Adult Assessment for Dyslexia:
There are literally thousands of adults assessed each year by educational psychologists in the UK. Many adults come to this site, in a very unsure fashion. Perhaps they have realised that one of their children has specific difficulties and have begun to see their own difficulties in a different light, due to specific reasons rather than laziness/stupidity etc. Often the adult who contacts us gives the impression that they feel they are breaking new ground. They ask is it possible to assess adults for Dyslexia (SpLd). The answer is yes it is very common and usually very effective in terms of outcome.
There is a marked difference between the way children access assessment and adults can assess assessment. Schools control assessment via control of a very limited amount of EP time given to them by the LEA. The LEA in turn does not want lots of assessments because that leads to demands for support, therapy equipment etc. Of course parents can pay for an independent psychological assessment but they are often given misleading and wrong advice. For instance: there is no register of Dyslexics. Employers don't ask if you are Dyslexic. That would be illegal if they were to use that information to discriminate against you. In fact a private assessment is totally within the power and control of the parents with respect to confidentiality. An LEA assessment of a child is technically done by the LEA EP who then reports to the Director of Education. The parents are technically just on the circulation list. In reality most EP's would involve parents, but the client is the Director of Education. Assessment as it is so controlled by the LEA often only focusses on the most severe cases. Reading age seems to be all that matters.
With adults and I include anyone beyond the age of statutory education (16 years), there are many routes by which they can be assessed. College may pay for it, if the adult is in higher education it will be paid for by college/University for certain. If you are unemployed and have good grounds for assessment then it is possible to get an assessment via your GP from a clinical psychologist. Often highly successful adults will seek assessment and a fee of £200 or so is of little problem. It is at adult level that the full spectrum of those with SpLd are uncovered. Often a person will have been highly successful but just feels that their learning is impeded. An assessment will often shed light as to why the client feels that way and ways around the highly subtle SpLd can be found. leaving the client to go on and achieve to their fullest extent. Planning difficulties surface as do complex language processing difficulties and a whole host of other subtle SpLd's that interfere with seamless learning and cause underachievement. With the wonderful array of technological solutions available an EP familiar with adult assessment can usually put together a complex solution that leads to the client going forward and learning in an unimpeded way perhaps for the first time in their life. Underachievement and the consequent emotional effects on self esteem are slowly left behind.
If you would like to arrange for an assessment of an adult contact Dan Petrov