We don’t talk enough about what dyslexia actually costs the families living with it. Not the tidy version, the real one: the money, yes, but also the worry, the exhaustion, and the slow erosion of a child’s confidence when the right support doesn’t come.
I know these costs well, because I led the analysis of the data behind the All-Party Parliamentary Group’s Human Cost of Dyslexia report (Ross and Hicks, 2019). More than 1,300 families told us how it really is, in over 2,500 comments in their own words. This article sets out what they told us, and why it matters.
The financial cost
Start with the money, because it’s the most measurable. Nearly half of the families surveyed reported spending over £1,000 extra every year because of their child’s dyslexia, and many spent a good deal more. That goes on private assessments, specialist tuition, resources and technology, the things that, in a fair system, should largely be there in school.
And here is the uncomfortable heart of it. Unless a family can afford to pay for a private diagnostic assessment, their child is far less likely to get much specialist support at all. Even with a diagnosis, many families then have to fight their way through the system to secure what their child is legally entitled to. That means access to support too often depends on what a household can pay, which is precisely the kind of inequity I’ve written about in Are we supporting all of our children? (Ross, 2019). Dyslexia doesn’t discriminate by income. Support, as things stand, often does.
The emotional cost to parents
The financial strain is only half the story. The survey laid bare an emotional cost that rarely makes it onto a spreadsheet.
Ninety-five per cent of parents felt they lacked the skills and knowledge to support their child. Ninety-five per cent worried about what the future held. Seventy-seven per cent felt exhausted by it all. And the relationship with school, which should be a source of relief, was too often a source of stress in itself: 76 per cent felt their child’s school was not doing a good job of supporting their dyslexic child, 55 per cent felt unable to communicate effectively with the school, and 82 per cent said they sometimes felt angry with it.
None of that means parents don’t love school staff, or that teachers don’t care. They do. But when families feel unheard and under-resourced for years on end, anger and anxiety are what’s left.
The cost to the child
The findings I sit with most, though, are about the children. The survey suggested a strong association between unsupported dyslexia and poor wellbeing: 88 per cent of parents said their child had low self-esteem because of their dyslexia, 84 per cent said their child experienced anxiety linked to it, and 82 per cent said their child tried to hide their difficulties.
Those numbers are the human cost in its rawest form. A child who is quietly deciding they’re not clever enough, and learning to hide it, is paying a price that will follow them long after school. I’ve explored that link between literacy difficulty and mental health more fully in a separate article, because it deserves proper attention.
The cost to all of us
There’s a wider bill too, and it comes due whether we like it or not. When young people with dyslexia aren’t supported, they’re more likely to disengage from education, and poor literacy is associated with a range of poorer outcomes across a life. The report noted that spending on litigation, as families fight through tribunals for support, was estimated to reach around £100 million in 2019. That is money spent on conflict rather than on children.
What should change
Here’s the part that gives me hope, because the solution isn’t a mystery. The British Dyslexia Association’s clearest recommendation, and one I strongly support, is simple: a specialist dyslexia teacher in every school, or every cluster of schools. Someone who can support learners directly, guide colleagues, and carry out assessments so that identification doesn’t depend on a family’s bank balance.
The economics are striking. It costs around £5000 to train a specialist teacher. Set that against £100 million in tribunal costs, and the case makes itself. Investing at the front end, in knowledge and early support, is far cheaper than paying at the back end, in conflict, lost potential and repair. This is the kind of evidence I bring to my research, consultancy and expert witness work, because the data on this is genuinely persuasive.
Most of the strategies that support dyslexic learners, as I never tire of pointing out, are simply good teaching that helps everyone in the room. The barrier isn’t cost. It’s knowledge, permission, and will.
If you’re a family carrying this cost right now
If any of this describes your life, please know two things. First, the strain you’re feeling is real and it is shared by a great many families. Second, the right information can lighten the load. Understanding your child’s profile through an assessment often replaces months of worry with a clear plan, and there’s practical help in my guides to supporting your child and working with their school. You’re welcome to book a free 20-minute call to talk it through.
Questions people often ask
How much does dyslexia actually cost families? The APPG survey found nearly half of families spent over £1,000 a year extra, and many spent considerably more, on assessments, tuition, resources and technology. The emotional cost, harder to price, is at least as significant.
Why do families have to pay at all? In principle, good teaching should support dyslexic learners in every mainstream classroom. In practice, under-resourcing and gaps in teacher training mean families often step in and pay for what isn’t provided, which creates real inequality of access.
Isn’t it expensive to fix this? Less than you’d think. Training a specialist teacher costs around £3,500, against an estimated £100 million spent on tribunals in 2019. Early investment in expertise is far cheaper than the cost of conflict and unmet need.
What can I do as a parent? Get clarity on your child’s needs, keep their confidence and your relationship strong, build a working partnership with the school, and know what your child is entitled to. My family articles walk through each of these.
References and further reading
- Ross, H. and Hicks, J. (2019) Managing Dyslexia as a Family, in The Human Cost of Dyslexia (APPG for Dyslexia and other SpLDs). Read the report
- Ross, H. (2019) Are we supporting all of our children? The cost of dyslexia to families, University of Bath IPR Blog. Read the blog
- Ross, H. (2019) Supporting a child with dyslexia: how parents/carers engage with school-based support for their children, British Journal of Special Education, 46(2), 136-157. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8578.12254
- Ross, H. (2021) “It’s a Battle!”: Parenting and Supporting a Child with Dyslexia, in Dyslexia. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93948
See the full list of publications.