Lost in the system

4th February 2026

I woke yesterday morning ready to write my next blog, What is dyslexia? But after reading the new British Dyslexia Association (BDA) report into local authority provision for students with dyslexia, it felt more important to pause and share this instead.

I write from a place of multiple perspectives — as a teacher, SEND co-ordinator, dyslexia specialist, teacher educator, and parent of dyslexic children. This combination gives me both professional insight and lived experience of how policy decisions land in real classrooms and real homes.

The BDA report raises serious concerns about the lack of national and local support available to teachers and parents around dyslexia, laying bare the scale of underdiagnosis. Only three local authorities were able to identify the number of dyslexic children in their schools, and even those figures fell well below the estimated prevalence of dyslexia. In local authorities where dyslexia is not recognised or supported as a diagnosis, the true scale of underidentification remains unknown.

This means thousands of children with dyslexia are sitting in classrooms without a diagnosis, believing they cannot learn, that they are stupid, or that they are not worth helping — when the understanding and empowerment that can come from a single word could change that narrative for the rest of their lives.

I spoke to a parent recently about the difference she was seeing in her child — in their confidence, self-esteem, and perseverance — simply from introducing dyslexia as a word in their household. Talking openly about how dyslexic brains work had helped her child understand themselves better and shifted their internal narrative from “I can’t” to “I can get there with the right help, because my brain works a little differently.” They are still on their journey towards diagnosis; just imagine how empowering that recognition will be for that child.

I work with some wonderful schools that are trying hard to develop appropriate provision, despite limited support, funding, and training. But the lack of clear central direction is, at best, frustrating and at worst, negligent.

Dyslexia is common, lifelong, and present in every classroom — and it’s time our systems treated it that way. The only people losing out here are the children.

References

British Dyslexia Association (January 2026) Lost in the System: Council's; blind spot on dyslexia