Most children we work with have one or more of these profiles — often combined, often alongside SEMH presentations. Specialist tutoring is not a single technique applied to all of them. It is a matter of understanding the specific child and adapting the work accordingly.
Why the diagnosis matters less than the profile
A diagnosis is useful — it gives a starting point and access to support. But two autistic children can present completely differently, and the approach that works for one may not work for the other. The same is true for ADHD and dyslexia. What matters more than the label is the individual profile: how the child actually learns, what supports them, what derails them.
This is why our matching process focuses on the whole picture. We ask about cognitive profile, sensory needs, communication preferences, what works at school and what does not, family context, and any EHCP or assessment evidence. The diagnosis sits within that, not above it.
Tutoring for children with ADHD
Children with ADHD often present with difficulties in working memory, executive function, sustained attention and emotional regulation. In a classroom of thirty, these difficulties compound. In a 1:1 setting, they become manageable.
Specialist ADHD-aware tutoring typically involves:
- Shorter, more frequent sessions where attention is fresher
- Frequent task changes and built-in movement
- External scaffolding of executive function — visible structures, planners, prompts
- Working with rather than against the child's natural pace and interests
- Building metacognition — helping the young person understand their own learning style
The result, for many ADHD-profile young people, is a setting where they finally feel productive — often the first time learning has felt accessible rather than exhausting.
Tutoring for autistic children
Autism is the most variable of the three. Some autistic children we work with are non-speaking; some are working at university level on their special-interest subjects. The shared characteristics that matter for tutoring tend to be predictability, sensory load, social demands and communication style.
Specialist tutoring for autistic young people typically involves:
- Highly predictable session structure — the same opening, the same pacing, the same close
- Careful management of sensory environment — lighting, sound, seating
- Direct, literal communication — avoiding ambiguity unless it is the lesson
- Honouring special interests where they can connect to curriculum content
- Allowing time for processing rather than expecting immediate verbal response
- Working with masking patterns without forcing their removal
For autistic children with a Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) profile, we adjust further — collaborative framing of tasks, lower-demand language, and prioritising the relationship over the agenda in early sessions.
Tutoring for children with dyslexia
Dyslexia affects reading and spelling, often working memory, and frequently confidence. By the time many dyslexic children reach us, the academic gap is real, but the confidence gap is bigger — and the second has to be addressed before the first can close.
Specialist dyslexia tutoring typically involves:
- Structured, cumulative phonics-based approaches where reading and spelling are the focus
- Multi-sensory teaching — seeing, hearing, saying, writing
- Use of assistive technology where appropriate
- Reading aloud less, working with audio more
- Explicit confidence-building — naming what the child can do alongside what is difficult
- Where helpful, formal screening or referral pathway support
Many of our young people have dyslexia alongside ADHD or autism. We design the tutoring accordingly — not as three separate tutoring approaches stacked together, but as a single adapted approach that holds the whole profile.
When more than one diagnosis is in play
Co-occurrence is the rule, not the exception. ADHD and autism frequently co-occur. Dyslexia commonly accompanies both. Add SEMH presentations and the picture becomes complex — but it is the picture we are most experienced with.
For children with multiple diagnoses, the tutor's job is to hold the whole profile, prioritise what is most pressing in any given session, and adapt continuously. This is something specialist tutors do; it is not something a generalist can pick up on the job.