Dyslexia Awareness Week runs from 5 to 11 October this year, and the British Dyslexia Association has given it the theme Dyslexia in real life: At work. After several years of attention on classrooms, the BDA is turning to what happens once school is finished.
The thinking behind the theme is simple. Dyslexia does not stop at the school gate. It shapes how an adult reads a job advert, fills in an application form, takes in a briefing, keeps on top of a workload and puts themselves forward for promotion. The BDA is asking employers to look honestly at how they recruit, how they communicate internally, how their systems and management work, and what adjustments they actually offer, and to recognise the distinctive strengths neurodivergent colleagues bring.
If you are reading this as the parent of a seven year old, work can feel a very long way off. I would gently argue the opposite. The week is aimed at employers, but the habits it asks adults to have (knowing how you read best, knowing which tools help, being able to ask for them without embarrassment) are learned young, or not at all.
There is plenty in the week for schools as well. The BDA has published a free schools pack built around a slide presentation that can be delivered as an assembly or a lesson, with a quiz, a discussion scenario and a lesson plan with timings. It comes with guidance for teachers, adaptations for children aged 5 to 11, two learner activity sheets and a set of printable tool cards. It gives a class a way to talk about difference without any child having to say anything personal about themselves.
The pack makes one point that is worth repeating at home: "A tool or adjustment is not an unfair advantage." Hearing a text read aloud, having extra time, typing rather than writing by hand. None of these are shortcuts. They are how a dyslexic brain gets to show what it actually knows.
The BDA also notes that around 1 in 10 people are dyslexic, so there are likely to be dyslexic learners in every classroom. That is worth holding on to if your child feels like the only one in theirs.
Four free webinars run during the week. Two are for school staff, both titled Reading unlocked: Dyslexia and DLD: one for teaching assistants and reading volunteers on Monday 5 October at 3.30pm, and one for KS3 teachers and school staff on Thursday 8 October at 3.30pm. Two are for adults: Dyslexia at work: practical tips to help you succeed on Tuesday 6 October at 1pm, and Dyslexia or dyscalculia: understanding your next steps on Wednesday 7 October at 7pm. If you are a dyslexic parent yourself, that second pair may be as useful to you as anything aimed at your child.
Every date and detail above comes from the British Dyslexia Association's own awareness events pages, and the links are at the foot of this post.
What this means for families
You do not have to run an event to get something out of this week. Two things are worth doing. Ask your child's school whether they are marking Dyslexia Awareness Week, and point them at the free pack if they are not. It costs a school nothing, and it changes how a classroom talks about difference for the rest of the year.
Then, at home, treat the tools your child uses as ordinary rather than special. A child who grows up able to say "I read better when I can listen along" becomes an adult who can say the same thing in a job interview, which is exactly what the BDA is asking employers to be ready for.
And if this week has put a worry into words for you, that is reason enough to talk to someone. Screening and a learning needs assessment can show you what is actually going on, and regular 1-to-1 work builds the skills from there. A free fifteen minute call is a good place to start.