Diagnosing Dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties
If you are concerned about your child’s progress or are an adult and think you may have dyslexia, the first port of call for under 18s would be to talk to the school or College – the Special Needs Coordinator (SENCo) will be able to provide support from within school/ college in the first instance. If you are over 18, please do get in touch with me for an informal chat about what is involved in an assessment.
If you still have concerns after additional support has been put in place, a more detailed assessment by someone with the right qualifications may be valuable, and can lead to a formal diagnosis.
Please contact me to set up a free informal phone consultation about anything to do with the process.
Screening assessment for dyslexia
This is a shorter assessment for ages 7-14 years old that incorporates tests on phonological awareness (ability to accurately identify, discriminate between and manipulate the separate units of sounds in words) and tests to assess attainment in spelling, writing and reading, producing a shorter report. It is important to note that Dyslexia Screeners are not a full diagnostic assessment and cannot be used for an application for Disabled Student Allowance. Their purpose is to identify students who are experiencing difficulties known to be associated with dyslexia that may require further investigation. The results from screeners are not intended to give firm evidence that dyslexia is identified.
The total time with the student is about
1-1½ hours, depending on the student, with rest breaks as needed- there is no rush 🙂
Full diagnostic assessment for dyslexia
This is created from a deeper investigation than is possible with a screener.
Initially, information will be gathered from school/ college/ your family or yourself as an adult, to establish the nature of the difficulties that the student is currently experiencing.
Following this, in a comfortable setting – usually at my home, some time is spent getting to know the student. Finally, a carefully selected series of assessments is administered – these are not ‘tests’ with simple ‘yes/no’ answers. This takes around 2-3 hours and provides a detailed understanding of the particular individual and leads to positive activities for the way forward.
The assessments will include tests in 3 key areas:
- core skills such as spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic.
- particular language, memory and processing skills which are known to be associated with specific difficulties.
- general language and congnitive skills – for example visual problem solving, vocabulary and verbal reasoning.
All this information and results will be collated to form a formal report. The report will contain all the assessment results and recommendations for assistance that the student will benefit from. These recommendations will be aimed at both the school/ college/ University and home environments, to allow as much support as possible to be offered. On occasions, referrals to other professionals may be recommended as well. A diagnosis of dyslexia will be made clear within the report should evidence be found to support this. If a diagnosis is made, this report is evidence which can be used to support a claim for Disabled Student Allowance when the student progresses to University.
Costs
Screener for 7-14 years olds: £250
Full dyslexia assessment for 7-16 year olds (with screener having already been carried out: £150.00
Full dyslexia assessment for 7-16 years (without screener): £400
Full dyslexia assessment for post-16: £450