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You never expect your child not to be able to read.
 

My eldest daughter loved books. Her first word was "book". We read together constantly. She was bright, articulate and curious about everything. If anyone had told me then that she would struggle to learn to read, I would never have believed them.
 

But she did.
 

I can still remember sitting with her after school, trying to get through the school reading book.  She would struggle to read a word on one page and then turn the page and have completely forgotten it. Completely forgotten.
 

Neither of us understood what was happening.
 

I was frustrated. She was upset.  I became cross with her sometimes. I have apologised for that many times over the years.
 

What had once been something we both loved became something neither of us wanted to do.
 

I'd never met a child who couldn't learn to read. I genuinely believed that if you practised enough, eventually it would click.
 

So when it didn't, I started looking at myself.
 

Was I too busy?
 

Had moving house unsettled her?
 

Had I somehow missed something?
 

Should I have done more?
 

That's the thing about mum guilt. It always finds a way in. Usually at three o'clock in the morning when you can't sleep and your mind is going round in circles.
 

Eventually, my neighbour Jackie watched us struggling one day and suggested dyslexia. It was the first time I had ever heard the word.  Sometimes all it takes is one person noticing, listening and understanding.
 

For the first time, I began to realise that neither of us were failing. We simply didn't understand why learning to read was so difficult.
 

The following year, my second daughter experienced similar difficulties.
 

I still remember sitting in a meeting with a headteacher who dismissed her future before it had even begun.  I cried all the way home.

Then I spoke to an Educational Psychologist who listened. Really listened.  He helped me understand that it wasn't because I was a single mum. It wasn't because we had moved house. It wasn't because I hadn't done enough.  
 

That conversation changed everything.  I became determined to understand dyslexia and learn everything I could about helping children who struggle with literacy.  
 

What started as a mum trying to help her own children eventually became a career.
 

Today, I am an AMBDA-qualified dyslexia assessor and specialist teacher. But I never forget how this journey began. 

It began sitting at a kitchen table, worried about my child and wondering what I was doing wrong - that is why I do this work.
 

I know how worrying it can be when your child is struggling and nobody seems able to give you clear answers.
 

My aim is to help families understand what is happening, feel reassured and know what to do next.