Resources 

• Dyslexia is the most common specific learning difficulty, affecting about 1 in 10 people. That’s about 6.7 million people in the UK, including over 1 million children.
   

• There is a high prevalence of dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties (SpLDs) in a typical classroom - it is estimated that these affect 10% of children in schools but rates can be as high as 20% depending on the definition. 
   

• Data suggests that 49% of all classrooms have at least one student diagnosed with dyslexia but the actual number is likely to be much higher as most children with dyslexia go undiagnosed.
   

• In 2024, figures from the Department for Education showed that 26% of 11 year-olds left primary school in England not meeting the expected reading standard.
   

• Students with dyslexia or another specific learning disability are twice as likely to fail to achieve a Grade 4 or above in English and Maths at GCSE - limiting their ability to go on to acquire further qualifications.
   

• Children and young people with dyslexia and/or literacy difficulties report higher levels of poor mental health than their peers and over three quarters of parents with dyslexic children report that their child experiences poor self-esteem, embarrassment and anxiety related to their dyslexia.
   

• Young people aged 16 to 17 with special educational needs  are more likely to not be in education, employment or training (NEET) and awareness of dyslexia in the workplace is often limited. 
   

• Pupils with dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties are more likely to be excluded from school than their peers and may be at greater risk of coming into contact with the youth justice system with more than 30% of people in prison thought to have dyslexia (a much higher proportion than in the general population).

​​​​