Support & prices
1-1 structured literacy intervention (DALP) for children aged 7–16, from a dyslexia specialist in Pocklington. Also GCSE & A Level revision and study skills for ages 15–18, and an optional Learning Needs Assessment.
Weekly, hour-long, in-person sessions during the school day. Your child does not need a dyslexia diagnosis or a separate £300 Learning Needs Assessment to begin. The first session includes a placement screening, so the programme starts in the right place.
A one-off placement session helps me work out whether the intervention suits your child's needs, before you commit to weekly sessions. It also shows where in the programme your child should begin.
I work 1-1 with your child through short, relaxed activities covering reading, spelling and writing, and watch how they approach each task. It isn't a test they can pass or fail, and they don't need to prepare anything. Afterwards I email you my findings and we talk them through on a free call. If the intervention isn't the right fit, I'll tell you and suggest alternatives.
During a session
Sessions are structured, cumulative and multi-sensory, using DALP. A familiar shape each week helps your child know what to expect. I adapt the pace and activities to how they are responding on the day.
"Natalie likes to make the session fun and engaging as this is how our son learns best. Natalie is full of praise and he looks forward to the lesson each week."
Activities connect sounds and letters, explore spelling patterns and word endings, and build practice with longer words and sentences. We also talk about which strategies help your child, so they can understand their own learning.
I plan each lesson carefully so that every part reinforces what has just been taught. New learning is introduced only once the earlier learning is secure. Your child is taught explicit strategies for checking their own work, so they can start to self-correct.
As a dyslexia specialist, I hold a Diploma in Specialist Teaching for Literacy Difficulties (Level 5) and I am a member of the Dyslexia Guild.
Included in the £50
You can contact me directly. No school referral is needed. School liaison is included in my support. With your agreement, I’ll work with your child’s school to share relevant information and coordinate support. If sessions take place at school, I’ll liaise with the school to agree suitable arrangements.
Sessions usually take place in school during the school day, with a suitable quiet room. I follow the school's visitor and safeguarding procedures.
If your child is home-educated or their school cannot host sessions, please still get in touch. I can sometimes work at your home or in another suitable local space, and we will find the best arrangement for your child.
I work within about 20 miles of Pocklington, including York, Market Weighton, Driffield and Beverley. The school day is already demanding for a dyslexic child, so I avoid adding sessions after school or at weekends.
Schools and assessors: see For schools & assessors.
Paying and stopping
I will keep you updated on what we are working on. Progress depends on many things, including attendance and practice at home, so I cannot guarantee a particular result.
Who it helps
Specialist reading and spelling support may be useful when your child is finding literacy persistently difficult, particularly when extra help has not brought the progress you hoped for.
Reading skills are below those expected for their age, or unfamiliar words remain a struggle.
Despite individual or small-group support, they are still falling behind or need a different approach.
Spelling, reading longer words or another specific literacy skill is holding them back.
There may be dyslexia or another learning need affecting their reading and spelling.
Repeated difficulty is making them reluctant to read, write or have a go.
If literacy is difficult too, we can discuss whether specialist literacy or language support is the right fit.
Your child does not need a diagnosis, or even suspected dyslexia. The starting point is the reading and spelling help they need.
Extra processing time, less copying and assistive technology can remove barriers and help your child take part in school. These adjustments are essential, but do not in themselves teach the reading and spelling skills your child finds difficult.
Persistent reading and spelling difficulties need targeted, evidence-based literacy intervention, alongside adjustments. This means explicitly teaching and practising the skills that are difficult, in manageable steps. Schools may already provide this; my individual DALP sessions can complement that support.
School liaison is included. With your agreement, I’ll work with your child’s school to share relevant information and coordinate support, so sessions build on what is already in place.
If the main issue is missed teaching, targeted catch-up support may be enough to help your child rebuild the skills they have missed.
Persistent difficulties or an inconsistent grasp of literacy skills may call for a more specialised approach. On the free consultation call, we can talk about what has already been tried and whether my support is a good fit.
The approach
The Dyslexia Action Literacy Programme combines structured literacy work with strategies that help your child understand and take charge of their learning.
Placement screening identifies a starting point. Sessions build on their strengths and target the skills that need support.
Small steps, repeated practice and self-checking help your child develop useful reading and spelling strategies.
I plan and adapt each session, check understanding and review progress, so the work stays focused on your child.
Research at a glance
Related literacy programmes have reported measurable gains. The studies below evaluated P4L / Units of Sound and RILL, rather than DALP or my own sessions.
P4L / UNITS OF SOUND · PRIMARY STUDY
Average gain in standard reading scores; spelling scores rose by 5.5 points.
147 children, two school terms. Before-and-after study with no comparison group.
Study details: Brooks (2016), p. 229P4L / UNITS OF SOUND · CONTROLLED STUDY
207 pupils in Years 7–9, around six months. The difference was statistically significant.
Study details: Brooks (2016), p. 230RILL · CONTROLLED STUDY
Over eight weeks, children made significantly greater gains in reading accuracy and awareness of sounds in words than the waiting-list group.
Remote programme for ages 8–11. Downing and colleagues (2024).
Read the published studyStandard scores compare performance with other children of the same age. A gain in standard-score points is not a number of months of reading age.
P4L used Units of Sound within a school intervention project. RILL was a separate language-rich reading programme. Their findings provide wider literacy-intervention context, rather than a forecast for a child receiving DALP.
A later Units of Sound trial had delivery and evaluation problems and could not support firm conclusions. Brooks discusses this on pages 227–228.
The RILL trial randomly allocated 184 children. Its abstract reports 77 programme participants and 58 waiting-list participants at analysis, with effect sizes of 0.32 for reading accuracy and 0.63 for awareness of sounds in words.
The skills they develop, strategies they can use and how their confidence changes. We review their progress together. Research averages do not guarantee an individual result.
For teenagers, ages 15–18
Practical help with revision, organisation and exam preparation, for dyslexic students, those with literacy difficulties, or young people who find revision challenging. £50 per hour, in person, in blocks of six weekly sessions or monthly.
Optional
You do not need an LNA before support starts. It is there if you would like a fuller picture of how your child learns, or a written report to share with school.
01 / STRENGTHS
Understand the strengths they can build on when learning feels difficult.
02 / DIFFICULTIES
Get a clearer picture of the skills and barriers that may be getting in the way.
03 / LEARNING
Explore their learning profile and strategies that could make learning more accessible.
04 / NEXT STEPS
Receive a written report with practical recommendations to discuss at home and with school.
£300 or two instalments of £150
If you pay in instalments, the first £150 is paid before the assessment and the second £150 when the report is complete, before I send it to you.
Payment, cancellation and consent details are in the terms and conditions. After your free call, I will email you a secure link to pay and book online.
"Natalie assessed my son at school, he was at first very reluctant to participate as he dislikes speaking with new people. He is diagnosed with ADHD and this brought challenge to his assessment also, affecting his concentration and movement. Natalie managed both of these obstacles with patience and skill, and in the end they successfully complete his assessment together. Communication with Natalie both during and post assessment was excellent."
Diagnostic assessments
You have choices, and none of them is wrong:
An LNA tells you where your child's strengths are, what is getting in the way of their learning, and what to do next. A diagnostic assessment can offer an explanation, validation and practical recommendations. Ongoing sessions develop reading and spelling skills. They are different things that can sit alongside each other, and you can choose any of them, or none.
Planned for 2027
Full diagnostic dyslexia assessments are planned for 2027. They are not available yet. Leave your details and I will email you when bookings open. There is nothing to pay and no obligation.
If your child has an LNA with me first and goes on to have a diagnostic assessment with me within 12 months of the LNA, £75 (25% of the LNA fee) comes off the price of the diagnostic assessment. If diagnostic assessments have not opened within 12 months of your child's LNA, I will refund that £75 instead.
FAQ
Learning Needs Assessments are for children aged 6 to 16. 1-1 literacy support is for children and young people aged 7 to 16.
It depends on the nature of your child's difficulties, so there is no fixed-length course to sign up to. Progress is reviewed regularly, and you pay monthly or one block of six sessions at a time, so you can decide at each stage.
School phonics teaching helps many children, including many dyslexic children, to learn to decode. Some children need more: extra practice, in small steps, with each step checked before the next. The DALP is structured, cumulative and multi-sensory, and covers spelling patterns, word parts such as suffixes, and building sight word vocabulary alongside phonics.
Please still get in touch. I can sometimes work at your home or in a local space. If sessions are at home or another place, a parent, carer or other responsible adult you have named must be in the building for the whole session.
Book a free consultation call, by phone or video, and tell me what you are looking for. There is no obligation.
Book a free consultation call and we can talk it through.