Scottish
Disability
Team
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If you have had more than one diagnostic assessment in your life, you are probably a bit fed up by now. Sometimes assessments for dyslexia are required for formal reasons, such as extra time in school or college exams. Assessments for these purposes may not feel as if they have much relevance to you. This can be because the results and process of the assessment have not been discussed with you.
Even if you do not have the opportunity to talk with the person who carried out the assessment, the information it contains can still be useful to your understanding of what makes you dyslexic.
One way to describe this kind of assessment would be 'diagnostic'. This means that the results of the assessment should prove that you are dyslexic. This will be very much a snapshot of your personal cognitive and functional strengths and weaknesses (see Section 2: What is dyslexia? or Section 9: Glossary for more information about these).
There will be many aspects of what makes you who you are, which will not appear in the assessment. This is partly because they do not help to reveal the presence of dyslexia.
The basis for the assessment is traditionally an I.Q. 'test', which must be conducted by a fully qualified person, usually an educational psychologist. An I.Q. test does not show the whole of an individual's intelligence or range of ability. However, it has for many years been considered the best available tool for the purpose of finding out whether someone is dyslexic or not. What your report indicates is not how intelligent you are, but whether you find certain tasks more difficult than others.
You may remember that during the assessment you were given a number of different tasks to do. These tasks, are thought to measure an individual's ability in:
Some of the tasks look at these abilities in the context of your verbal skills, some require you to work visually. What is being assessed is your cognitive ability. See also: Section 2: What is dyslexia? or Section 9: Glossary for more information.
An assessment also involves a second series of tasks which will identify the level of your functioning in reading, writing and spelling skills. It is important to realise that these literacy skills will improve with practice and will not remain as they were at the time of your assessment. In your report these skills are written down as the level of your attainment and may be expressed in terms of age, although this is not particularly helpful for adults!
The report you have received is a 'snapshot' of your abilities and attainments. Remember that it is the difference between the results of each of the tasks you did, and how they compare with each other, that is important.
Your results produce a pattern. This pattern is individual to you. It probably shows that you had some difficulty with the tasks which put demands on your short-term memory. In comparison you may have done considerably better in other areas. You may hear this described as a 'pattern of strengths and weaknesses'.
There is another important comparison made in the report; this is between your cognitive abilities and your functional attainments. It is often the case that your competency in literacy skills is less than would be expected for someone of your overall cognitive ability. Your literacy skills will have been assessed under test conditions. You will, therefore, not have had the time to edit or check your writing as you might do normally. Under test conditions your short-term memory will also be under greater pressure. Any difficulties you have will be made more apparent during the assessment because of these factors (see Section 2: What is dyslexia? for more information).
"The purpose of educational psychology assessment is to piece together the puzzle of dyslexia within a particular educational and social context. This involves understanding of the literacy learning process, and the reciprocal effects of educational achievements, cognitive processes, and the instructional circumstances and the learners perceptions, strategies and experiences. To be useful the assessment needs to lead to workable plans of action that promote learning."
Dyslexia, Learning and Psychological Assessment. BPS Report (1999) p63.
The report will not be useful to you unless you take time to understand its contents. If you do it will help you to understand the details as well as the general reasons for you being identified as dyslexic. It will not, in fact, tell you anything you don't already 'know'. It should make sense in terms of your experience and it will help to give that experience meaning.
After an assessment people often find that they can start to make real sense of experiences they have had throughout their lives. Even if the only assessment you have had was as a child there will still be useful information in the report. This knowledge really can be used to your advantage in learning more about how you learn.
See also: Section 6: Strategies for Higher Education.
Some of the words and phrases used in your report can be found in Section 9: Glossary, but you may want to look at your report in the light of the information in this section.
Alongside the outcomes of the individual tests which make up the assessment and the results which make up your attainments, the report will also have a written section that explains what this information means. This will be a profile of your areas of strength and weakness and an explanation of how this shows that you are dyslexic. The language used will be unfamiliar to you unless someone has already discussed your report with you and made sure that you understand it. This site will help you with this to some extent, but it is important to ask your Disability Co-ordinator or Learning Adviser if there is anything you are unsure of.
People have a wide range of responses to finding out that they are dyslexic. Everyone has an emotional response.
Finding out that you are dyslexic might simply be a relief. It can help explain things that you have wondered about for a long time. You may find yourself re-thinking a lot of your previous experiences.
"I remember the day I was told I was dyslexic, I opened my twelfth floor window and I shouted at the top of my voice: 'I'm dyslexic!'. It just felt so good because it just explained so much about the person I am. The way I tackle things, the way I get stressed by things, like things are frustrated. But also the way I can get elated by certain areas and excited - it just felt so good just understanding after all these years of not knowing."
Many people use their new understanding to break through limiting ideas to view themselves more positively.
"It caused huge problems, huge frustrations - whereas now, because I know I'm dyslexic and it's going to take a little bit longer, I can either work at strategies and just know in myself that I will get it all in eventually; I can work at it a little bit harder or just try and relax a little as well and not get too stressed out at the start of things."
Some people are sad or angry about what has been lost or suffered earlier in their lives because their difficulties and strengths were not understood. It can be painful to realise that our experiences might have been different if someone had noticed.
"I remember praying, 'Please don't let me be dyslexic'. And then I found out I was and it didn't really bother me and, then, the teacher at school was really nice to me. And she was really understanding and stuff. But then, when I progressed to secondary school they weren't so understanding. No one used to give a shit really, they just scooped you along with everyone else."
Sometimes people are angry because this new information means changing both the way they think about themselves and what they do. This isn't always comfortable.
"I always thought I was lazy and not very intelligent but if I worked hard I could be successful. Finding out I am dyslexic made me feel like I wouldn't be able to succeed no matter how hard I tried. There was no chance of getting better."
Other people can feel hopeless and demotivated for a little while until they have time to understand how they can use the new information they have.
"I thought I would have to change everything I do and learn everything again from scratch."
Whatever your feelings or thoughts are it is important to talk with someone who understands dyslexia and give yourself time to think about and absorb your experience of discovering that you are dyslexic.
"I've just not been able to help talking to lot's of people about this. It has been so important and I keep thinking about how things might have been and feel angry and then sad and then excited because I don't have to believe that I'm stupid any more."
Knowing what might be of help to you at this stage and at future stages is essential. Sometimes, help is something you ask for immediately. Sometimes, the most important thing is to know that it is available.
See also:
A diagnostic assessment puts a name to your experience. This label is essential for accessing help and resources. Indeed, even if you have been assessed before it is usually necessary to be assessed again in Higher Education so that your current needs can be established. A recent assessment is essential if you want to apply for funding from the Disabled Students Allowance scheme (see Section 11: Information and resources, Section 9: Glossary).
Even though your report can be helpful in accessing resources it is not a certificate' that you have to keep producing to prove your dyslexia to others. It contains private and personal information. You may not wish to show anyone your report unless you are sure it will be treated confidentially and with respect.
See also: Section 5: Telling other people.
"I was assessed at School. I had loads of tests but nobody explained it to me. The reports were always things that belonged to the teachers not to me."
Make sure you know what your report means. It will help you understand your pattern of abilities and develop the self-awareness which is essential for effective learning. Just as importantly, really understanding your report will help you discuss your difficulties and abilities with other people.
Next page - Section 5: Telling other people