Dyslexia Assessments

Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty which primarily affects reading and writing skills. However, it does not only affect these skills. Dyslexia is actually about information processing. Dyslexic people may have difficulty processing and remembering information they see and hear, which can affect learning and the acquisition of literacy skills. Dyslexia can also impact on other areas such as organisational skills. 

It is important to remember that there are positives to thinking differently. Many dyslexic people show strengths in areas such as reasoning and in visual and creative fields.

I use the Rose Definition of dyslexia which has been adopted the Rose (2009) definition of dyslexia:

"Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling. Characteristic features of dyslexia are difficulties in phonological awareness, verbal memory and verbal processing speed. Dyslexia occurs across the range of intellectual abilities. It is best thought of as a continuum, not a distinct category, and there are no clear cut-off points. Co-occurring difficulties may be seen in aspects of language, motor co-ordination, mental calculation, concentration and personal organisation, but these are not, by themselves, markers of dyslexia. A good indication of the severity and persistence of dyslexic difficulties can be gained by examining how the individual responds or has responded to well-founded intervention.

In addition to these characteristics:

The British Dyslexia Association (BDA) acknowledges the visual and auditory processing difficulties that some individuals with dyslexia can experience, and points out that dyslexic readers can show a combination of abilities and difficulties that affect the learning process. Some also have strengths in other areas, such as design, problem solving, creative skills, interactive skills and oral skills."

Development of a new definition of dyslexia:

After more than a year of research, two papers summarising the findings of a Delphi study into the definition of dyslexia have now been published in draft format on the Open Science Framework.

The Delphi dyslexia study papers are still being reviewed as part of the academic research process and it is possible that changes may be made. In light of this, the BDA is monitoring the progress of this review and will ensure that their members, stakeholders and those they aim to support have access to the latest information.

General signs to look for are:

• Speed of processing: slow spoken and/or written language
• Poor concentration
• Difficulty following instructions
• Forgetting words

Written Work

• Poor standard of written work compared with oral ability
• Produces messy work with many crossings out and words tried several times, e.g. wippe, wype, wiep, wipe
• Confused by letters which look similar, particularly b/d, p/g, p/q, n/u, m/w
• Poor handwriting with many ‘reversals’ and badly formed letters
• Spells a word several different ways in one piece of writing
• Makes anagrams of words, e.g. tired for tried, bread for beard
• Produces badly set-out written work, doesn’t stay close to the margin
• Poor pencil grip
• Produces phonetic and bizarre spelling: not age/ability appropriate
• Uses unusual sequencing of letters or words

Reading

• Slow reading progress
• Finds it difficult to blend letters together
• Has difficulty in establishing syllable division or knowing the beginnings and endings of words
• Unusual pronunciation of words
• No expression in reading, and poor comprehension
• Hesitant and laboured reading, especially when reading aloud
• Misses out words when reading, or adds extra words
• Fails to recognise familiar words
• Loses the point of a story being read or written
• Has difficulty in picking out the most important points from a passage

Numeracy

• Confusion with place value e.g. units, tens, hundreds
• Confused by symbols such as + and x signs
• Difficulty remembering anything in a sequential order, e.g. tables, days of the week, the alphabet

Time

• Has difficulty learning to tell the time
• Poor time keeping 
• Poor personal organisation
• Difficulty remembering what day of the week it is, their birth date, seasons of the year, months of the year
• Difficulty with concepts – yesterday, today, tomorrow

Skills

• Poor motor skills, leading to weaknesses in speed, control and accuracy of the pencil
• Memory difficulties e.g. for daily routines, self-organisation, rote learning
• Confused by the difference between left and right, up and down, east and west
• Indeterminate hand preference
• Performs unevenly from day to day

Skills

• Uses work avoidance tactics, such as sharpening pencils and looking for books
• Seems ‘dreamy’, does not seem to listen
• Easily distracted
• Is the class clown or is disruptive or withdrawn 
• Is excessively tired due to amount of concentration and effort required

An assessment, whether dyslexia is found or not, will provide you with a personalised profile of your child's strengths and challenges. It will help you identify the best teaching methods, and which areas of development require additional support to progress.

For some children, this can be achieved by working with the school to learn more about their child's learning styles. However, some children are more complex and require a more in depth investigation to achieve this goal.

Having a formal diagnosis will not guarantee any extra support or extra time in exams- some children with dyslexia do not require additional input in school, but rather need teachers to understand how they learn and the amount of effort it takes. However, if your child is hoping to go to university, many of them require a formal diagnosis in order to qualify for Disabled Student Allowance. 

For many children, to understand that their brain works slightly differently to their friends', is a priceless piece of knowledge. Many students can then understand that they aren't stupid, even if they feel it, but that they need to are-learn how to learn, now they understand their brain a bit better.

I prefer to conduct assessments in the child's school as they are in the best frame of mind to work. However, it is possible to conduct assessments from my bases in Yeovil and Frome.

SASC (The SPlD Assessment Standards Committee) have very clear guidelines on how to conduct and report on an assessment. Due to this, any reputable assessment will follow these guidelines and, whilst different assessors may use different tests, they all appear on the approved list and the reports all follow the same format. SASc also hold the list of professionally qualified specialist teacher assessors - you will find my name in this list on their website.

Fill in the contact form on the Home page and I will get in touch. I will send you some online questionnaires to gather some information about what service you require. I will then, with your permission, contact school to find out the historic and current situation. If all this information shows that an assessment would be beneficial, I would ask for payment and we would set a date.

I will not assess children under the age of 7 as it goes against the industry guidelines. 

If a child does not agree to the assessment, then, ethically, I would not continue.

If the child has not had an eye test, or reports difficulty processing visual material, then I would ask that this is addressed before I did the assessment.

Both Specialist Teachers (who are AMBDA qualified and may hold an Assessment Practising Certificate, APC) and Psychologists are able to assess for dyslexia; in practice there is very little difference between the two.

There may be some instances where an Educational Psychologist needs to be engaged instead of a Specialist Teacher, for example where an individual has more complex or multiple needs or where it is felt that they may have co-occurring difficulties (where an individual has other Specific Learning Difficulties alongside their dyslexia). In such cases the additional tests used by psychologists may be able to tease out these subtle differences in an individual's overall profile. If I feel that this is the case, I will work with you to help you find one that you would like to work with.

Specialist teachers usually have more experience working, and often teaching, in an educational setting.

Both Specialist Teachers and Psychologists can diagnose dyslexia and can make recommendations about how the individual can best be supported.

The guidelines are that a child needs to be 7 before they are assessed. Before this age, I can carry out a screener which will indicate the probability of dyslexia and give guidance on strategies to minimise the impact of this on their academic development.

Most dyslexia assessments last around 2 hours. Whilst working with your child, there will be a variety of 5-10 minute activities and games that we will do. Some are academic but most of them aren’t. If you think that your child will struggle with any aspect of this, then please let me know so I can prepare. I might also chat to your child about why they are with me and what being dyslexic might mean to them.

The SASC guidance is very clear that as much background information as possible is gathered and they expect there to be close collaboration between assessors and schools. As schools are in the best position to tell me about how the child learns and the difficulties that they have with literacy, I think it is important to hear from their teacher or SENCO. If this would be an issue for you, please still contact me so that we can discuss this and see what can be done.

It is always possible that the assessment will not find that dyslexia is the cause of the difficulties. However, the battery of assessments completed will enable me to compile a good assessment of your child's strengths and challenges and may identify the reasons for their learning difficulty. You will still get the same report with all the scores, profile and recommendations which will be an invaluable tool for you and your child's school.

In order to help you with the cost, I can offer a payment plan. a date can be set 3+ months in the future and instalments can be negotiated. 

From time to time, I have offers - follow me on Facebook to hear about them, or contact me on the email below to be put on the mailing list.

I work from bases in Yeovil and Frome.

I will travel anywhere (within reason!). If it is within 30 minutes of Yeovil or Frome, there will be no charge. 

Insight - Educational Assessment and SEND Consultancy  Privacy Notice

Last updated: 17/1/2025

Our Contact Details: www.insightconsultancy.org

Name: Heidi Humpage

E-mail: heidihumpage@icloud.com

Introduction

This privacy notice informs you about how we handle your personal data, your privacy rights, and how the law protects you.

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We collect and process the following types of personal data from you:

•Contact Name

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School  and background information

This data is collected:

•When you fill out our online form to request information regarding an assessment.

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), our reliance on processing this information is based on a contractual obligation.

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•To schedule the assessment

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Access to your personal information is restricted to one individual who is required to keep the information confidential. I will retain your data for 6yrs and will then dispose of it safely.

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You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.

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Should you have any queries regarding this privacy notice or our privacy practices, please feel free to reach out to me at heidihumpage@icloud.com

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I will always try to work with you to identify a focus for the work that suits both of us. However, there might be some circumstances that I cannot do what you have requested. 

This may be if the request is I am constrained by the guidelines of  my professional bodies, or if I believe that the work is not in the best interests of the school or student.