Specific Learning Difficulties

Dyslexia Testing

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.

There are several tests for dyslexia. A psychologist or specialist teacher will run a selection of these to create a picture of an individual’s strengths and weaknesses. A specialist in dyslexia interpretation can then consider this picture and decide whether or not the individual is dyslexic.

Tests for dyslexia

i) Tests of underlying ability; these can be split into verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning. This provides a picture of an individual’s skills where literacy (in the sense of reading and writing) is not required. This provides a background to the rest of the assessment.

ii) Various tests of reading: Single word reading will be considered, as well as reading texts and comprehension of texts. Reading speed will also be considered. In addition, reading non-words will be considered as well as reading sight words at speed. An overall picture of reading skills will then be obtained. Dyslexic people will often have a slow reading speed or a low score in single word reading and/or non-word reading.

iii) Writing and spelling skills will also be considered. A single word spelling test will be administered as well as a free writing task. Depending on the age and ability of the individual, further tests may be used such as those that look at copying speed. Dyslexic people will often have limited spelling skills; they may also have difficulties with punctuation and sentence structure.

iv) Tests of phonological awareness and processing will also be used. A dyslexic individual will usually have difficulties in this area so this is considered carefully.

v) Tests of auditory memory will usually be administered. Dyslexic people often have poor short-term and/or working memory.

It is important to stress that no single test from the list can provide proof of dyslexia. For example, poor spelling by itself may not be an indicator of dyslexia but, combined with other features, it may well be one of the indicators.

When these tests have been administered, the specialist teacher will then pull the information together in a report. A judgment will then be made on the presence of dyslexia. Recommendations for future support will be given.

Simply Learning Tuition Dyslexia Assessments

We work with several dyslexia experts. Lois Hood, is one of our leading Dyslexia tutors. For the past ten years she has worked as a dyslexia specialist both in schools and privately. In 2005 she gained her Diploma in Dyslexia and Literacy from the University of York.

The study of Dyslexia is still a relatively new field and it is very important to keep up to date with current thinking and new developments. Thus, Lois regularly attends training with the British Dyslexia Association, Dyslexia Action and PATOSS. Lois is currently studying for her Certificate of Competence in Education Testing.

Henry, 13, came to us just before he entered Year 9 at the Moat School, which focuses on specific learning difficulties. Whilst he was receiving specialist attention for his dyspraxia, he needed a private tuitor who could give him one-to-one attention.

We introduced Lisa, a specialist SEN tutor. She delivered the Lindamood-Bell programme, dedicated to improving Henry’s sensory-cognitive functions in order to help him to cope better with his dyspraxia.

Georgina is in Year 5 at a leading London prep school, and is working hard towards her 11+ Common Entrance exams. However, her progress in Maths has been held back by her mild dyscalculia. She was struggling to gain an understanding of mathematical concepts that may come more naturally to other children, such as comparing fractions, percentages and decimals.

We introduced Richard, one of our most experienced tutors.

Aidah, 9, has been raised internationally, living in a number of countries across the Middle East and Europe. She has been struggling to get to grips with three languages, among them English. Her family asked us to provide home schooling tuition for a full academic year, with a view to reintegrating her into a British independent school in September 2015.

After the first term of home schooling, Aidah was making slower progress than expected. A full academic assessment with a speech and language therapist revealed that her receptive and expressive language skills were delayed by 2 and a half years.

Fred, 10 yrs old, had been through a series of schools in the last 12 months. He had problems with the use of language and had weak social skills in general and a high level of anxiety. However, he was very strong at numerical processing and had a photographic memory. He was also extremely good at one to one work.  In the past he had been excluded from several schools and had run away from one. Several of his school teachers had overreacted to his ADHD and caused him great distress. As a result he had lost trust in his teachers.

We introduced tutors to provide a two month period of home schooling to i) settle anxiety ii) continue academic progress iii) give us time to help his parents find a more suitable school.

Leo's family asked us to provide homeschooling. Leo, 7yrs old, was two years behind his peers in terms of literacy. He had suspected mild Aspergers and needed help with boundary setting and consequence. Leo also had a problem discriminating sound: he could hear normally but found it difficult to discriminate between different sounds, making blending and rhyming and phonological awareness very difficult. Our tutor worked with him each weekday morning to bring him up to the level at which he could rejoin school.

When Charles' family came to us when he was aged only 14, he had just been named as the Most Multilingual Child in Britain, speaking an impressive 6 languages. As well as his mother tongue English, Charles was fluent in Russian, Mandarin, Arabic, French, German and Spanish. He was studying the IB Middle Years programme at Le Foley in Switzerland, and needed extra support in his English.