Once you have booked an assessment for your child, or for yourself, the practical questions start. What happens, how long does it take, and what should we expect? Here is how it works.

Before the assessment

Once you have paid the deposit, I send you some short forms to fill in. For a child there are three: one for a parent, one for your child’s school, and one about any visual difficulties. For a young person or adult there are two, one about your background and one about any visual difficulties, and if you are studying, I ask your school, college or university for some information too. Whoever is being assessed, child or adult, will also need to have had an eye test in the last two years.

This is not box-ticking. It gives me useful context for the assessment, and helps me spot anything that might need a different approach on the day.

On the day

We meet face to face somewhere that suits you, or online. Travel for face-to-face visits is charged at 45p per mile. A child’s assessment usually takes about three hours. An assessment for a young person or adult can take longer, particularly if it includes ADHD or dyspraxia (DCD) screening, which adults aged 18 and over can add for an extra cost.

The tasks are varied. Some involve reading aloud, some listening and remembering, some working with the sounds in words, and some are more like puzzles. None of it is designed to catch anyone out, and there is no pass or fail. There are breaks, and I go at a pace that suits the person in front of me.

For younger children especially, it helps to explain the day honestly beforehand. It is a chance for an adult to understand how they learn best, not a test they can get wrong.

After the assessment

I score the tasks against standardised measures and write up the results in a report. The report follows the guidelines of the SpLD Assessment Standards Committee (SASC), which sets the professional standard for these reports in the UK. It sets out strengths and difficulties, along with practical recommendations.

Afterwards, we can talk the report through together. You can ask questions and understand what it means in practice, rather than being left with a technical document and no explanation.

What the report is used for

A SASC-standard report can be used by schools, colleges, universities and employers. A school might use it when considering exam access arrangements, as long as the school agreed the assessment beforehand. A student or employee might use it when asking for reasonable adjustments. The report describes how someone learns, and the decisions themselves are made by those organisations, using the report as evidence.

If you’re still deciding

It is completely reasonable to want to talk things through before booking. Get in touch with any questions about your situation, or read more about the assessments on the Dyslexia page.