Dyslexia services for children and adults
Full Diagnostic Dyslexia Assessment (age 8+)
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You may be considering a dyslexia assessment for yourself or your child if there are ongoing difficulties developing literacy skills. Concerns might have been raised by teachers, or you may be finding it hard to meet the reading and writing demands of your studies, training, or workplace.
Common signs that may indicate dyslexia include difficulties with:
Reading
Spelling
Writing
Organisation
Memory
Processing speed
Word retrieval
If you are concerned about your child’s literacy development or notice several of these signs, it’s helpful to speak with their teacher or the school’s SENDCo (Special Educational Needs and Disability Coordinator).
A formal diagnosis is not required for support or intervention to begin. However, if your child continues to struggle despite appropriate help, you may wish to explore a more detailed assessment.
Some schools offer dyslexia screening, but these tools only indicate possible dyslexic traits—they do not provide a diagnosis.
For adults, the same principles apply. If literacy challenges persist, impact your studies or work, or remain unexplained despite support, a full diagnostic assessment can help you understand your profile of strengths and difficulties and guide appropriate adjustments or strategies.
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A full diagnostic assessment is available to anyone who wishes to explore whether they have specific learning difficulties, or for those who need an updated report following a previous assessment—often at key transition points such as moving to secondary school, sixth form, college, university, or into new workplace or training environments.
Even if a diagnosis of dyslexia is not given, the assessment and resulting report will provide a detailed overview of cognitive and literacy skills, highlighting both strengths and areas of difficulty. It will also include tailored recommendations to support further development. Where relevant, the report will signpost pathways to other professionals for additional investigation or support.
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An initial telephone conversation will take place to discuss your concerns and to determine whether a full assessment is the most appropriate next step.
A recent eye test is essential before an assessment can be carried out—ideally within the past 12 months, and at minimum within the past 2 years. You will be asked to complete a short visual‑difficulties questionnaire, and depending on the outcome, further vision checks may be recommended. If you or your child wear glasses or use coloured overlays, these should be brought to the assessment. Any concerns about hearing should also be investigated beforehand.
Background information is an important part of the process. For children, it is helpful to gather the views of school staff, so questionnaires are sent to both home and school, along with requests for any relevant background documents. Involving the school is not compulsory, but a teacher’s perspective on a learner’s progress and challenges adds valuable depth to the final report.
For adults, background information may include previous assessments, workplace feedback, study history, or any documentation that helps build a clear picture of current strengths and difficulties.
Finally, it is important to capture the learner’s own perspective. Adults and children alike are asked to complete a separate questionnaire to share their experiences, challenges, and views on their learning and performance.
The Assessment
A dyslexia assessment typically lasts around three hours. For younger children, or for adults and adolescents who find it difficult to maintain concentration for extended periods or who may find it overwhelming, the assessment can be divided into two shorter sessions. It is important that the learner feels well and able to perform at their best on the day of the assessment.
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A full diagnostic dyslexia assessment explores how an individual understands, processes, and uses language, as well as how they apply these skills in reading, writing, spelling and, where relevant, maths. The assessment is suitable for both children and adults, whether this is a first investigation or an updated assessment needed for school transitions, further study, or workplace support.
During the assessment, the learner completes a series of short tasks that look at different aspects of cognitive processing and attainment. These include activities that explore underlying language skills, phonological awareness, working memory, and processing speed, as well as tasks that examine how fluently and accurately they read, spell, write and understand written text. For adults, the assessment also considers how these skills affect everyday study or work demands, such as managing written information, producing reports, or meeting job‑related literacy expectations.
All of this information is combined with background details gathered beforehand, as well as observations and discussions that take place during the assessment itself. For children, this may include school feedback and developmental history. For adults, it may involve previous assessments, study experiences, workplace challenges, or any relevant documentation. Together, these elements help build a clear picture of the learner’s strengths and the areas where they may need support, and they inform the diagnostic decision.
After the assessment, a detailed written report is produced. This includes the test results, observations made during the session, and a clear explanation of whether the profile is consistent with dyslexia or another specific learning difficulty. The report also provides practical recommendations tailored to the learner’s needs. These may include strategies for home and school, guidance for college or university study, workplace adjustments, and suggestions for examination access arrangements. For adults entering or currently in higher education, the report is suitable for applications for Disabled Students Allowance (DSA).
In some cases, particularly with younger children whose skills are still developing, it may not be possible to give a definite diagnosis. When this happens, the report still offers a thorough analysis of cognitive and literacy skills, highlighting strengths and challenges and giving clear recommendations for next steps. If further investigation is needed, the report may suggest consultation with other professionals, such as a paediatrician, psychologist, speech and language therapist or occupational therapist.
This approach ensures that every learner—child, young person or adult—receives a comprehensive understanding of their learning profile and practical guidance to support their progress.
Screening / Learning Needs Assessment
Screening or a learning needs assessment can be helpful when a full diagnostic assessment is not yet necessary. This may be the case for younger children under the age of eight, where skills are still developing, or for learners of any age who simply want a clearer understanding of their strengths and areas of difficulty without pursuing a formal diagnosis.
These assessments are shorter and focus on the specific concerns identified, providing an overview of the learner’s profile.
A brief report is then written, outlining the findings and offering practical recommendations for next steps and support.
Exam Access Arrangements
Some arrangements can be approved directly by the school, college or exam centre, while at GCSE and above, others require formal approval from the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ). Depending on the learner’s needs, arrangements may include supervised rest breaks, the use of a reader or scribe, modified papers, a word processor, or additional time.
These adjustments help awarding bodies meet their responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 by ensuring that reasonable adjustments are in place.
What are Exam Access Arrangements?
Exam access arrangements are adjustments made before an examination to reflect a learner’s normal way of working. They are designed to ensure that children, young people and adults with special educational needs, disabilities or temporary injuries can access assessments fairly and are not placed at a disadvantage.
Exam access arrangements are based on evidence of need collated from classroom observations and assessments and must be the student’s normal way of working.
Do I need a dyslexia diagnosis to secure access arrangements?
A formal diagnosis of dyslexia is not required for a learner to receive exam access arrangements. However, any arrangement must be based on a clear history of need and the learner’s normal way of working, supported by evidence that the school has already gathered. If scores from a full diagnostic assessment are to be used as part of an application, the assessor and school must liaise in advance and share the partially completed Form 8, in line with JCQ requirements, to ensure that the assessment contributes appropriately to the evidence base.
Where an assessment is focused solely on identifying appropriate exam access arrangements, a shorter assessment will be carried out. This will concentrate on the key areas required for exam access arrangements and will be followed by a shortened report that outlines the relevant findings and recommendations.
It is important to remember that the final decision about whether an access arrangement is appropriate lies with the school or exam centre. They are responsible for confirming that any recommended adjustments genuinely reflect the learner’s usual way of working and meet JCQ regulations.
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Prior to any access arrangement assessment, for external examinations governed by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), the school is required to collate evidence of need and normal way of working in the classroom. Once obtained and where appropriate, in line with JCQ regulations, the school should then supply the assessor with the partially completed JCQ Form 8 in advance of the assessment. The assessor will then complete Part C with the results of the assessment and suggestions for appropriate access arrangements. However, it is the school’s role to decide what arrangements to apply for and to make the application to the relevant awarding body, if appropriate.
Where an assessment is solely for access arrangements, a short, written report will be provided with the results of the assessments and recommendations for appropriate access arrangements to support the process.
Further information can be found at: Access Arrangements, Reasonable Adjustments and Special Consideration - JCQ Joint Council for Qualifications
Specialist Tuition
Specialist teaching uses multisensory strategies and carefully structured activities to reinforce and develop key skills, fill gaps in learning, and build confidence and self‑esteem. Teaching is tailored to each learner’s specific needs and can focus on areas such as reading, comprehension, writing, spelling, memory, and study skills. Learners are supported to reflect on how they learn best and to develop a toolkit of strategies that helps them become more independent and resilient in their learning.
As an experienced secondary English teacher, Heather is able to integrate these approaches into GCSE English teaching, ensuring that learners receive targeted support while also working towards curriculum expectations.
Bespoke Training and Consultation
Staff training and advice for parents, schools and colleges is available on request. Please contact me to discuss your requirements.
“My daughter had her assessment with Heather, and then continued with tutoring. Heather was able to clearly identify what help she needed and incorporate this into her tutoring. It was really nice to finally find someone that totally understood my daughter and was able to help.
She really enjoyed the sessions which helped her grow in confidence and ability at school. My youngest also attended tutoring with Heather which definitely boosted her at school.”
— PARENT OF YEAR 9 AND YEAR 6 STUDENTS