Dyslexia and EHCPs: When Does Dyslexia Qualify for an EHCP in England?

Dyslexia is the most common specific learning difficulty in England's schools, and it is consistently underprovided for at SEN support level. Many parents of children with dyslexia eventually reach the conclusion that the school's interventions are not working and wonder whether an EHCP might be appropriate. The answer depends on the severity of the impact on the child — not on the diagnosis itself.

Here is what you need to know about dyslexia and EHCPs.

Does Dyslexia Automatically Qualify for an EHCP?

No. An EHCP is not triggered by a diagnosis. The legal test under Section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014 is whether the child "has or may have" SEN and it "may be necessary" for special educational provision to be made via an EHCP.

For dyslexia, the relevant question is: what is the actual impact of the dyslexia on the child's ability to access the curriculum, and can the school realistically address that impact from within its own SEN support resources?

A child with mild dyslexia who is making adequate progress with classroom differentiation and a short literacy intervention may not need an EHCP. A child whose dyslexia is so severe that they require intensive specialist literacy teaching several times per week, delivered by an accredited specialist (not a generalist TA), may well need one — because that level of provision may exceed what the school can provide from its own budget.

The distinction is always about impact and what is required to address it, not about the diagnostic label.

What a Dyslexia Assessment Should Include

If you are pursuing an EHCP for a child with dyslexia, the strength of your case depends heavily on the quality of the assessment evidence. A school report saying "has significant reading difficulties" is not sufficient.

A strong assessment for a child with dyslexia should include:

Standardised scores showing the gap. Assessments such as the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT), the York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension (YARC), or the Phonological Assessment Battery (PhAB) generate standardised scores with age-equivalent levels. A child who is chronologically 10 years old but reading at a 7-year-old level has a three-year gap — this is the kind of specific data that makes an EHCP case.

Phonological processing assessment. Dyslexia is fundamentally a phonological processing difficulty. Assessment of phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rapid naming gives a profile of underlying difficulty that explains the reading and writing challenges.

Processing speed. Many children with dyslexia also have processing speed difficulties that affect the pace at which they can complete work — relevant both to intervention design and to exam access arrangements.

Impact on access to the curriculum. The assessment should address what the child cannot access as a result of their difficulties — which subjects are affected, in what ways, and what has been tried and with what result.

If the school's in-house assessment is not comprehensive enough, consider commissioning an independent dyslexia assessment from a qualified specialist assessor (typically a member of the Dyslexia Guild or similar body). Private assessments cost between £500 and £900 typically.

What Section F Should Specify for Dyslexia

The provision in an EHCP for a child with dyslexia must go far beyond "additional reading support." It must specify:

The intervention programme — not just "literacy support" but a named, evidence-based structured literacy programme. Programmes like Sounds-Write, Read Write Inc, Toe by Toe, or Nessy Reading & Spelling are specifically designed for children with phonological difficulties. The plan must name the programme.

Who delivers it — for significant dyslexia, intervention should be delivered by a specialist teacher with a Level 7 SpLD (Specific Learning Difficulties) qualification, not a generalist teaching assistant. The qualification requirement should be specified.

Frequency and duration — typically three to five sessions per week for meaningful progress in severe cases. Each session's length should be specified.

Assistive technology — for older children particularly, EHCP Section F should specify the assistive technology the child is entitled to use. Text-to-speech software (such as Read&Write or ClaroRead), speech-to-text dictation, digital reading pens (such as the C-Pen), and optical character recognition tools can significantly reduce the functional impact of dyslexia in the classroom. Each piece of technology should be named in Section F.

Exam access arrangements — Section F should record the child's need for exam access arrangements (extra time, reader, scribe, modified papers) so that there is an established and documented history of need when applications are made to the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ). Note that access arrangements require demonstration of "normal way of working," which is easier to evidence if it is already documented in the EHCP.

Building the Evidence for an EHCP Request

If your child has dyslexia and SEN support is not working, the evidence base for an EHCP request should include:

1. Standardised assessment data showing the gap between the child's attainment and age-expected levels
2. Documentation of SEN support cycles — what interventions have been tried, for how long, at what intensity, and with what measured result
3. Evidence of ongoing difficulty despite support — the child's progress over time compared with the targets set
4. Evidence that the level of provision required exceeds what the school can fund — if the child needs daily specialist literacy teaching, this quickly exceeds the £6,000 threshold

Write to the Director of Children's Services at your local authority, referencing Section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014. Include the assessment evidence and the history of SEN support.

If the local authority refuses to assess, you can appeal that decision to the SEND Tribunal.

The EHCP Does Not End with Literacy

Children with dyslexia often have wider needs that should also appear in the EHCP. Working memory difficulties, processing speed challenges, organisational difficulties, and the emotional impact of years of academic struggle are all legitimate needs that should be assessed and provided for.

An EHCP that addresses only reading misses the breadth of impact that significant dyslexia has on a child's school experience. When reviewing a draft plan, check that all of the child's identified needs — including SEMH impact, organisational difficulties, and access arrangements — are reflected in Section B, with corresponding provision in Section F.

The England EHCP & SEN Blueprint at /uk/england/iep-guide includes a condition-specific provision checklist for dyslexia that covers the key areas of provision — specialist literacy, assistive technology, exam access, and wider support — so you can check whether a draft EHCP is addressing the full picture.

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