ABSTRACT
While it is important that all children with dyslexia should be included in mainstream education, it is not always possible. A degree of flexibility is required as, although mainstream is the ultimate goal, it may not be possible all of the time, particularly if the learner has severe difficulties and requires a small group or one-to-one provision. But the important point is that all learners with dyslexia may not always require this type of provision, and in time the aim is that he/she would be able to more smoothly make the transition to mainstream. There are a number of very successful specialist school for dyslexia such as Holme Court School, Abington, Cambridgeshire, which has also collaborated with specialist teacher training and trained over 400 specialist teachers. The school also received an ‘outstanding’ award’ at its most recent Ofsted inspection. The report indicated that the one-to-one support available at the school helped pupils make accelerated progress in their understanding of letters, sounds and single words. The pupils then applied their learning to decipher unknown words and read sentences of increasing difficulty. This is a good example of how children with severe dyslexia can have their immediate needs met in specialist provision and how it is made possible for these children to reach a level where they can comfortably function in mainstream school.
