Our Principal, Dr Michael Thomson, has unique experience in the fields of dyslexia and specific learning difficulties.

He is an internationally renowned dyslexia specialist and has written many books and papers on psychology and dyslexia.

He is author of: Developmental Dyslexia (Whurr, London, 3rd edition 1990), co-author of Dyslexia: A Teaching Handbook (Whurr, London, 2nd edition 1999), a standard textbook for teacher training, and Psychology of Dyslexia: a Handbook for Teachers (Whurr, London, 2001).

He has also written a number of childrens books with controlled reading ages. These include spelling adventure games for Learning Developmental Aids, and over twenty stories for the Headwork Readers, a set of high interest/low reading age books published by the Oxford University Press.

Dr Michael Thomson began his career in 1970 when he was awarded an Honours Degree in Psychology and Zoology. He moved to the University of Aston in 1971, where he gained an MSc in Applied Psychology. Dr Thomson then joined Aston's Applied Psychology Department as the first Research Fellow in the Dyslexia (Language Development) unit. He worked alongside Dr Margaret Newton in developing The Aston Index, a widely used screening test to identify learning difficulties. While at the unit, he also undertook extensive assessment and clinical work with dyslexic children and helped research the Aston Portfolio teaching programme.

Dr Thomson gained his PhD in 1977 and, a year later, joined the Department of Educational Enquiry at Aston University as a lecturer and course tutor for the Human Communication course. He continued research into dyslexia, undertook psychological assessments for the Dyslexia Institute and taught on summer schools for dyslexic children.

As well as the books mentioned earlier, Dr Thomson has also published many academic papers on dyslexia in scientific journals. He is an executive editor of Dyslexia (an international journal of research and practice). Dr Thomson is an Associate of the British Psychological Society, a Chartered Psychologist, a Fellow of the International Academy for Research into Learning Difficulties and a member of the Association of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. He has two sons.