEND child needs an EHCP for support. Instead, we urgently need universal screening for neurodiverse conditions at primary schools. That would be a fantastic way of empowering teachers to identify the individual needs of children in their classes and to adapt their teaching.

[Dr Al Pinkerton (Surrey Heath) (LD)]

I speak to lots of special educational needs co-ordinators in many schools in and around my constituency, and they always tell me that the earlier the diagnosis, the better, and the more a child can be put on a path towards effective learning. Does my hon. Friend regret, as I do, the loss of Sure Start centres, which were one of the very best ways of identifying those learning conditions as early as possible?

--- Later in debate ---

[Adam Dance]

I totally agree. It is sorry to see that so many of those centres have gone, and we need to invest more.

The earlier that children’s needs are identified and supported, the more likely they are to succeed. Researchers, for instance at University College London, have already developed a screener that goes far beyond the current phonics screening, and it is really cost-effective. I hope that the Government’s schools White Paper, which is due in the autumn, will set out a plan for rolling out such screeners across schools.

Once children’s needs have been identified at school, we need to ensure that our teachers are fully equipped to help. That is why we urgently need better internal teacher training and continuous professional development for teachers and other education professionals, including teaching assistants and senior staff. We must also ensure that SENCOs are represented on senior leadership teams, and are given dedicated time to do their work properly. I hope that the Minister or the Secretary of State will update us on the progress made on teacher training, and tell us when we can expect those teachers to be rolled out.

There can be no better investment in the future of our country than investment in education and young people. Ensuring that everyone has a good-quality education and career always provides a return, as I know from my personal background of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia. I left school having had support, but I was severely bullied, to a point where I was sprayed with deodorant and set alight when I got off the school bus, so I know how vital such support is. Without the support that I was given at school, I would not be here today: I would either be in prison or I would have taken my own life. This is so important—so please, let us get on with universal screening and teacher training for neurodiverse conditions.