Questions about Child Dyslexia Assessments
What will happen on the day?
Will the test be difficult?
How will my child feel about the assessment?
What will happen after the assessment?
Will I have a written report?
Will there be any recommendations for examinations?
Can I get teaching help for my child?
Will anyone be able to answer my questions before I come for the assessment?
Motor Development & Speech & Language Assessments
What will happen on the day?
You will be met by one of our Psychologists, all of whom are
experienced and are trained in working with children, either as
assessors or teachers. They will talk to the child and put them at
ease, in order to settle them before the assessment commences. Usually
parents will be asked to leave so that the child is not influenced by
parents making encouraging noises! Parents are welcome to remain in the
reception area or usually go and do some shopping and return at an
agreed time.
The children will be given a series of tests specifically to look at
skills and any potential weaknesses. The Psychologists will be looking
for a particular profile or pattern of results that suggest a dyslexic
difficulty. If there are any other reasons for reading or spelling
problems we will also examine that.
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Will the test be difficult?
Children will have a lot of fun doing the test. The Psychologists
are experienced and skilled in encouraging the children and making them
at ease. These are not ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ test and children will be
reassured as they go through the assessment progress.
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How will my child feel about the assessment?
Please be reassured that children will not be made to feel
inadequate in any way. Great care will be taken to maintain their
confidence, boost their self-esteem and make the whole experience an
enjoyable one!
There will be a break and the Psychologists are very experienced in deciding the right time for both juice and a biscuit!
They will also discuss with the child what they are particularly good
at and what they have found in the assessment. This is usually done
with parents.
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What will happen after the assessment?
The Psychologist will discuss the results with you and your child
(with your permission). For children we will particularly focussing on
what they did well on in the assessment. If the child does have a
dyslexic or other difficulty, there can be a sense of relief and the whole
assessment procedure can be very positive. Children, in particular,
find it helpful to understand that their difficulties are because they
are specific and can be helped.
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Will I have a written report?
Yes. You will receive a detailed report of the test results, what
they mean and any recommendations for further help. The report is very
detailed and will usually be around ten or more pages long. There will be a summary of the results at the beginning of the report and all the specific details of results will also be given- this is often sent to you before the main report is ready as the latter is quite lengthy and takes time to prepare. Sometimes these are
quite technical, but there is a guide to the report that will explain
some of the scoring systems and what the tests mean. The Psychologist
will also have gone through this with you during your verbal feedback
at the end of the assessment with your child. If you have any questions
you can always contact us for further guidance.
There will be a discussion of results, interpretation and recommendations and opinions regarding the learning difficulties.
There will be a detailed guide to the kinds of teaching programmes that
will help with a specific learning difficulty. This will include an
overview of the approach that is required, as well as attachments and
descriptions both in the body of the report and as appendices. You will be sent electronic pdf copies of the report for you to send on or print out as needed.
The Psychologists have all worked in specialist schools for dyslexic
children and are very aware of the teaching techniques and have taught
children. Please see full details of the Psychologists.
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Will there be any recommendations for examinations?
Yes. Our Educational Psychologists and Speech Therapist are registered with the Health Care Professions
Council and are recognised as practitioners who can undertake exam reports. There
may be recommendations for extra time, use of laptops and so on for
examinations. Our reports will be able to be used by the schools and public examination boards and will be accepted as evidence of any learning
difficulties. We will also be able to advise on revision and other
techniques prior to examinations, if that is appropriate.
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Can I get teaching help for my child?
Although this is primarily an assessment service we may be able to
offer teaching for both children and adults, as an additional service.
This would be on a sessional basis. If this were not possible, we can
advise on schools, other centres and organisations that do provide the
appropriate sessional work.
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Will anyone be able to answer questions before we come for the assessment?
Yes. Contact East Court on 01843 869357. We will help you in any way we can.
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Speech & Language Assessments, Motor Development and other SpLDs.
We can offer Speech & Language Assessments as well as other such as motor development, comprehension issues and so on. Please see the bullet points on our home page. Normally these can be
undertaken at the centre.
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