Dyslexia and Dyscalculia:
Detailed Assessments of Reading, Writing, Spelling and Mathematics
Our dyslexia and dyscalculia assessments have been expertly developed to offer the highest quality diagnostic assessment of your child’s reading, writing, spelling and mathematical skills.
If your child is experiencing significant difficulties in their studies, expressing a dislike for school, or you’re noticing that they are not keeping up with their expected progress, a diagnostic assessment for dyslexia or dyscalculia can really help.
An assessment will provide a clearer picture of your child’s reading, writing and spelling and mathematics profile, and their strengths and challenges. This will help to ensure that the most effective support can be identified and put into place as quickly as possible.
Other common reasons for a diagnostic assessment for dyslexia or dyscalculia are:
- To develop a clearer understanding of your child’s needs so that the right support or interventions can be put in place at school
- To use as evidence for exam access arrangements
- To apply for exam access arrangements whilst studying at college or university
- To apply for funded support at university known as Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA)
We can assess children from the age of 6, but we do recommend waiting until until your child is aged 8 or over before completing an assessment. This is because gaps in learning can close with age alone.
We can offer assessments for dyslexia alone, dyscalculia alone, or both together. If you’re not sure which assessment you need, our friendly and supportive team will always help you to identify the most appropriate assessment for your child’s need.
What happens in the assessment?
Our dyslexia and dyscalculia assessments include very thorough discussions about your child’s development, family history, education history, social development and your concerns. We will ask your child to complete many engaging and challenging puzzles and tasks using the most up to date and advanced technology and assessment tools. These tasks are specifically developed to understand all aspects associated with a dyslexia and dyscalculia diagnosis, including your child’s reading and spelling, their linguistic processing, their numeracy and mathematical abilities and their intellectual abilities.
We also spend some time talking with your child’s teachers to fully understand their perspective.
Following this very comprehensive assessment, we will review the report together, examining the results, diagnosis, conclusions and recommendations, and we will have the opportunity to discuss the outcomes and next steps together.
Who can we assess?
We can offer an assessment for children and young people from the age of 6. We typically recommend that 8 is the youngest age to offer an assessment, as gaps in learning can close without any additional intervention. Children do develop at varying rates.
Whilst we typically offer assessments for primary school and secondary school aged children, we can also offer assessments for students at college and university.
What does a dyslexia / dyscalculia assessment involve?
We are proud to offer an exceptionally high quality assessments, using the most up-to-date technology and ‘gold-standard’ measures.
Dyslexia and dyscalculia assessment are very thorough, involving discussions, questionnaires, face-to-face assessment, liaison with schools, and reviewing any relevant correspondence. We work hard to ensure that the assessment includes all the relevant information to ensure the outcome is the right one for your child.
1.
Initial Discussions
Our assessment begins with a very thorough developmental history. We will think about your child’s family and their experience of growing up. We will talk about school and how they have progressed from early years education through to the present day.
In dyslexia assessments, we will discuss their reading habits and preferences, their progress in literacy and reading at school and their spelling and writing skills. In dyscalculia assessments, we will discuss all aspects of their numeracy and mathematical skills, including their application of numbers in the real world (e.g., using money, telling the time and navigating calendars).
2.
Our Gold-Standard Assessment
We will meet together over approximately 1-2 hours. During this time, we will ask your child to complete face-to-face puzzles, quizzes and paper and pencil tasks. These are exceptionally well-designed tools, and your child may find them fun and engaging. The purpose of these tasks is to assess your child’s reading and spelling, linguistic processing and mathematical ability. We will also briefly assess your child’s intellectual abilities, as this provides a prediction of how well your child should read, write or use numbers.
We are very proud to offer an exceptionally engaging approach for your child, with lots of flexibility, allowing time to build rapport and ensuring your child feels safe during the assessment.
3.
Questionnaires and Other Reports
As part of our assessment, we will liaise closely with child’s teacher(s) or SENCO at school to provide a different perspective of how your child is progressing.
We will ask you to complete some questionnaires about their reading, writing and mathematical abilities.
If you have any reports written by educational psychologists, teachers, or other professionals, or your child has completed assessments elsewhere, we will be able to review the reports to better understand what other professionals have concluded.
4.
Feedback and Report
Approximately one-week later, we will be able to review the results and the report together. We will discuss all aspects of your child’s assessment, including our diagnoses, conclusions and recommendations. We recommend that this appointment is completed without your child, but this is entirely your choice.
A written report will be provided, detailing all aspects of the assessment and results, including a wider understanding of what is going on for your child, and recommendations most appropriate for your child. There will also be an opportunity to request any amendments to the report.
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