Lillian and her unique World Book Day costume

Lillian is a busy girl; she loves dancing and is part of an invitation-only dance crew, she loves fashion, designing useful objects (rainbow toilet roll holder anyone?) and making animated movies. Her dad thinks her amazing problem-solving abilities could make her a great engineer one day.

Lillian goes to a very tiny school in Oxfordshire – there are just two other children in her year and they both seem particularly good at reading. This is something Lillian struggles with, as well as with spelling, organisation and remembering things at school, so she and her mum Kirstie came to see us here at Helen Arkell.

Lillian’s assessment was a revelation. She’s in the top 1% for two particular skills and this and the other feedback she was given have elevated her self-confidence enormously.

This gave Lillian the boost she needed so when World Book Day came around in March, Lillian set to work to educate everyone at school about dyslexia. She didn’t read in assembly and she didn’t write a report; Lillian wrote all her newly-discovered facts on her school shirt in multi-coloured pens!

Lillian received so many lovely comments and encouragement wearing her decorated shirt to school. One mum, whose son has dyslexia but who is not ready to let everyone know yet, told Lillian that she was very proud of her and that she’d made her son feel better about being dyslexic. The school thanked Lillian for being so brave and so open about her dyslexia. Thanks to Lillian, lots of people at
school now understand dyslexia better and Lillian is really happy that they know about it.

Writing to us at Helen Arkell, Lillian’s mum said, ‘I just wanted to share my proud moment with you. Lillian’s diagnosis has brought her a great deal of comfort in why she struggles and has allowed her to identify areas that there are easy solutions too. She has embraced lots of coping mechanisms and is a much happier little girl – thank you.’

We’re very proud of you, Lillian!