14 December, 2025 8:25 PM | Page 4 of 7

Research request: dyslexia and reading enjoyment

Hannah and her team Royal Holloway University are studying reading enjoyment in adults with dyslexia to see whether a person will wait to read more of a book and other reading behaviours (eg comprehension, reading anxiety) in those with and without dyslexia.

Could you take part? The online task takes around 30 minutes.

Hannah is looking for:

Those with dyslexia
Between ages 18-30
Without any other neurodevelopmental condition that could affect learning, including autism, ADHD, epilepsy, or genetic disorders.
Those who are native English speakers (defined as attending school in a majority English-speaking country from age 5).
With normal or corrected to normal vision and hearing
Please use a computer, laptop or tablet to complete the study rather than a mobile device.

Scan the QR code on the poster to go to the study, or click here.

By Helen Arkell|2024-07-23T16:44:34+01:00July 5th, 2023|Research news|Comments Off

Are you a student in HE being taught in English?

Yasmin, an MSc Psychology student at Oxford Brookes University is studying dyslexia in bilingual students. Could you take part in her research? Just complete an anonymous 15-minute questionnaire; you can stop at any time.

Yasmin is looking for students who are:

in Higher Education
being taught in English
bilingual or monolingual
dyslexic or not dyslexic

Take part here.

We love to support research into various aspects of dyslexia and, where we can, we pass the findings on. Research benefits us all so thank you for taking part!

By Helen Arkell|2024-07-23T16:44:41+01:00June 29th, 2023|Research news|Comments Off

It’s Box Day for our students!

Box Day is when our Level 5 and Level 7 students bring all their amazing work in to the Centre and have their last get-together before graduation. It’s also an opportunity for a celebration – especially when the sun is shining – and to say some thank yous and congratulations. It’s an important day in our calendar and one we look forward to!

Could this be you next year? If you are interested in the qualifications, they are:

Level 5 Diploma in Teaching Learners with Dyslexia/SpLDs

and

Level 7 Diploma in Teaching and Assessing Learners with Dyslexia/SpLDs

Our student go on to a great variety of roles including specialist teachers, SENCos, dyslexia assessors.

‘…one of the few courses where I have felt I have really developed as a teacher. Combination of step-by-step teaching methods combined with practical application.’ AG

‘A fabulous course, delivered extremely well by knowledgeable and inspirational tutors.’ SH

By Helen Arkell|2024-07-23T16:44:53+01:00June 22nd, 2023|Course news|Comments Off

Community Grant from Farnham Town Council

Huge thanks to our friends at Farnham Town Council for an amazing Community Grant of £1,000. This generous grant will help our work supporting children and adults with dyslexia in Farnham and the surrounding villages who might not otherwise be able to afford help.

Here’s our CEO Andy being presented with a suitably giant cheque by Alan Earwaker, Farnham’s Mayor and a great friend to the charity.

By Helen Arkell|2024-07-23T16:45:01+01:00June 13th, 2023|Fundraising news|Comments Off

New service for younger children – Literacy Learning Assessment

We are delighted to launch a new assessment service for children who are too young for a dyslexia diagnostic assessment.

Our Literacy Learning Assessment is aimed at children in Years 1 and 2 (and early into Year 3) who are working below the level of their peers and whose progress is giving cause for concern.

This new service offers a non-diagnostic assessment, by a Helen Arkell Specialist Teacher of reading, writing and spelling skills, as well as some cognitive processing, in order to identify strengths and areas of development, as well as recommendations to support teaching and learning. As a result, appropriate early intervention can be delivered, rather than children having to wait until they are old enough for a formal dyslexia assessment.

If you feel this would be useful for your child, there are more details and you can make an enquiry here.

We are able to offer financial assistance for this service to families on lower incomes.

By Helen Arkell|2024-07-23T16:45:12+01:00June 2nd, 2023|Uncategorized|Comments Off

TCS London Marathon 2024

Join #TeamHelenArkell in the world-famous London Marathon – the largest fundraising event in the world!

The TCS London Marathon is one of the world’s most famous running events. The course follows an iconic route taking in many of London’s landmarks, from the Cutty Sark and the City to St James’ Park and The Mall – with the crowd cheering you on along the way.

Do something amazing! We need your help raising funds to support children, young people and adults who have dyslexia who need our help more than ever.

More information here.

By Helen Arkell|2024-07-23T16:45:19+01:00May 31st, 2023|Fundraising news|Comments Off

Annual Golf Day, 11 May 2023

We were thrilled to be back at Worplesdon Golf Club on Thursday 11 May for the charity’s Annual Golf Day.

Organised with the help of supporter, Sue Stradling, and her son Ewan, the competition has been held in aid of the charity for over 30 years.

The weather was much better than predicted as the players headed out onto the stunning Worplesdon Golf Course to play 18 holes of four ball better ball.

Worplesdon is one of the classic heathland Surrey courses which remains much as it was set out by J F Abercrombie in 1908.

The competition was followed by a delicious buffet lunch after which prizes were awarded and Andy Cook, CEO of Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity, gave a short speech.

We were thrilled to be joined by David and Peter Arkell, sons of the charity’s founder as well as other members of the Arkell family.

Many congratulations go to David Chiltern and Terry Perkins who won the competition, taking home the silver salver.

Winners of the silver salver

Huge thanks to all the players for taking part and for their many generous donations. The day raised a fantastic £9,330 which will enable us to support many more children, young people and adults with dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties.

Thank you so much for helping us to achieve this.

Annual Golf Day 2024: Thursday 9 May

If you’d like to take part in next year’s charity golf day email events@helenarkell.org.uk for details.

We look forward to hearing from you.

By Helen Arkell|2024-07-23T16:45:26+01:00May 31st, 2023|Fundraising news|Comments Off

Thank you to our amazing London Marathon 2023 team

A massive thank you to our 2023 London Marathon team, for going above and beyond for the cause of dyslexia, and for really making a difference in the world.

Six intrepid heroes signed up for the Helen Arkell team in this year’s London Marathon which took place on 23 April.

David, Debbie, Eskil, Justin, Sam and Steve all showed incredible determination to help us fulfil our mission to transform the lives of children and adults with dyslexia.

The months of intense training in order to manage the 26.2 miles in one piece involved running whatever the weather, on dark evenings after work and chilly early mornings.

On the day itself, the team all completed one of the greatest challenges there is, collecting their hard earned medals before celebrating with proud family and friends.

You can read their stories by clicking on their names below, and this will give you an insight into their own individual, personal reasons for putting their bodies on the line in this way.

And they would all be hugely grateful if you contribute a little something to their fundraising pages, because raising sponsorship can be as challenging as the running itself.

To join our 2024 London Marathon team, please apply here.

By Helen Arkell|2024-07-23T16:45:33+01:00May 31st, 2023|Fundraising news|Comments Off

Research into role of emojis in reading comprehension

Lorena is an MSc student at Regent’s University, London. She is undertaking a study exploring the role of emojis and emoticons in reading comprehension of participants with and without dyslexia. If you are over 18 years old and have 15 minutes free, please consider participating in her research by following this link: https://regents.fra1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eEUeoVgXPzVexnw

Thank you!

By Helen Arkell|2024-07-23T16:45:41+01:00May 26th, 2023|Homepage featured|Comments Off

What a great day! Teddy’s Big Walk for Dyslexia

We had a fantastic day on Sunday at Teddy Arkell Bear’s Big Walk for Dyslexia. This was the first Big Walk we had done from our West Street Centre and we were delighted that it was part of Farnham Town Council’s Walking Festival.

The sun came out and our dedicated walkers spent a beautiful afternoon enjoying leafy Farnham Park. We then enjoyed tea and cake and a lovely chat back at the Centre. Teddy was very well-behaved and managed to leave enough cake for the rest of us.

Thank you to everyone who came along to raise awareness and funds to help support children and adults with dyslexia and to those who sponsored our walkers. A big shout out and thank you to 11-year-old Finlay who raised £400 for us!

If you would like to join us next year, the date will be announced in our e-newsletter. You can subscribe here.

By Helen Arkell|2024-07-23T16:45:48+01:00May 22nd, 2023|Fundraising news|Comments Off

Join #TeamHelenArkell in the world-famous London Marathon – the largest fundraising event in the world!

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