A diagnostic assessment begins with the gathering of background information about your child’s development and education. This helps the assessor to understand the nature of the difficulties encountered so far.
The assessor carries out a range of standardised tests to establish your child’s learning profile and identify their personal areas of strength and weakness.
The assessor combines the background information and results of testing to form a diagnostic assessment report. This report contains detailed information about the individuals learning profile and personalised recommendations about how to support the learner in school and at home.
Once the report has been produced you will be invited to a feedback meeting in which the key findings of the report will be explained, and you will have the opportunity to discuss the findings.
At what age can my child be assessed?
Early intervention can be hugely beneficial for any child encountering difficulties in learning. However, a full diagnostic assessment can be taxing for young children. We consider each case individually, however as a general guideline we would carry out a full diagnostic assessment from the age of eight years.
A diagnostic assessment begins with the gathering of background information about your child’s development and education. This helps the assessor to understand the nature of the difficulties encountered so far. The young person taking the test is asked to give their own opinion on their abilities within and reaction to maths in addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, percentages, shapes, and time.
A standardised test is then carried out to determine the child’s mathematical ability. We compare the results of the standardised test with the child’s age and time taken to do the test. From this we draw conclusions as to whether the child is lacking a fundamental understanding of what numbers mean and how the basics of maths work. We also consider whether it is a short-term memory issue, maths anxiety, problem solving issue or the lack of understanding of a specific area of maths-related work.
From all of this, we draw a conclusion as to whether the individual is dyscalculic, and we give our view on this in the report. The report will include recommendations of activities to support the child in their maths development. You will be invited to a feedback meeting, in which the findings will be discussed.
At what age can my child be assessed?
Early intervention can be hugely beneficial for any child encountering difficulties in learning. However, a full diagnostic assessment can be taxing for young children. We consider each case individually, however, as a general guideline, we would carry out a full diagnostic assessment from the age of eight years.
In addition to individual diagnostic assessments, we also work with schools to support their making applications for Examination Access Arrangements for public examinations. At GCSE and A-Level the school applies for access arrangements based on the pupil’s “history of need” (e.g., their previous difficulty and what adjustments are in place for them).
We are happy to provide this testing for schools either as a stand-alone assessment or as part of a full diagnostic assessment.
Diagnostic Assessment for adults will aim to establish the individual’s strengths and weaknesses and identify the nature of any difficulties they are experiencing, whether in continuing study or the workplace. Where appropriate the assessor will make a formal diagnosis of dyslexia.
A diagnosis of dyslexia may also lead to a Workplace Needs Assessment