Assessment Choices For Adult Dyslexia

If you are planning to get an assessment for your suspected dyslexia, there are some choices that you must consider. Basically, you can get a formal dyslexia screening or assessment from a couple of professionals that are allowed to do so.

Assessment From An Educational Psychologist (EP)

Your first choice and probably the best would be to get an assessment from an educational psychologist. This kind of assessment is considered to be the most comprehensive. The thing is they cost more.

This kind of assessment, however, are the ones frequently required as standard of proof by Tribunals, Examination Boards, Local Education Authorities, Colleges and Universities; which is why getting one can be really worth it, even if it can cost you much.

Usually, you have to answer a questionnaire for important background information. This is then sent to the Educational Psychologist. Next, you have a vital talk with the EP. You would have to undergo some activities that would usually take 2-2 ½ hours. Then, the EP would give a brief discussion about your results.

Lastly, you will get a confidential full written report, coupled with recommendations. You can get the report more or less in 3 weeks time from your assessment date.

Specialist Teacher Assessment

This kind of assessment is also comprehensive but is not that widely accepted as proof of the condition than the psychologist assessment. The same procedure is usually conducted, as with getting an assessment from an EP.

They also conduct brief assessments, where you have to do some activities for about an hour or so. After you have completed the activities, the specialist teacher will briefly discuss the results with you. He or she would also make some recommendations.

Occupational Therapists (OT)

You can also get an initial assessment of dyslexia from an independent occupational therapist. The yielded results are usually written into an intervention program that is specially tailored for you. You can then arrange follow up treatments, if you have to do so.

Undergoing occupational therapy would address particular difficulties related to balance and co-ordination. Such difficulties can vary from large or gross movements like riding bicycles to small or fine movements such as penmanship. However, occupational therapy is sometimes considered to be more helpful in addressing dyspraxia, which is a related condition to dyslexia.

Speech and Language Therapy (SLT)

Lastly, you can choose to get an assessment from a Speech and Language Therapist. The therapist can also give you an initial assessment of your condition. Just as with getting an Occupational Therapy assessment, your yielded results will be written into an intervention program that is tailored for you. Then you can arrange for therapy and treatment sessions to start your intervention.

Speech and language therapy is considered to be one of the major intervention programs that people with dyslexia can have. The therapy mainly focuses on language problems, which is the main concern of the condition.

Here, the assessment results already identify what your weaknesses are. The therapist then, automatically devices an intervention program for you to cope up with these specific problems.

Usually, after you get an assessment from an EP or Specialist Teacher, they would recommend you to see a speech and language pathologist to undergo intervention. If they observe that you also have problems with movement, then they would also require you to see an Occupational Therapist.

Assessment And Support For Adult Dyslexia

A lot of adults who are potential dyslexics have second thoughts on getting a formal assessment for dyslexia. If you are one of them, then it’s about time that you stop thinking this way. Getting an assessment is actually not so hard at all. In fact, it is very easy as long as you know where and how to get one.

How To Get A Formal Dyslexia Assessment

One institute that can help you with getting a formal dyslexia assessment is The Dyslexia Institute. They can help arrange an assessment session for you with a certified professionally qualified independent psychologist who has proficient knowledge on dyslexia.

It can be helpful for the psychologist to have additional background information about you from your tutors or employers; however, sometimes you may want to get advice first before involving other people.

Confidentiality Issues

If you are worried of your condition’s negative effect on your identity, then fear no more. You can be assured that the institute’s Consulting Psychologists and Institute staff would definitely treat all information that you give them confidentially. They would not release any kind of information without your permission.

What Happens During An Assessment

The assessment session would usually last for about two hours only. In this time span, discussion about the findings is already included. Additionally, you get to talk with a psychologist about different ways of dealing with any difficulties that may arise in the future regarding the information that were revealed during the session.

During an assessment, you will undergo a somewhat “investigation” about your learning, thinking, and problem-solving skills. This is done to get indications where are your areas of strength and difficulty. Additionally, it can examine your achievements on basic writing, reading, mathematics and spelling skills.

Relevance Of The Results

The details that are gathered during your assessment are used by the psychologist to ensure whether you have areas of performance that do not meet up to the expected level for your age. If the results are like that, then it is usually a sign that you have a specific learning difficulty, which is responsible for your complexity on developing certain abilities.

If your results yield complex data, then sometimes, further elaboration may be needed. In able to do this, more test are usually done. After the extra tests are done, you will have another talk with your psychologist to discuss about the new data gathered on your condition.

Need Help?

After getting an assessment, the first question that would probably pop into your mind is whether someone out there is capable of helping you. That question is immediately answered since after your assessment session, your psychologist would give you practical instructions depending on the severity of your case and difficulties that you are experiencing.

The instructions can also highly depend on your career and educational goals, which you sought out for.

Typically, these instructions would include making other people aware of dyslexia’s presence in your life. This is important so that they would not relentlessly pass judgment on your poor handwriting or spelling skills. There are a lot more other instructions that your psychologist can give you after the assessment; however, they greatly vary on a case to case basis.

So, now that you know how a typical dyslexia assessment for adults carries through, you can see that there is really no reason why you should be afraid of getting one and knowing if you have the condition or not.