A thank-you for your dyslexia tutor / reading specialist during Dyslexia Awareness Month: a photo as a jigsaw, with your note at the end

Written by the team behind Puzzlify. Puzzlify is our product, so weigh what follows with that in mind. We've tried to make this useful even if you never use it. We're not affiliated with any tutoring centre, school, dyslexia association, Orton–Gillingham / structured-literacy programme, local authority or awareness campaign. Nothing here is educational, safeguarding, medical, legal or privacy advice; for your child's learning plan, follow the guidance your tutor, specialist teacher and school team gave you.

October is Dyslexia Awareness Month in many places (and it overlaps with Learning Disabilities Awareness Month). Schools put up posters, charities share stories, and families suddenly remember the person who sat with their child week after week while a page of print slowly turned into something readable: a dyslexia tutor, a reading specialist, a literacy interventionist, a structured-literacy / Orton–Gillingham practitioner, a specialist dyslexia teacher, or the private tutor who rebuilt confidence after school hours.

This post is for thanking that person. Most of the ideas below have nothing to do with our product. One of them is ours: turning a photo into a private digital jigsaw that ends with your note. We'll be honest about where it fits and where a card, a school-channel compliment or a donation in their name is better.

Words first

Before any gift, write down what you want them to hear. Tutors hear "thanks, see you Thursday" at the end of most sessions. Specific is kinder. One sentence that only your family could write lands better than a long paragraph:

• the first time your child read a paragraph aloud without freezing;
• the session where they reframed "I can't read" into "we're still learning this pattern";
• the quiet patience when a week of school had already emptied the tank;
• the way they explained a spelling rule so it finally stuck;
• the year of small wins that finally made homework feel less like a fight.

You don't need to mention assessment scores, IEP goals or diagnosis details to make it specific. "You helped Sam believe the page would eventually make sense" is more than enough. If you're writing as a family — parent, child, sibling — let each person add one line in their own words. A short note that can go to a tutoring centre manager or school SENCO sits well alongside a personal message, so the thank-you is not only in a drawer.

Who it suits

• Parents thanking a private dyslexia tutor or reading specialist who works after school or online.
• Families thanking a school-based literacy interventionist, reading recovery teacher or specialist dyslexia teacher (where personal gifts are allowed).
• Adults with dyslexia thanking the tutor who helped them return to study, training or a new job.
• Grandparents or aunts/uncles who help pay for sessions and want to say thank you properly.
• Colleagues — teachers, SENCOs, teaching assistants — thanking a specialist who mentors them, during Dyslexia Awareness Month or on a retirement.

Skip a gift if the relationship is new or tense, if there is an open complaint about fees or results, or if the school/centre forbids personal gifts. In those cases a formal compliment through the official channel is the right move.

Gift policy and good timing

Many schools, tutoring centres and local authorities have gift rules. Check them. Some allow a card only; some have a small value cap; some ask you to use an official feedback form. Never tie a thank-you to assessments, IEP/EHCP outcomes, placement decisions, exam access arrangements, report wording or session frequency. A gift is a thank-you for support already given, not a nudge for the next favour.

Good moments to send it:

• Dyslexia Awareness Month in October, a natural peg if you've been meaning to say something;
• a few weeks after a hard stretch has settled — a school term that finally feels manageable;
• the anniversary of the first session, or the day a reading age jump finally showed up on a report;
• their retirement, or their last week before a caseload handover;
• an ordinary week, with no occasion at all.

Avoid sending anything during an acute crisis (a failed exam week, a difficult assessment meeting) or right after difficult news. Wait until the ordinary picture of life is clearer than the picture of the tutoring room.

Why a jigsaw can fit

A lot of what a dyslexia tutor does is invisible from the outside. It is noticing which grapheme still wobbles, rebuilding a strategy after a bad day, celebrating a tiny win that nobody else saw, and keeping belief alive when school feels stacked against them. They rarely see the outcome weeks later: the child reading a menu, finishing a chapter book, or walking into a spelling test without dread.

A jigsaw made from a photo of the outcome — your child with a finished book, a quiet homework table that no longer ends in tears, a proud first day of a new term — lets them see a piece of ordinary life their work helped assemble, one session at a time. A puzzle also suits a busy specialist: it can be solved in a few minutes between students or saved for the sofa at the end of the day.

It is not a replacement for a handwritten card or a compliment on the official channel. It is a small, private way to show a moment their work made possible. Many families send the link alongside a card.

Choosing the photo, with consent

Ask first if anyone else appears in the photo. Tutors and school staff should never be photographed at work without clear permission from them and from the school or centre. Ideas that tend to land well:

• your child (or the adult learner) with a finished book, a library card, or a quiet reading corner at home;
• your child's own drawing of "reading with [tutor's first name]" (crop out surnames and school logos);
• a faceless option: an open book on a sunny windowsill, a stack of decodable readers, well-worn index cards, a finished bookmark, a kitchen table set for homework that finally feels calm;
• a landscape from a trip or weekend that felt possible because evenings were less fraught.

Avoid anything taken inside the tutoring room or school without permission, other children in the background, assessment screens, IEP paperwork, charts, progress graphs, or photos of anyone looking upset. Never include other pupils' details. For children, the parent decides; for a teenager or adult learner, ask them what they'd be proud to share. If the journey involved hard months, pick a photo from the better side of it.

Getting a good JPG

Phone photos are usually fine. A few habits make the puzzle nicer:

• take several shots and pick the sharpest;
• use daylight and skip the flash;
• step closer rather than zooming;
• for children's drawings, lay the paper flat in daylight and shoot straight down;
• if your phone saves HEIC, export or share a JPG;
• scan old prints rather than photographing them under a lamp;
• send the original file, not a compressed chat preview.

Bright colours and clear shapes are easier to solve. A photo that is mostly sky or a white wall is harder than it looks.

Privacy, an optional PIN, and saying it's from you

Look closely before you upload. Crop or choose another photo if it shows:

• assessment reports, IEP/EHCP pages, login portals or progress dashboards;
• school badges, staff ID lanyards or centre name boards;
• other children's faces, class lists or surnames on artwork;
• house numbers, street signs or car plates.

You can add an optional PIN so only the people you choose can open the puzzle. Send the PIN separately — in the card, or in the same message through the channel the tutor or centre prefers.

Tell them the link is from you. Professionals are rightly wary of unexpected links. A one-line message helps: "This is a thank-you puzzle from the Patel family for Dyslexia Awareness Month — the PIN is in the card." Send it through the route they are happy with (the centre email, the school office, or a card handed over at the end of a session with the link written inside). Don't track down personal social media accounts.

How many pieces?

Times vary with the photo. For a thank-you, finishing beats difficulty. If you're not sure, 48 or 80 is a gentle middle.

The leaderboard: only for a team

If you're thanking a whole literacy team during Dyslexia Awareness Month — tutors, specialist teachers, teaching assistants and the SENCO — you can turn on the leaderboard so everyone solves the same picture. Check with the centre manager or school first; some prefer no shared games on work devices. Keep it light and optional, never a competition between staff. For one person, leave the leaderboard off.

A few note ideas

The note appears when the last piece goes in, so keep it short and warm:

• "You helped Sam believe the page would eventually make sense. This is him with his first finished chapter book. Thank you — happy Dyslexia Awareness Month."
• "From sounding out one word to reading the menu out loud, you've been there. Thank you for every calm Thursday. — The Patel family"
• "I went back to college because of the strategies you taught me. This is my first week. Thank you from the bottom of my notebook."
• "Happy retirement. Hundreds of us read a little more bravely because you took the time. Enjoy every slow morning."

Write it as you'd say it. If they use their first name with you, use it here too.

How to make one (about a minute of setup)

1. Open Puzzlify's puzzle maker in a browser: https://puzzlify.app/en/puzzle-maker/
2. Upload the photo (JPG works best).
3. Choose a piece count for how much quiet time they might have.
4. Add your thank-you note and, if you like, a PIN and a leaderboard (only after checking school/centre rules).
5. Preview for free. When you're happy, publish the link with one credit and send it through the channel they prefer.

Honest pricing and notes

The preview is free, so you can see exactly what the puzzle looks like before paying anything. You only pay when you publish the link: one credit is €3.99, three credits are €8.99, and Plus is €14.99 a year for ten credits. If you're thanking a few people this season (a teacher, a coach, a carer, another specialist), three credits or Plus works out cheaper per puzzle; if it's one thank-you, one credit is enough. If you'd like to try it first, the free preview is here: https://puzzlify.app/en/puzzle-maker/

The person who receives the link doesn't need an account, an app or a printer. It opens in a normal web browser on a phone, tablet or computer. Photos are not used to train AI and are not shared with third parties.

This is a digital jigsaw you play on a screen. It is not a cardboard puzzle in the post, not a printed product, and not a public puzzle board. It's also not puzzlify.io (a chess site), Puzzlit, Puzzly or Puzzify, which are different things with similar names. If they would rather have something to hold, a real card or a small gift the school or centre allows might suit them better.

Keep the gift within school and centre rules. If personal gifts aren't allowed, use the official compliments channel and skip the link.

Other ways to say thank you (no Puzzlify needed)

1. A handwritten card with one specific sentence, handed over at the end of a session or sent through the centre/school office.
2. A compliment on the school's or tutoring centre's official feedback form, naming the tutor so it reaches their manager.
3. A short, kind review on the channel the centre actually reads, describing the support without any assessment or medical details.
4. Nominating them for a teaching or tutoring recognition award if your school, local authority or professional body runs one — nominations from families carry weight.
5. A small donation to a literacy or dyslexia charity in their name, with a card saying so — ask first which one they care about.
6. A photo update months later, by card or through the centre, showing that reading life is still going well. Tutors rarely hear how the story ends.

Whatever you send, the most important part is the sentence that sounds like you.

Written by the team behind Puzzlify. Not affiliated with any tutoring centre, school, dyslexia association, Orton–Gillingham / structured-literacy programme, local authority or awareness campaign; not educational, safeguarding, medical, legal or privacy advice. For your child's learning plan, follow your tutor's and school's guidance.