Spelling and literacy can be tough for any child, but for those with dyslexia it can prove a difficult hurdle to overcome.

Dyslexia is something that can often be spotted at an early age and, as soon as children start school and begin to develop their literacy skills, teachers can often identify those who might be struggling with the condition.

Those who have been diagnosed are usually given extra support but, due to a tightening of the purse strings, in many places it is often down to outside groups to provide that vital help.

One of those doing just that is the West Cumbria Dyslexia Association (WCDA). Although covering the boroughs of Allerdale and Copeland, many youngsters attending its weekly sessions come from Carlisle and across the county due to a lack of provision elsewhere.

“There’s only really us in the west and another service in the south, which is why many children travel to attend the sessions,” explains board member Anne Mackenzie.

“We started around 22 or 23 years ago, providing support to young people aged between six and 18. When schools struggled to provide their own specialist support, that’s when the group began to grow.”

Anne first became involved with the WCDA when her son Peter showed signs of having dyslexia. Since then she has taken a role in helping to develop the programme offered to children throughout the county.

“Many schools were left to offer support to children themselves, which some struggled to do,” she says. “That’s why we started running our own Saturday sessions to allow both parents and children to get the extra help they need.”

Every weekend youngsters from across Cumbria attend sessions held at the Educational Settlement in Maryport and Shackles Off, in Seascale, where they spend an hour working closely with specialist teachers and their assistants.

Each lesson is broken down into four quarters of 15 minutes each. “We’ve got two computers each with different games on them,” Anne says. “They spend 15 minutes on each of those and then they have 15 minutes with the teacher, followed by 15 minutes with the teaching assistant.

“There are only four children in each session at any one time, so it means that they’re quite intense and they’re getting plenty of help with their reading and writing if they need help with that as well.

“The target is helping to improve their literacy, but one of the main focuses we have is to make sure that the lessons are largely games-based. You’ve got to remember that the sessions are being held on a Saturday so while we want to make sure the children are learning, we don’t want to stick too much to the classroom environment.

“The other thing is that people think those with dyslexia are quite slow but that’s not the case. More often than not they’re very bright, they just take a bit longer than others to process certain things.”

Anne says that the feedback WCDA has received from both parents and children who attend has always been positive.

“The children really seem to enjoy coming along and taking part,” she continues. “They seem to enjoy the activities that the teachers put on for them and from what I’ve seen, they really gain a lot of confidence from taking part as well.

“Helping to address the issues that come with dyslexia is never going to be a quick fix, it’s something that takes time. Of course, the children can’t always attend every session we put on. Around the time of school holidays they might go away and so they’ve got to take a break for a bit.”

Today, the WCDA is holding an event at the Chase Hotel in Whitehaven, where it is outlining the services and support it offers to parents and children, in the hope of welcoming new people on board.

“Not that many people know about us or the work we do,” Anne says. “We need to get the message out there to people that help is available and that we’re the people who can offer it.”

The event, which is free to attend, will run between 7pm and 8pm and will offer parents advice and techniques helping children with dyslexia.

“We’ll also be showing off various pieces of technology which can help those that have dyslexia,” Anne explains. “That’ll include things such as apps for smartphones and other tools.”

“Another thing we’ll be doing is giving parents the opportunity to speak to people who carry out assessments because we’ve had quite a few coming to us asking how they go about that.”

As for other future plans, Anne says that the WCDA is always looking to expand and is hoping to run a third weekly session should the opportunity arise.

“It’d be great if we could run a service in Whitehaven, too,” she says. “One of our parents who comes with their child to the Seascale session mentioned it and it’s something we’d be keen on doing.

“In the future we’d also be keen on expanding into helping adults with dyslexia, who would prefer to receive support outside a classroom-based environment.

“However, we’re reliant on donations for our funding and we have to look at holding the classes somewhere which is rent-free. If there was somewhere in Whitehaven prepared to let us do that, then we’d be able to set the classes up, there’s definitely a demand for it.

“Hopefully during our event today, we’ll be able to welcome new members to the organisation. It’s £16 for the year and half of that goes directly towards our funding. We just need to get the message out there that we’re here and happy to help.”