A Treehouse Base
The first object I unpacked was a Playmobil treehouse base.
This represented the specialist “SpLD Bases” that were established across in Hertfordshire (where I am based) in the late 1990s. These ten bases were linked to schools in Hertfordshire and provided training, resources, assessment, intervention and support. My own experience of the bases, during my first SENCO post in Watford in 2001, was foundational in my own professional development and this started me on my dyslexia journey.
A Cornet
The second object was a cornet.
This represents SASC, the SpLD Assessment Standards Committee formed in 2005. The connection may not be immediately obvious, but professional standards are a bit like the conductor of an orchestra. Without them, everyone plays a different tune.
SASC helped bring consistency and quality assurance to assessment practice. The resulting Assessment Practicing Certificate process is rigorous and challenging for assessors (me included!), but it makes us excel in what we do, and as a result we have access to tests that previously were only accessed by educational psychologists.
A Toy Train
The third object was a toy train.
This represents the Rose Review in 2009 which led to exponential increase in training opportunities; specifically the ambition to train around 4000 specialist teachers. Many of my colleagues today benefited from that funding.
The Rose Report provided a definition of dyslexia that shaped practice for years and recognised the importance of high-quality teaching and intervention. This felt to me like a time of revelation, when what had been mysterious and known only to specialists was now firmly on the agenda for schools, with every school expected to have access to a trained specialist teacher.
A Gold Star
My next object was a gold star.
In response to this new agenda, what followed was a golden age. For many years, schools across the country have worked towards Dyslexia Friendly Status and Quality Mark, and many still do. The concept was that dyslexia support should not depend on one enthusiastic teacher or a handful of interventions. Instead, it should be embedded within the culture and teaching practices of the whole school.
The gold star represented this recognition.
A Pair of Scissors
The next object was a pair of scissors.
This represents cuts. Over the last decade, many specialist services have faced reductions, restructures or closure. Schools have encountered increasing financial pressures. The pandemic brought additional challenges, while the complexity of need within schools has continued to increase, leaving specific learning difficulty provision behind. In many areas, cognition and learning have gradually slipped down the priority list.
Today, support for dyslexia and specific learning difficulties varies enormously across the country. The result is that support often depends on where a child happens to live.
A Dictionary
The next object was a dictionary.
This represented the Delphi dyslexia definition published in 2025. Researchers, practitioners and people with lived experience worked together to find areas of agreement using a robust research method.
Definitions matter because they provide a shared language, and they also reflect research. They should therefore influence policy and practice.
A Plain Sheet of Paper
Then came a plain sheet of white paper.
This represented the recently published SEND White Paper and the uncertainty surrounding the future. When considering the proposed new Code of Practice and proposed 5 areas of development, I have found myself asking the question:
Where has SpLD gone?
The five developmental areas identified in the proposed Code of Practice are medical in origin, with the place of cognition and learning far less clear.
At times, it can feel as though that golden age has quietly slipped away, along with much of the expertise, infrastructure and cultural momentum that came with it.
Rope
My final object was a rope, which represents a tightrope.
Because that is where I think we find ourselves today. We are balancing inclusion and identification. Universal provision and specialist support. Research and implementation. Ambition and reality. The philosophy of “every child thriving and achieving” and the practical constraints of budgets and competing priorities.
As a dyslexia specialist, it sometimes feels precarious. We have a strong research base and our understanding of literacy, and learning is strong. We have better assessment tools and strong professional development communities. Yet there remains a gap between what we know and what is consistently available in practice.
I hope the tightrope is leading somewhere. I hope we have the determination to keep walking it. Because all learners still deserve to be taught to read and write. Because all schools deserve to be equipped and enabled. And because all communities deserve to thrive and flourish.
