Assessments

Who can I assess?

Children can be assessed from the age of 7.5 years and I can assess up to the age of 18 years old. My assessments can be used for DSA if your child goes to university.

What happens before the assessment?

We will speak on the phone so I can find out about your child, what their difficulties are and confirm that an assessment would be appropriate.

I will then send you questionnaires for yourself and school. These give me a good understanding about your child’s education, strengths and difficulties and indications of any other neurodiverse conditions which may exist (eg, autism, ADHD, etc). I will need these back before the day of the assessment so that I know exactly which assessments will be appropriate to use.

I will also send a leaflet to your child so they can see pictures of me and the classroom and have information about what will happen.

What will be assessed?

The following will be assessed:

  • Underlying ability and cognitive processing, including phonological awareness, memory and processing speed.
  • Attainment, including: reading, spelling, reading comprehension, non word reading and maths (if relevant).
  • Handwriting speed.

What will happen on the day?

It is best for your child to do the assessment without their parent present, I understand this can be difficult for some children so we can discuss this. I will allow plenty of time for your child to settle in and be happy with the process and this can include chatting with the parents as well and playing a game together.  I will show you the visual timetable on the board so you can see what we will be doing.

There will be approximately 7-11 short assessments. There will be a mixture of reading, writing, moving shapes and puzzles, repeating words and numbers and possibly some maths. Some will take less than 5 minutes and the longest ones will take about 20 minutes. I will mix them up so your child doesn’t have all the long ones together or all the reading ones together.

Should my child be worried?

Definitely not. I will ask lots of questions, but no one gets them all correct so your child doesn’t need to worry if they think they answered something wrong.  Most children I have assessed have actually asked to come back again and there are some parts of the assessments which they have actually enjoyed. 

Does my child need to bring anything?

These are the things your child will need to bring:

  • Coloured overlay or glasses if they use them for reading or writing.
  • Snack and drink, if they would like one.
  • I have a selection of pens or pencils which they can use, but if they have a favourite which they would like to bring then they can.

Will there be a break?

During the assessment there will be a couple of breaks. During this time, your child can have a snack and drink, play a game, see Lloyd, our rabbit in the garden, possibly also Richard our giant rabbit or maybe one of our cats or our kitten will come outside to visit or they can just sit quietly on their own – it is up to them.

What happens after the assessment?

It will take up to two weeks to analysis the results from the assessments, write the report, draw my conclusions. You will then receive a report which will be approximately 28 pages long. It will contain a summary in the first few pages so the whole report doesn’t need to be read. The report will explain if your child is dyslexic, explain the assessment results, your child’s strengths and difficulties and have a detailed section of recommendations for:

  • Access arrangements
  • Within the classroom
  • For individual/specialist teaching
  • At home

After you have had time to read the report, I am happy to arrange a call to discuss it or you can email me about it.

Contact me to find out more.