Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

They are all cures for dyslexia which I have seen tried. The noble Lord and this amendment make a crucial point. There needs to be early diagnosis and, as the noble Lord said earlier, it should not be when there appears to be a problem. Many of these problems emerge only when the child’s inner resources have been exhausted. I have seen bright dyslexics diagnosed in their second year at Cambridge. If you are bright enough you can carry this for a long time before you know what is going on. It is important to pick up these kids, whatever their level of innate intelligence, in order to separate out the reasons for the difficulties that they are having and to give them the right support as a result. This is much better done by way of a universal diagnosis, which is not expensive because diagnostic testing of those kids should be done at that stage anyway. If we get around to doing it, it will save a great deal of money and a great deal of heartache in the long term.