Dyslexia assessments

At Helen Arkell, we offer a range of dyslexia assessments for adults and children. A dyslexia assessment will help someone understand their strengths, and why they may be experiencing difficulties in their learning or day-to-day life.

A dyslexia assessment will recommend how to support a child at home and at school and may be used as evidence for exam access arrangements, with prior consultation with the school or college. It may be used to apply for funded support at university, known as Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA), and help someone discuss appropriate reasonable adjustments in the workplace.

Our assessments help a learner, their families and their schools understand their unique profile, highlighting strengths, identifying barriers, and offering practical recommendations for support.

Helen Arkell is here to help you find clarity, confidence, and the right path forward.

It’s never too late to have a dyslexia assessment. We discuss reasons to have an adult dyslexia assessment here.

Assessments are available face-to-face or online. Both types of assessment are conducted by our highly experienced and skilled team and will reach a decision in the same way as to whether dyslexia is present. Online assessments are available for learners aged 9+.

While online assessments are suitable for most learners, this does depend on an individual’s profile of need. Once you have submitted your application, we may recommend that you have a face-to-face assessment instead.

For more information about online assessments download this document.

Choosing a dyslexia assessor

We offer dyslexia assessments with Helen Arkell Specialist Assessors (HASAs) as well as with Educational Psychologists (EPs).

Dyslexia Assessments by a Specialist Assessor

Our team of highly qualified Specialist Assessors can diagnose dyslexia from the age of 8 years old. Many of our Specialist Assessors are experienced working with children who have Autistic Spectrum Conditions (ASC) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Dyslexia Assessments by an Educational Psychologist

Our Educational Psychologists can also diagnose dyslexia from the age of 8.

They are trained to assess for dyslexia in individuals who have a complex range of learning differences, such as combined diagnoses of Autistic Spectrum Conditions (ASC) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), or significant mental health issues. We only recommend an EP when a learner has a complex range of needs.

Please note that:

• Specialist Teacher Assessors (HASAs) and Educational Psychologists (EPs) cannot diagnose Autistic Spectrum Conditions (ASC) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), as these are medical conditions and require assessment by the appropriate health professionals

• If there is involvement with a range of professionals already, then it may not be appropriate or beneficial for us to conduct further testing

Literacy Learning Assessments

For younger children (those aged below 8 are not yet old enough for a formal dyslexia diagnostic assessment), we offer a Literacy Learning Assessment with a Specialist Teacher. This is for children, primarily in school Years 1 and 2 (Key Stage One) and also early into Year 3, whose progress is giving cause for concern and who would benefit from additional and targeted intervention as outlined in the report recommendations.

Before a dyslexia assessment can take place, we always require that clients have had an up-to-date sight test to make sure any visual problems are checked out (i.e. the need for prescription glasses, or discovery of a medical condition).

We have a Visual Questionnaire which also needs completing, and the responses to our questionnaire may result in us requiring more information from an optometrist – click here for more information on this important part of our booking process.

From time to time, and subject to available funding, we are able to consider bursary applications from individuals who meet certain criteria.

Please provide the required financial information when completing a ‘make a booking enquiry’ form for the chosen service

We will be open for bursary applications from Friday 13th March until Friday 17th April.

Due to limited funds, please note that during this round of bursary applications, certain restrictions apply and we will be unable to consider requests for bursary supported assessments where:

• The same household has already received bursary support for a previous assessment within the last 12 months

• Multiple applications for siblings are submitted at the same time; only the first application which is ready to proceed will be considered for bursary support

• The child/young person has an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP), as their individual needs will be under regular review by appropriate professionals

These restrictions are so that we can extend our support to as many families as possible.

Please apply for the type of assessment you would like. We will advise you if we think a different assessment would be more beneficial.