About Emerson House
Emerson House was established in 1991 by two pioneering specialists – Jane Emerson and Dorian Yeo – as a dedicated hub for specialist intervention and remediation for children with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) in literacy and mathematics. Today, Emerson House continues its long tradition of providing targeted clinical support for children aged 6-11. We focus on children who require specialised remediation to address barriers in literacy and numerical processing, utilising our research-validated and experience-based intervention frameworks.
Our SpLD Experts are trained practitioners with extensive experience in delivering intervention for children with dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dyspraxia.
Our Specialist Approach
Children participate in sessions within individualised spaces or small-group settings. They benefit from a combination of our multi-sensory activity protocols and concentrated attention from our SpLD Experts. We focus on building emotional well-being and self-confidence, providing resilience coaching alongside technical support.
Our facility serves children from both the independent and state sectors at our centre in Hammersmith, West London. From 2026, Emerson House is also expanding its reach with a new facility in North London, providing ancillary support to children attending schools in the Hampstead, Swiss Cottage, St John's Wood, Belsize Park, and Regent's Park areas.
Please note: Emerson House is not a school; it is a specialist SpLD support centre providing supplementary intervention designed to enable children to better access their primary school curriculum, wherever they are educated.
Referrals and Professional Liaison
Many parents approach us directly for an initial appraisal and advice regarding their child’s processing profile. We also receive frequent referrals from and work closely with schools and multi-agency professionals, including Educational Psychologists, occupational therapists, vision therapists and speech and language specialists. This collaborative approach ensures our remediation plans are integrated with the child’s wider support network.
Quality Assurance and Recognition
Full professional audit reports on Emerson House are also available via CReSTeD (The Council for the Registration of Schools Teaching Dyslexic Pupils). We maintain this registration as a mark of our specialist SpLD provision and commitment to gold-standard remediation.
Cathryn Learoyd, Lead Practitioner
Having started her career in children’s book publishing, Cathryn Learoyd has been teaching and counselling children with learning difficulties for fifteen years.
Cathryn joined Jane Emerson in 2014 and is now the Lead Practitioner of Emerson House and the Managing Partner of the partnership. In addition to managing Emerson House and being involved in the Literacy intervention programme, her main role is to assess and understand the needs of each individual child and to liaise with parents and schools to focus on providing the tailored support each child requires to remain in their chosen place of education.
She has trained as a specialist for dyslexia and also as a master practitioner in NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). She has published ‘Growing Confident Children’, designing NLP-based exercises for the emotional problems typically faced by children with learning difficulties.
The independent CReSTeD report on Emerson House noted:
“Mrs Learoyd’s background, in publishing children’s books and as an NLP practitioner for children with emotional problems gave her a wide knowledge base even before she trained at the Hornsby Centre. She has a depth and breadth of experience on which to draw.”
Cathryn is married, lives locally and is a mother and step-mother to three boys and three girls.
Vicky Turrell, Lead Practitioner
Vicky has 30 years’ experience in Education Management and Specialist Intervention. Following her PGCE she became a class teacher in two leading preparatory schools and alongside this completed her training in specialist diagnosis and intervention for pupils with specific learning difficulties. She was then appointed Deputy Head and SENDCo of a busy West London prep school and enjoyed helping teachers to adapt their strategies to suit pupils with diverse needs.
In addition to her Specialist Training. Vicky has had previous experience of running two busy nursery and pre-prep schools and is very interested in the early diagnosis and remediation for children with dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia. She has expertise in Nutrition with a particular interest in children's gut health and how this is linked to cognitive function.
Imogen Hill, Co-Lead Practitioner
Imogen joined Emerson House in 2019 and is the Head of our Numerical Cognition and Remediation Programme. Imogen has over 13 years teaching experience, specialising four years into her career with the OCR Level 5 Diploma in SpLD and gaining a special commendation for kinaesthetic techniques. She has worked at leading preparatory schools in London and the South West, as well as having done voluntary work at schools in Ghana and India. Imogen has extensive knowledge of working with children struggling with SpLD, all the while ensuring a happy and positive learning experience.
Emerson House in the USA
Dr Paula Bishop-Liebler opened our first centre outside the UK in Charlottesville, Virginia and online across the country.
