SEND Support tutors

SEND tutoring is a broader specialism than dyslexia support and covers academic catch-up shaped around autism, ADHD, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, working-memory and processing-speed differences, EHCP target tracking, and transition support across phases. Credentials worth knowing are the British Dyslexia Association's accredited Level 5 Certificate (carrying Approved Teacher Status or APS) and Level 7 Diploma (carrying AMBDA, Associate Member of the BDA), Gateway Qualifications' Level 7 Diploma in Assessing and Teaching Learners with Dyslexia, SpLD and Barriers to Literacy, postgraduate certificates in SpLD from a handful of universities, and PATOSS professional membership which requires an accredited SpLD qualification. The Assessment Practising Certificate (APC, renewed via BDA or PATOSS) is the consequential credential for tutors issuing diagnostic reports for DSA or exam-access purposes, distinct from teaching alone. HCPC-registered educational psychologists work on a separate professional track for formal cognitive assessments. Tutoring helps most with one-to-one academic catch-up scaffolded around the specific profile, with exam-access evidence-gathering, with EHCP target tracking, and with transition support at primary-to-secondary and secondary-to-FE points. Not every SEND tutor holds a specialist SpLD qualification. Many work on QTS plus experience, which is lawful but worth a parent asking about explicitly when the profile is specific.