The new teacher has not read the file, the first week of homework has ended in tears, or a summer assessment has finally named something you suspected. This guide is about choosing the tutor, not the condition: what to ask, what a good answer sounds like, and why live online one-to-one suits children who have found school hard.
You are not an unusual case. In January 2026, 1,858,327 pupils in English schools had special educational needs — one in five — of whom 538,547 held an Education, Health and Care plan (6.0%) and 1,319,780 were on SEN support (14.8%).
Key takeaways
- Decide which of four situations you are in — diagnosed, suspected, EHC plan, or simply struggling. Each needs a different tutor.
- Ask what the tutor would do in a session: a method, a running order, a plan for the bad day. “I’m very patient” is not a method.
- Specialist letters (Level 5 ATS or APS, Level 7 AMBDA, a current APC) matter when the need is the subject. When the problem is quadratics, a SEN-aware subject tutor is the better buy.
- Short and frequent beats long and weekly: the EEF puts one-to-one tuition at +5 months’ progress (+6 literacy, +2 maths), best in 30-minute sessions three to five times a week.
- No tutor can diagnose, replace Section F provision, or win extra time. Only the school applies, and for summer 2027 the JCQ deadline for processing applications is Sunday 21 March 2027.
Start from your situation, not the label
Parents arrive from four directions, and the right tutor differs for each.
| Where you are | What you need from a tutor | First step this month |
|---|---|---|
| Diagnosed, report in hand | Someone who turns the report’s recommendations into a weekly teaching plan rather than filing it | Send the report before the free meet; ask which three recommendations they would act on first |
| Suspected, no assessment yet | Honesty about what they can and cannot see, and plain notes on the patterns they notice | Ask the SENCO in writing what has been tried under the graduated approach |
| EHC plan in place | Lessons aimed at the Section E outcomes, from a tutor who knows they sit on top of Section F, not instead of it | Share Sections B, E and F only |
| No label, just struggling | A SEN-aware subject specialist who adapts by instinct and will say plainly if a pattern starts to look like something | Meet two tutors free; let your child pick |
Two of those rows come with a wait. In June 2026, 294,792 people in England had an open NHS referral for suspected autism, and 256,017 of them (86.8%) had waited longer than the 13 weeks NICE recommends. After an EHC needs assessment request, the council has six weeks to decide whether to assess and 20 weeks to issue a final plan. Neither wait is a reason to postpone teaching.
What to ask, need by need
You want to hear what the tutor would actually do at four o’clock on a Tuesday with your child. Vague warmth is the answer to worry about.
| The need | What to ask | What a good answer sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| Dyslexia | “Which literacy programme do you use, and how do you decide what comes next?” | Structured, cumulative, multisensory. Baseline reading and spelling, teach each sound in both, re-test every half term. |
| ADHD | “What do you do when attention drops off twelve minutes in?” | Three short blocks, a visible timer, the task written down, a break taken before the battle rather than after. |
| Autism | “What does lesson one look like, and what stays the same every week?” | Same slot, same tutor, same running order, sent the night before. Camera optional. No idioms, no surprise activities. |
| Dyscalculia | “How do you teach a child who cannot hold number facts?” | Concrete first — counters, rods on screen — then pictures, then symbols. Number sense, plus a facts sheet. |
| Slow processing or weak working memory | “How many questions will they get through in an hour?” | Fewer than you expect, deliberately. Ask, then wait. One instruction at a time. Four done properly beats twelve rushed. |
| Anxiety or school avoidance (EBSA) | “What happens on a day they will not come to the screen?” | Fifteen minutes and stop, and it still counts. Early weeks on the subject they like, to earn trust for later. |
Two of those have full guides here — the dyslexia parent guide and the ADHD tutoring guide — alongside the SEN tutoring overview.
Specialist or SEN-aware subject tutor?
The letters are not interchangeable. What the common ones actually certify:
| What the profile says | What it means | What it does not mean |
|---|---|---|
| QTS plus years of SEN classroom experience | A qualified teacher who has adapted lessons daily and knows schools from the inside | Training in any specific literacy or numeracy programme |
| BDA-accredited Level 5 course (ATS or APS) | Accredited specialist teaching for literacy difficulties | A licence to diagnose. Level 5 does not qualify anyone to assess |
| Level 7 AMBDA | Specialist teaching plus diagnostic assessment training, accredited by the British Dyslexia Association. JCQ accepts AMBDA holders as specialist assessors for access arrangements | That they currently issue diagnostic SpLD reports — that needs a current APC |
| APC (Assessment Practising Certificate) | A current certificate from a SASC-approved body such as Patoss or the BDA, allowing full diagnostic SpLD assessment. Valid three years | Anything about their teaching. Assessing and teaching are different jobs |
“Experienced with SEN” on its own certifies nothing — ask about the last three children they taught with your child’s profile, and what changed. Then a rule of thumb that saves money: if the need is the subject — a Year 5 who cannot decode, a Year 8 who cannot hold a number bond — pay for the specialist. If the need is understood and the real problem is quadratics, a SEN-aware subject tutor is the better buy. Plenty of families use both in turn.
Why online one-to-one so often works for these children
Every lesson we arrange is online, one-to-one and live. For SEN families that is a feature, not a compromise.
- No transition. The unfamiliar room and the wait outside a door are often harder than the work. The lesson starts where the child already is.
- Their own space, their own rules. Own chair, own lighting, headphones, a fidget in hand, text enlarged — none of it a distraction to argue about, and nothing copied off a board at speed.
- The chat box is a second channel. Children who will not speak will type, and a good tutor treats a typed answer as a full one.
- Lessons are recorded. A child with slow processing can watch the explanation again, and you can hear how a tutor speaks to your child.
- Short and frequent is easy to schedule. The EEF’s optimum is roughly 30 minutes, three to five times a week; short online slots fit a week far more easily than one long one.
Two honest caveats: a child who needs hand-over-hand help with a pen may not be ready, and most primary-age SEN learners need a parent within earshot at first.
Let your child choose the tutor they feel safe with
Tell us the need, the subject and the year group, and a real adviser calls you at the time you choose (9am–8pm, every day). Free online meet-the-tutor session, matched within 24 hours — meet as many tutors as you like, free until you’re matched. Lessons from £18/hour, pay as you go, no contracts.
Find a SEN tutorParents still search by town, so our SEN pages carry city names — SEN tutors in London, SEN tutors in Birmingham. It changes nothing about what you get: every lesson is online, and specialists in a particular need are rare enough that a national pool matters.
Ten questions for the free meet
Ask these with your child in the room, if they will tolerate it.
- Which children like mine have you taught this year, and what changed?
- What would the first four sessions look like, in order?
- How do you baseline what my child can already do, and how often do you re-check?
- What happens on a bad day — tired, upset, or refusing?
- What happens when work between lessons does not get done?
- What do I get after each lesson, and in what form?
- Will you write notes I can forward to the SENCO?
- What did you take from my child’s report or plan?
- 30 minutes twice a week, or an hour once a week — and why?
- When would you tell me tutoring is not the right answer?
The tenth separates people. A tutor who has never turned work down is selling rather than teaching.
Three red flags
“We’ll get her extra time.” No private tutor can. Access arrangements are applied for by the school, on the school’s evidence, by an assessor the school appoints.
A screener sold as a diagnosis. Screening tools indicate risk, nothing more. A full diagnostic report needs an assessor with a current APC, or an educational psychologist.
No method, no notes, no continuity. Building confidence is an outcome, not a plan. If the tutor cannot name what they teach, or the agency rotates tutors between weeks, keep looking.
What tutoring cannot do
It cannot assess or diagnose. Commission a formal SpLD assessment separately, from an assessor with a current APC or an educational psychologist — not bundled into a tutoring package.
It cannot replace Section F. Where an EHC plan specifies provision, the council has an absolute duty to secure it. Paying for it yourself month after month weakens you at the annual review, because the gap stops showing up anywhere — how tutoring works alongside an EHCP covers the line.
It cannot win access arrangements. Under JCQ rules, Part 1 of Form 8 records teacher feedback and the candidate’s normal way of working within the centre. For applications processed from 1 September 2025, the centre must also hold timed internal tests or mock papers showing the extra time in use. Nothing your tutor writes goes on that form.
| Deadline (summer 2027 exams) | Date | Who does it |
|---|---|---|
| Ordering modified papers | Sunday 31 January 2027 | The school, via Access arrangements online |
| GCSE and A-level entries | Sunday 21 February 2027 | The school or exam centre |
| Processing access arrangement applications | Sunday 21 March 2027 | The school, via Access arrangements online |
Ask about supervised rest breaks before you push for extra time
Under the 2025–26 JCQ rules, where the difficulty is not a learning difficulty — anxiety, attention, many autistic and ADHD profiles — the SENCO must trial supervised rest breaks in timed internal tests first, and apply for 25% extra time only if breaks are shown not to meet the need. Rest breaks need no application to an awarding body, and for a child who tires rather than reads slowly they are often what helps.
What a tutor can do is feed the school’s picture: a short, dated termly summary of what the child could do in September, what they can do now, and which supports they use unprompted.
Meet a few tutors before you commit to any of them
Every lesson is online, one-to-one and recorded. Book a free online meet-the-tutor session, meet as many tutors as you like — free until you’re matched — and start from £18/hour, pay as you go, no contracts.
Book a free meet-the-tutor sessionFAQ
How much does a SEN tutor cost?
Our online one-to-one lessons start at £18/hour with no contract. A fully qualified SpLD specialist advertises well above that: the training is long and the pool is small. Many families spend specialist money on a defined block of intervention, then move to a subject tutor.
How often should the sessions be, and how long?
The EEF’s reading of the evidence is about 30 minutes, three to five times a week over a block of up to ten weeks. Few families fund five, but two or three short sessions still beats one long weekly slot for younger children and anything intervention-shaped. For GCSE and A-level students with a managed need, a single weekly hour tied to what the class is doing is usually right.
Does the school need to know we have a tutor?
You are not obliged to, but it helps. A SENCO who knows a tutor is working on decoding twice a week can stop duplicating it and use the termly notes as evidence of need. The exception is a live dispute with the council over provision, where it is worth taking advice first.
Can the tutor write something for the annual review?
Not the review paperwork itself — that is the school’s and the council’s. But a tutor can write a dated one-page summary of what the child can now do independently, which the SENCO can attach as evidence. Ask three weeks ahead, not the night before.
Sources: DfE, Special educational needs in England, January 2026 census. NHS England Digital, Autism Statistics, July 2025 to June 2026. SEND Code of Practice 2015; Children and Families Act 2014, section 42. JCQ, Key dates, June 2027 and Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments 2025–26. EEF Teaching and Learning Toolkit, one to one tuition. BDA, Patoss and SASC for ATS, APS, AMBDA and the APC. Lesson pricing is our own.
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