Dyslexia Support at School in New Zealand: Structured Literacy and What to Request

Dyslexia is one of the most common learning differences in New Zealand classrooms — affecting an estimated 10% of the population, with significant overlap with other neurodevelopmental profiles. It is also one of the most underidentified. In communities with less access to private assessment, students who struggle to read and write are often misread as lazy, inattentive, or globally delayed — labels that follow them for years while the actual issue goes unaddressed.

For parents who know or suspect their child has dyslexia, the critical questions are: what does the school have to provide, and what specifically should you be asking for?

The National Shift to Structured Literacy

From 2025, New Zealand schools are required to deliver structured literacy as their core reading instruction approach. This is the most significant shift in literacy education in a generation, and it directly benefits students with dyslexia.

Structured literacy is explicit, systematic, cumulative phonics instruction — teaching the relationship between sounds and letters in a deliberate sequence. It is the approach with the strongest evidence base for all students, and particularly for those with dyslexia. The Ministry of Education has been funding Professional Learning Development (PLD) for schools to implement structured literacy at Tier 1 (all students) from 2025.

For a student with dyslexia, however, universal Tier 1 instruction is often not enough. They typically need:

Tier 2: Small-group structured literacy support with more intensive, targeted phonics instruction — delivered by a trained specialist, not a general teacher aide

Tier 3: One-on-one intensive structured literacy intervention, often 30 to 45 minutes daily, using an explicit programme such as Sounds Write, Jolly Phonics, or Reading Recovery adaptations aligned to structured literacy principles

If your child is receiving Tier 1 classroom instruction but struggling significantly with reading, you can explicitly request Tier 2 or Tier 3 structured literacy support and ask that it be written into the IEP. Reference the Ministry's own 2025 structured literacy mandate when making this request.

The Dyslexia Foundation of New Zealand and SPELD NZ are the primary organisations providing assessment, advocacy resources, and professional networks for families of students with dyslexia. Both offer advice on what to request from schools.

Classroom Accommodations for Dyslexia

Beyond specialist literacy intervention, there are practical accommodations that should be in every dyslexic student's IEP:

Text and visual layout:

• Worksheets printed on pastel-coloured paper (cream, pale yellow, or light blue) — reduces visual stress for many students with reading difficulties
• Reduced visual clutter on printed materials — white space matters
• Written instructions left on the board throughout the activity, not erased mid-task
• Access to large-print materials or adjusted font sizes where needed

Reducing written output burden:

• Photocopied teacher notes rather than requiring the student to copy from the board
• Oral responses accepted as an alternative to written responses where the goal is content knowledge
• Reduced length requirements that maintain academic expectations while removing the writing fluency barrier
• Typed submissions accepted — many students with dyslexia write more accurately when typing

Technology access:

• Text-to-speech software for reading curriculum materials
• Speech-to-text software for written assignments
• Spell-checkers (not permitted in all assessment contexts, but critical for coursework)

Assessment:

• Additional time for reading-intensive tasks
• Reader/writer support for assessments where reading or writing is not the skill being tested
• NCEA Special Assessment Conditions (SAC) — see the dedicated post on NCEA SAC for the full process

Dyspraxia: Overlapping Challenges and School Support

Dyspraxia (Developmental Coordination Disorder or DCD) often co-occurs with dyslexia and is similarly underidentified in New Zealand schools. Dyspraxia affects motor coordination — handwriting, physical organisation, sports, and the sequencing of tasks. In the classroom, it frequently presents as slow, difficult-to-read handwriting; disorganised desk and bag; difficulty with cutting, gluing, and physical tasks; and challenges with structured physical activities.

School support for dyspraxia typically involves:

• Occupational therapy assessment (public wait times in NZ are long — families often fund this privately)
• Access to keyboards or tablets as an alternative to handwriting for sustained written tasks
• Structured support with physical organisation — a system for the desk, bag, and timetable
• Modified PE expectations where appropriate, without removing the student from PE entirely
• Environmental accommodations that reduce the motor demands of the school day

An OT may provide a school-based programme for handwriting support, or recommend specific assistive equipment such as pencil grips, slanted writing surfaces, or weighted tools. Ask the SENCO whether an OT referral has been initiated — for students on ORS, occupational therapy is included in the funding package.

What to Write Into the IEP

The IEP is where these accommodations become enforceable. For a student with dyslexia and/or dyspraxia, the IEP should include:

• The specific literacy intervention being provided, at which tier, how frequently, and who delivers it
• Each classroom accommodation listed explicitly — who provides it and how compliance is monitored
• SMART literacy goals: for example, "By the end of Term 3, when provided with explicit phonics instruction three times per week, the student will decode CVC words with 80% accuracy across four consecutive observations"
• Technology tools the student is authorised to use
• Assessment accommodations, referenced against any NZQA SAC approval

If the school argues that structured literacy intervention is not available because no trained staff member exists, escalate in writing to the SENCO. The Ministry's PLD funding for structured literacy is specifically designed to build this capacity. If the school has not accessed it, that is an accountability question worth raising.

The New Zealand ORS & Learning Support Blueprint includes a full IEP goal bank with dyslexia-specific literacy goals aligned to the New Zealand Curriculum, plus accommodation templates for dyspraxia and processing difficulties. It also covers the RTLB referral pathway, which is often the most accessible route to specialist literacy assessment and intervention for students whose families cannot fund private assessment.

See more New Zealand guides →