EHCP for Dyslexia: When Extra Reading Groups Are Not Enough
Dyslexia rarely announces itself. It hides behind a child who answers brilliantly in class discussion, then hands in three laboured lines. It hides behind spellings learned on Thursday and gone by Monday, behind homework that consumes whole evenings and behind a slow, quiet decision that reading is something to be avoided. Schools often respond with intervention groups, and sometimes those help. But when years of catch-up programmes have not closed the gap, the law offers a stronger route: an Education, Health and Care needs assessment. Here is how it applies to dyslexia in England.
The gap between ability and written output
The defining picture in dyslexia is a mismatch. Verbally the child keeps up or leads; on paper their work looks like it belongs to a much younger pupil. Reading is slow and costly, so by the time a sentence is decoded its meaning has drained away. Spelling refuses to stick however many times it is practised. Copying from the board means losing the place over and over. None of this reflects intelligence, which is precisely why it corrodes confidence so badly: the child is old enough to notice the distance between what they think and what they can show.
At home you may see the other half of the picture. Reading homework triggers avoidance or tears. A written task the school expects to be brief takes the whole evening with an adult alongside. Your child describes themselves as stupid, or develops impressive strategies for never reading aloud. Keep dated notes of all of it. The council must take account of information provided by parents under regulation 7(b) of the SEND Regulations 2014, and the home cost of coping is part of the true picture.
Struggling to put your child's needs into words?
EHCPhelp turns what you tell us about your child into the formal documents councils respond to. See a section written from your own answers, completely free.
See a free section →Which area of need dyslexia falls under
The SEND Code of Practice describes four broad areas of need: communication and interaction, cognition and learning, social, emotional and mental health, and sensory and/or physical. Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty and sits squarely within cognition and learning. Many children also develop needs in the social, emotional and mental health area as the years of struggle take their toll, and it is entirely legitimate for your request to describe both. A child is not filed under one heading; the assessment should look at the whole child.
"But she's making progress": the refusal that misreads the law
This is the objection dyslexic children's parents meet most often, so it deserves its own section. The council or school points to intervention data showing movement and concludes no assessment is needed. Paragraph 9.14 of the SEND Code of Practice says the opposite of what that argument assumes: when deciding whether to assess, the council should consider whether the child has made progress only as the result of much additional intervention and support over and above that which is usually provided. In other words, progress bought with daily one-to-one reading, precision teaching slots and an adult scribing in every lesson is not proof the child is fine. It is proof the child needs substantial ongoing provision, which is exactly what an EHC plan exists to guarantee. The same paragraph directs attention to the child's rate of progress, so slow gains from a low starting point remain a live concern even when the trend line points upward.
No diagnosis, no problem
Formal dyslexia assessments can be expensive privately and hard to reach through school. The law does not make you wait. Section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014 obliges the council to assess where a child has or may have special educational needs and a plan may be necessary. A referral to a specialist teacher, a screening result, or simply a well-documented pattern of literacy difficulty despite intervention all support "may have". If you do hold a private report, enclose it; regulation 7(b) requires the council to consider it. Our guide to applying without a diagnosis goes deeper on this point.
The evidence that carries weight for dyslexia
Build your request around the heads of evidence in paragraph 9.14: attainment and rate of progress, the nature and extent of the need, what the school has done and the child's emotional and social development. In practice:
- Reading and spelling measures the school already holds, set against your child's age, with the dates they were taken
- Work samples pairing a strong verbal contribution with the written result, ideally across several terms to show persistence
- A homework log recording how long written tasks really take and how much adult help they need
- The intervention history: every programme tried, for how long, at what intensity and what changed, in the school's own review data
- Notes on confidence, avoidance and self-description, which evidence the emotional development head
- Any screening, referral or private report you have
The intervention history matters most. Years of programmes with the gap still open is the strongest possible answer to "let the school try a bit longer".
What good literacy provision looks like in a plan
If the process ends in a plan, everything turns on section F. Long-established case law and the Code of Practice require the provision written there to be specific, detailed and quantified: which structured literacy programme, how many sessions each week, how long each session runs, delivered one-to-one or in what size group, by a person with what specialist training. Under section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014 the council must secure whatever section F specifies. That duty is the entire value of the plan, and it only bites on precise words. "Access to additional literacy support" or "opportunities to develop reading skills" promises nothing a parent could ever enforce. Our guide to section F wording shows the difference line by line.
Professionals you can ask the council to involve
During an assessment, regulation 6(1) of the SEND Regulations 2014 requires the council to gather advice from the parent, the school, an educational psychologist, health, social care and any person the parent reasonably requests. For suspected dyslexia the educational psychologist is central, and it is usually reasonable to ask in addition for advice from a specialist literacy teacher or a specialist assessor experienced in specific learning difficulties. Make the request in writing early in the assessment and keep the reply.
Common brush-offs, and why they fail
"We do not use the word dyslexia here" does not change the council's duty; the test concerns needs, not terminology. "Wait until she is older, some children catch up" defers a statutory decision the law says must be made on present evidence within 6 weeks (regulation 5(1)). "She is not far enough behind" substitutes an attainment gap rule for the actual section 36(8) test. And any version of "children with dyslexia do not get EHC plans in this borough" is a blanket policy, and blanket policies are unlawful because each request must be decided on its own facts. See our full guide to blanket policies and how to challenge them. Remember that a refusal letter must set out your right of appeal (regulation 5(3)).
Want the whole request pack written for you?
EHCPhelp turns a 15 minute form about your child into the complete EHCNA request: a formal letter citing the legal test, detailed parental views, an evidence checklist, a school letter and a deadline timeline. Preview a section free first.
Frequently asked questions
Can a child get an EHCP for dyslexia alone?
There is no rule excluding any condition. The question in section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014 is whether the child may have special educational needs and whether provision through a plan may be necessary. Where dyslexia is significant, where the gap between ability and written output is wide and where school interventions have not closed it, the test can be met.
The school says my child is making progress, so no assessment is needed. Is that right?
Not necessarily. The SEND Code of Practice tells councils to consider whether progress has only been achieved through support well beyond what a mainstream school ordinarily provides. Progress that depends on heavy ongoing intervention is evidence that an assessment may be necessary, not a reason to refuse one. Slow progress from a low starting point is also still a concern.
Do I need a formal dyslexia assessment before requesting an EHC needs assessment?
No. The legal test is has or may have special educational needs, so no diagnosis or specialist report is a precondition. If you do have a private assessment, regulation 7(b) of the SEND Regulations 2014 obliges the council to consider it. If you are waiting for one, the referral itself supports the may have limb of the test.
What should dyslexia provision in a plan actually say?
Section F must be specific, detailed and quantified: which literacy programme, how many sessions a week, how long each session lasts, delivered by whom and with what training. Wording like access to literacy support or opportunities to develop reading is too vague to enforce. Under section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014 the council must secure what section F specifies, so precision is what makes the plan worth having.