Equality for all children in gaining access to learning has been my passion throughout my 30-year career in education. In 1997, I completed a Master’s degree in Education which focused on the most effective teaching methods for supporting children who were new to English, in developing their oracy, reading and writing skills.

In 2008, I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to train to become a Reading Recovery Teacher with the Institute of Education, further developing my interest and commitment to children who were struggling to learn to read and write.

During my time as a Reading Recovery teacher, I worked with many children who were subsequently diagnosed with dyslexia and so I decided that I would like to understand the field of dyslexia better. I studied for the OCR Level 7 Diploma in Teaching and Assessing Learners with Dyslexia/Specific Learning Difficulties in 2017 to become a fully qualified assessor and teacher of children with dyslexia.

Deborah Salsbury’s ground-breaking reading programme and commitment to supporting children with literacy is inspiring and I feel honoured to have been asked to be the Reading Doctor Assessor for Dyslexia.