Sylvia Phillips

Sylvia Phillips, BA, DASE, MEd (SEN), AMBDA, Cert. TESL, is a UK special needs educator and dyslexia specialist who began her career as a secondary school English teacher, where she developed a particular interest in learners with severe literacy difficulties. She later joined Manchester Metropolitan University as a Principal Lecturer, serving as Head of Special Educational Needs (SEN) and subsequently Head of Continuing Professional Development, where she developed some of the first undergraduate and postgraduate courses for specialist teachers of learners with dyslexia. Phillips has worked extensively across primary, secondary and special schools, taught on numerous SEND courses (including those for SENDCOs), and was the UK partner in European “Inclusion and SEN” courses for educators in several countries.

Phillips has served on the Accreditation Board of the British Dyslexia Association and later as a specialist member of the SEND Tribunal service, and has contributed to dyslexia research and the development of teaching materials. She has led AMBDA courses at Wrexham Glyndwr University and tutored on the AMBDA course at Stranmillis University College in Belfast. Phillips is co-author of Teaching Literacy to Learners with Dyslexia: A Multisensory Approach and Assessment of Learners with Dyslexic-Type Difficulties (2nd edition,