Forge Dyslexia Support Services

Dyslexia Services in Newtownards

Do you or someone you know have issues with reading and writing? Contact us today. Based in Newtownards, covering Belfast and surrounding areas.

Do you have issues with reading and writing?

Do you have problems reading fluently and with ease?

Do you have to re-read the written text to understand it fully?

Is spelling a continuous struggle?

Do you find it hard to concentrate?

Do you find yourself held back from putting your thoughts down on paper?

If your answer to these questions is YES, then you have reached the correct website!

Little kid reading book and feel confused little kid reading book and feel confused
Little kid reading book and feel confused little kid reading book and feel confused
Little kid reading book and feel confused little kid reading book and feel confused

A Qualified Dyslexia Tutor You Can Trust

Are you looking for a friendly and fully qualified dyslexia tutor and assessor based in Northern Ireland? Look no further than FORGE DYSLEXIA SUPPORT SERVICES. Get to know a bit more about me.

My name is Heather Rowan. I am a graduate of Queen's University, Belfast (B.A. Hons.) and my working passion is to give professional support to those who are hampered by Dyslexia and the associated difficulties in reading, writing and spoken communication.

Having gained experience and initial qualifications in teaching literacy and essential skills to adults, I quickly became aware that the need of those who have dyslexia is much more pronounced.

I founded FORGE DYSLEXIA SUPPORT SERVICES in Newtownards in 2009 and my aim is to provide professional dyslexic support to people of all ages.

Heather Rowan
Patoss-Logo

​I am a full member of PATOSS (Professional Association for Teachers of Students with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) and I fully abide by their code of Ethics.

Being a full member of PATOSS ensures that I keep my knowledge and practice up-to-date through regular training.

Teacher reading using post it notes

Dyslexia Tutoring

Just as each individual has their own needs, each learns best according
to their own learning preferences and strengths.

Happy girl learning at table

Dyslexia Assessments

You wonder if you are dyslexic and what you can do about it.
A diagnosis could make your life much easier.

Indicators of Dyslexia

Contrary to popular misconception, Dyslexia is not only about literacy, although weaknesses in literacy are often the most visible sign. Dyslexia affects the way information is processed, stored and retrieved, with problems of memory, speed of processing, time perception, organisation and sequencing.

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Written Work

A person with dyslexia will often:

  • Have a weak ability in written work compared with oral ability.
  • Produce very untidy and messy handwritten work. This will have many mistakes which will often be crossed out and words will be misspelled in several ways.
  • Be confused by letters and numbers which look similar, particularly b/d, p/g, p/q.
  • Have poor handwriting, with many 'reversals' and badly formed letters.
  • Use capital letters inappropriately.
  • Spell the same word several different ways in one piece of writing.
  • Produce badly set-out written work, with no use of paragraphs.
open-book

Reading

A person with dyslexia will often:

  • Make poor reading progress, especially using look-and-say methods. 
  • Find blending letters difficult.
  • Have problems knowing where to divide syllables when reading and spelling.
  • Read very slowly and without expression, especially when reading aloud. 
  • Omit words when reading, or read extra words. 
  • Misread common words.
  • Have difficulty with reading and comprehension of text
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Time

A person with dyslexia will often:

  • Have difficulty learning to tell the time (e.g. use of an analogue clock, the direction of clock hands, terminology ‘a quarter to six’, ‘half past five’).
  • Have poor timekeeping and general awareness of time.
  • Have poor personal organisation ability (e.g. preparation of school bag, PE kit bag).
  • Have difficulty remembering what day of the week it is, seasons of the year, months of the year.
behaviour

Behaviour

A person with dyslexia will often:

  • Use a range of work avoidance tactics (e.g. engaging in irrelevant conversation, sharpening pencils, looking for books).
  • Often seem to 'day-dream', appear not to be listening.
  • Be easily distracted.
  • Be the class clown, or be disruptive or withdrawn.
  • Be excessively tired, due to the amount of concentration and effort required.
candidate

Skills

A person with dyslexia will often:

  • Have poor fine motor skills, leading to weaknesses in the speed, control and accuracy of the writing instrument.
  • Have a limited understanding of non-verbal communication.
  • Be confused by the difference between left and right.
  • Have unspecified hand preference.
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Numeracy

A person with dyslexia will often:

  • Be confused with number order eg units, tens, hundreds.
  • Need clarification with mathematical symbols, such as + and x signs.
  • Have difficulty remembering anything in sequential order e.g. times tables, days of the week, months of the year, the alphabet.

Client Reviews

Vikki G

Heather has helped my son, who has dyslexia, immensely throughout covid for his English GSCE and overall technics for learning, couldn't recommend her enough.

Laura X

I would like to express my thanks to Heather at Forge Dyslexia Support Services for her support, patience and caring professional nature. Heather helped a senior family member of mine through a particularly difficult diagnosis, helping them overcome hidden anxieties and fears. We would highly recommended Heather at Forge Dyslexia Support Services.

Kevin T

It’s helped more confidence a lot with reading and writing and I would recommend it to anyone.

Gillian S

Very warm and friendly atmosphere I felt relaxed throughout my assessment. Heather was very understanding and I would highly recommend her service.

Colin H

Very professional, friendly service but most of all understanding.
I would highly recommend.

Aine S

We were so lucky to find Heather last year. At the time my son was really struggling at school. Having lessons with Heather helped build his confidence and she made the learning process fun. Heather has a unique ability to engage children, and I can’t thank her enough for her patience, support and encouragement to my son. We will always be grateful to her. Aine Scott

Matt K

Absolutely 5star. Warm and welcoming atmosphere, felt very relaxed through-out assessment. Very professional service. Would 100% recommend to anyone else having any issues with dyslexia type problems.

Sarah Storm

Our daughter attended classes with Heather for almost 12 months. When she first started she was lacking in confidence and struggling with her reading and other forms of literacy work. Heather changed this. As parents, we were very quickly able to see the difference in our child- she started to enjoy reading and her school teacher noticed how her confidence increased. Heather made each class fun and our daughter looked forward to seeing her and Ellie each week!! Thanks Heather x

Edith C

Highly recommend heather. My grandson made great progress in a short space of time. Lovely relaxed, homely atmosphere coupled with expert teaching techniques. Would definitely use heather again for any further tuition needed.

Orla R

We cannot recommend Heather highly enough. We're delighted with the progress that our daughter has achieved since joining Heather. Our daughter was so happy to attend every week and loved the lessons. Thanks for everything Heather!

Stephanie F

Highly recommend. We went for assessment and will be going back for extra support and tuition.

Natasha A

My daughter started with heather in January and goes once a week and the difference heather has made to her reading and confidence is amazing...Katie looks forward to going and is happy to chat to heather about her reading and struggles...I find heather not only helps her with reading but comes down to her level and mades it fun not a boring hour of reading...Katie comes out every week happy 😃 I would highly recommend heather and so glad I made the decision to book her best thing I did !!!

Dawn M

The assessment my son had at Forge went a long way towards my son gaining the correct educational setting and help. It also increased his self confidence, allowing him to try tasks he wouldn’t have attempted before.
My son would not have been easy to work with, but Heather was kind and patient.
There was a cost, but for us this service has proved to be priceless. I am very grateful.

Navy Desk

We cannot recommend Heather Rowan highly enough for her help with our son whose dyslexia left him struggling to sound out and read even easy words but who was, however, unable to access Board teaching support for his dyslexia. Because of Heather's enthusiastic and compassionate teaching and support, our son has become a confident reader and more focussed learner, armed with the tools to help himself where needed. Importantly, he is more confident generally. Thank you Heather for everything!

Gold Canvas

I highly recommend Forge Dyslexia Support Services. Heather was very understanding and supportive through the whole assessment. I found her approach and presentation very comfortable she made me feel good about myself as we went through the assessment. Heather was at all times professional, knowledgeable you could see she was experienced. After the assessment I was very impressed with Heather's results. This was a comprehensive detailed report in which I was very pleased. For the first time in my life I feel I am normal like everybody else, and can only go from strength to strength now. Heather has given me a small booklet/document that I can use in my everyday life supporting my strengths and weakness. It is simply a correct analysis of processes on how my brain processes information. My brain just has a different operating system than most people. My thanks to Heather you are a million in one, So folks take control of your own Destiny. DONT DELAY BOOK HEATHER TODAY.

Scarlet Laces

Heather from Dyslexia Support provided us with a great service, and made my 11yr old daughter very much at ease. She managed to give us an appointment at very short notice and was very thorough in her diagnosis of my daughter’s dyslexia. The report was very detailed and professional with future support ideas included. I would have no hesitation in recommending this company.

DIBO

Having had a poor, in school dyslexic assessment, to try to attain Special Access Arrangements for my daughter, i decided to pursue it privately myself , through Forge Dyslexia Support Services.
The assessment was very thorough and in depth , covering all aspects of dyslexic learning difficulties and included recall and speed of information processing . Among other things these were two of my daughters greatest weaknesses, and the results were astonishing . Her difficulties have now been recognised by her school and she receives access arrangements , including extra time.

Tim Mason

We cannot recommend Heather Rowan highly enough for her help with our son whose dyslexia left him struggling to sound out and read even easy words but who was, however, unable to access Board teaching support for his dyslexia. Because of Heather's enthusiastic and compassionate teaching and support, our son has become a confident reader and more focussed learner, armed with the tools to help himself where needed. Importantly, he is more confident generally. Thank you Heather for everything!

Svitlana Prokopenko Charbib

Heather is a highly professional dyslexia assessor. She can carry out a very detail assessment and recommend appropriate strategies, based on areas of strengths and targeting areas of difficulties. I would recommend Heather’s service.

Diane Boyle

Having had a poor, in school dyslexic assessment, to try to attain Special Access Arrangements for my daughter, i decided to pursue it privately myself , through Forge Dyslexia Support Services.
The assessment was very thorough and in depth , covering all aspects of dyslexic learning difficulties and included recall and speed of information processing . Among other things these were two of my daughters greatest weaknesses, and the results were astonishing . Her difficulties have now been recognised by her school and she receives access arrangements , including extra time.

Ross James

I had a full diagnostic dyslexia assessment performed by Heather in Forge Dyslexia and learnt that I did not have dyslexia. Heather was very friendly but at the same time professional in her approach which put me at ease and I actually really enjoyed the experience. After a short wait I received a very comprehensive report with detailed results which Heather fully explained to me. I got what I paid for, high quality testing with a very professional report at the end of it. Money well spent!

Janet Logan

Excellent friendly intuitive tutor. My daughter loved attending and gained significant confidence in reading and spelling. Heather is very well informed and friendly, approachable tutor .My daughter felt totally at ease and came out of her shell very quickly in her company. I would have no hesitation in recommending her services!

N A

From the initial contact Heather made me feel completely at ease. Great service with every stage of the process well explained. Thanks again.

N C

Heather was great from the onset - I rang up to enquire about a dyslexia assessment for my son and was greeted with a listening ear and reassuring advice. We were able to get promptly booked in for assessment. On the day of assessment Heather made my son and I feel very welcome and comfortable. They worked through the assessment and he came away relaxed and happy. The report and recommendations provided thereafter have proven a massive help and the missing piece of the puzzle in ensuring my sons future happiness and success. I would highly recommend Heather, very knowledgeable and reassuring.

I A

Excellent specialist. Quick response, flexible in arranging a time, amazing with children, professional evaluation and recommendation. Highly recommend.

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