When I had my son, Alfie, I was very conscious that he might be dyslexic. So when I taught him his alphabet I did it in a multi-sensory way. For example, for the word 'look', I would say the 'o's look like two eyes, so you're 'looking' with your eyes. It's got an 'l', which is like a hockey stick and a 'k' which is a 'kicking k'. In this way, he could understand more.

Initially I tried to help Alfie myself. I asked his school to be aware that he might be dyslexic and they discovered that he was when he was about 6. He went to school in Hackney and there were many dyslexic children in the borough.

Alfie is incredibly bright and in some ways he was penalised for it. When I had him tested by a psychologist who specialised in dyslexia, he had an IQ of 123. As a result, he was overlooked by teachers who helped children who weren't as bright.

In the end I had to move him to a school with a specialist dyslexia clinic where he had one-to-one help. That was great as he has come along in leaps and bounds. He's now started secondary school where there is additional help for dyslexic children. It hasn't been easy as I've had to find the schools that have specialised help myself. It can get very frustrating when your child is very bright but can't write their thoughts down in the right order. School and homework become a nightmare and the frustration can lead to bad behaviour.

Since I discovered that I have dyslexia I have been to the British Dyslexia Association a few times for help with mind mapping. I found these sessions especially useful when I wanted to go back into education. Unfortunately, it all became a bit expensive as I ended up having to pay for it and I couldn't afford to pay for both me and my son.

One of the other major problems that dyslexics face is society's perception of them because they are unable to learn in a traditional way. All kids need is to be taught in a way that they can learn. I feel that education is becoming more rigid again with the reintroduction of the national curriculum. I definitely think that all children would benefit from learning in a multi-sensory way, and it would great if teachers could incorporate this into the way they teach.