Arranging A Diagnostic And Workplace Needs Assessment
In this article you will find information on:Do you need a dyslexia assessment?
You may perhaps be wondering if you are dyslexic, and whether you should have your difficulties properly assessed. A full dyslexia assessment is expensive, and so, before investing in this, you may like to do some preliminary research and reading about dyslexia, and perhaps a screening test. Here are some suggestions for things that you can do to make yourself better informed:
1. Visit the following the websites:
If you do not have Internet access, telephone the British Dyslexia Association and ask them to send you information: 01189 668 271
2. Fill in a dyslexia checklist.
You will find relevant checklists on the websites given above, and also on this site.
3. Read a book on the subject.
Introductory books which avoid jargon are:
Authors: Diana Bartlett and Sylvia Moody. Publisher: Wiley.
Author: Sylvia Moody Publisher: Vermilion
Authors: David McLoughlin, Carol Leather, Pat Stringer Publisher: Wiley
4. Do a screening test.
You should be able to find a screening test online. [Edit: Indigo's Online Test] Such a test may give some indicators that you are dyslexic, and encourage you to go on to have a full assessment. However, screening tests have limitations, the most serious being that they do not always pick up the more subtle types of dyslexic difficulty. So if you come out as 'not dyslexic' on a screening test, this does not necessarily mean that you are not dyslexic; it may simply be that you have compensated for your difficulties sufficiently well to fool a relatively simple test.
What is the difference between a diagnostic and a workplace needs assessment?
A diagnostic assessment looks at general cognitive abilities (e.g., memory, perception) and literacy skills to see whether there is evidence of dyslexic difficulties, or other types of specific learning difficulty. Strengths, too, are identified.
A workplace needs assessment looks at how dyslexic or other difficulties are affecting performance in a specific job. It will identify training needs and ways in which an employer can give help and support. The needs assessment report can be presented to Access to Work in order to secure funding for training and equipment. The diagnostic and workplace needs assessments can be done either separately or jointly.
What is dyspraxia?
For more information, telephone DANDA 020 7435 7891 or visit www.danda.org.uk
What is Visual Stress?
How can you find a qualified assessor?
A dyslexia assessor will belong to one of the following groups:
However, it is by no means the case that every member of these groups specialises in assessing adult dyslexia. Even less is it the case that they will have particular expertise in workplace dyslexia assessment and consultancy. Occupational psychologists are experienced in doing workplace needs assessments, but rarely have expertise in dyslexia assessment. The other four groups will be able to offer a dyslexia assessment, but rarely have experience in workplace needs assessment and employer consultancy.
There are, however, a small number of practitioners, coming from each of the above five groups, who have chosen to specialise in workplace dyslexia. These practitioners will be able to offer you a combined diagnostic dyslexia assessment and workplace needs assessment. At the time of writing, the largest cluster of such practitioners is in London, the remainder being scattered somewhat sparsely around the country.
If you are unable to locate an assessor who has the expertise to do a combined diagnostic and workplace needs assessment, then you will have to do each part of the assessment separately with a different assessor. Begin your search for an assessor by contacting your local branch of the British Dyslexia Association (BDA) or Dyslexia Institute (DI). A workplace needs assessment (but not a diagnostic assessment) can usually be arranged through your local Access to Work Business Centre. If you can't find a local practitioner, look further afield. Telephone the BDA or DI in London or any other large centre, and be prepared to travel.
Once you have found the name of a practitioner who appears to have the appropriate expertise, you will need to telephone this person and ask if they can assess you. This is a crucial moment. An assessment is expensive, it's probably something you will only do once in your life, and the results will affect the rest of your life. How can you judge if the assessor is right for you?
You will need to have prepared particular questions to ask the assessor in your initial telephone conversation. Here are some suggested questions -- try to ask at least half of them.
If the practitioner becomes defensive about being questioned, put a black mark down against his/her name. If the worst comes to the worst, and you make a mess of your enquiry on the telephone, then just e-mail the practitioner with your questions.
What happens in an assessment?
You may be feeling a little nervous about having an assessment, perhaps worrying that it will reveal something dreadful about you. But, as far as you can, contain your nervousness: the most likely outcome of an assessment is that difficulties which you have been struggling with for a long time will be recognised, categorised and explained, and that you and your employer will be given advice on how to manage them.
The assessment tests are not the sort of tests which have a pass or fail mark; they simply measure your ability on different scales, just as a tape measure measures your height. If you feel you are becoming fatigued during the session, request a few minutes' break.
Diagnostic assessment:
The tests fall into two groups: cognitive and literacy:
Cognitive tests
The cognitive tests fall into four groups:
The profile of results on these tests will indicate (a) whether you have dyslexic and/or dyspraxic difficulties, and (b) point up your strengths.
Literacy tests
The assessor will give you the following literacy tasks:
Some of these tests may be timed, but this does not mean that you have to race through them. The assessor will want to get an idea of your normal rate of reading and writing. So, unless otherwise instructed, work at your usual pace.
One final test to mention is a test of phonological skills, i.e., the ability to sequence sounds. To test this, the assessor will probably give you some nonsense words to read. You can't just recognise these by their shape as you can real words, so the only way you can read them is to sequence their sounds.
Workplace needs assessment:
In the workplace needs part of the assessment, you will not be asked to do any tests. Rather, the assessor will ask you in detail about the nature and demands of your job, the strengths you bring to it, that difficulties you have with it, the coping strategies you use, and the support given (or not) by your employer.
Feedback:
At the end of the session, the assessor will explain the assessment results and their implications, and outline an individual training programme that would be of benefit to you. He/she will subsequently contact your employer to discuss reasonable adjustments which the latter could make in order to help and support you at work. You will receive a detailed report of the assessment results. (Even if your employer has commissioned the assessment, you are still legally entitled to see the report).
© Author of this article: Dr Sylvia Moody, Dyslexia Assessment Service, London. This article can be freely reproduced with due attribution of authorship.