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University of Central Lancashire
Guidance on providing evidence for students with Specific Learning Difficulties: Dyslexia, Dyspraxia,
Dyscalculia and Attentional Deficit Disorder as outlined by the SpLD Working Group, July 2005, DfES
Working Group
Section 1 Evidence procedure for students with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLDs) from 2006 entry
The University acknowledges that a SpLD is a disability. The following procedure applies to all students with a SpLD
undertaking standard programmes of study, it aims to ensure that the University makes reasonable adjustment for
individual students and maintains academic standards.
Students who declare that they have a SpLD are sent disability information and a questionnaire to complete and
return to the University. Part of this questionnaire is a disclosure authorisation statement.
With the student’s permission, the completed questionnaire is forwarded to their Faculty/Department to make them
aware of the student’s perceived needs.
Please note: Priority will be given to students who follow this procedure
If the student has relevant evidence that they have a SpLD, they should return it with the questionnaire even if
they believe that the evidence is not adequate. If the evidence held by the student at this stage is not adequate, the
student is advised to seek further appropriate evidence and to provide this to the University as soon as possible. This
evidence should meet the criteria outlined in section 2. This will enable adjustments to be made more quickly.
If the student thinks they may have a SpLD or does not have relevant evidence that they have a SpLD, they
are strongly advised to obtain an appropriate diagnostic assessment. The assessment report is acceptable to the
University provided that it meets the criteria outlined in section 2. This will enable adjustments to be made more
quickly.
The British Dyslexia Association can provide information as to appropriate individuals/organisations qualified to
undertake such assessments:
www.bdadyslexia.org.uk
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The student has responsibility for paying for evidence.
Students are advised to keep any receipts for diagnostic assessments.
After enrolment at UCLan, the University will consider any costs incurred and will endeavour, where
possible, to make some contribution to these.
NB The Diagnostic Assessment report is the property of the student. The Disability Adviser will request that
a copy of the assessment report is sent to the Disability Advisory Service by the student. If an unsolicited
report is sent to the Disability Advisory Service by someone other than the student, it will be returned to the
sender.
Section 2 Obtaining appropriate evidence for a SpLD
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All students with a SpLD who request individual adjustments must produce appropriate evidence of their disability.
The University subscribes broadly to the Guidelines issued by the DfES (July, 2005) available from:
www.bdadyslexia.org.uk
Persons qualified to provide evidence of a SpLD
An initial diagnosis must be carried out by a person who holds
a) a chartered educational, clinical or works (occupational) psychologist or other qualified individual
or
b) a teacher with a qualification in assessing students with specific learning difficulties. (Teachers who assess
SpLDs should hold AMDA (Associate Membership of the British Dyslexia Association) or a qualification from an
advanced training course involving the assessment of adults for SpLDs which is recognised by the British
Dyslexia Association’s (BDA) Accreditation Board. For details see www.bdadyslexia.org.uk or Appendix.
Nature of the evidence supplied
From academic year 2007/08 onwards, an initial diagnosis must be carried out by a person who holds an Assessment
Practising Certificate issued by their professional association, for example the British Psychological Society (BPS) of
Professional Association for Teachers for Students with Specific Learning Difficulties (Patoss).
An assessment of SpLDs for a higher education student should be consistent with the format recommended by the
DfES guidelines (July, 2005).
The information outlined below must be included in a diagnostic assessment for SpLDs
The credentials of the assessor must be indicated on the diagnostic report which must be signed
and dated.
Background information detailing the student’s previous educational experience and any
adjustments made in the past.
Discussion of any factors that may have affected the student’s behaviour during administration of
the tests.
Results of a range of standardised tests suitable for adults such as Wide Range Achievement
Tests (WRAT), Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests (WRMT), Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
(WAIS) or other age appropriate test as identified in DfES guidelines.
Assessment and discussion of any significant difficulties the student experiences in reading,
writing, spelling, and numeracy relevant to the standards in these skills required in higher
education.
Evidence of a significant discrepancy between the abilities of the student in reading, writing,
spelling and numeracy and the level of those abilities that would be expected of the student in
terms of their general intellectual ability.
Assessment and description of cognitive disabilities or neurological anomalies (affecting memory,
visual perception, phonological processing including speed of processing or motor coordination)
which are likely to have any adverse effects on the student’s learning.
Discussion of the student’s underlying ability and discrepancies between their verbal and nonverbal abilities.
A summary which outlines the main assessment findings, states clearly whether or not the student
has a SpLD, mentions the characteristics of the difficulty and their expected effect on the student’s
academic performance.
This will usually appear at the beginning of the report.
Recommendations about the type of support which could be helpful to the student. These
recommendations could include reference to special arrangements for examinations or provision
of study skills tuition.
DfES Guidelines
2005, Page No
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24
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14-22
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24 and 25
26
25
24
26 and 34
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If a student has evidence consisting of a diagnostic test that was carried out before they reached the age of 16 the
student will be asked to undergo a “top-up Assessment” of performance attainment which will provide an update of
their current performance.
In accordance with University Policy, evidence presented by any student may be referred (anonymously) to members
of the University Disability Review Panel for advice and guidance.
Students with a SpLD for whom English is an additional language Linguistic and cultural variations that might
adversely affect the student’s performance in diagnostic tests should have been considered by the person carrying
out the diagnostic assessment.
It would be helpful for the assessor to include in their report a discussion of relevant factors such as the level of
fluency in English achieved by the student and whether there is a discrepancy between their oral and literacy abilities.
It is important that evidence of a disability is presented rather than evidence only of difficulties in literacy. Where a
diagnosis of SpLD is made it should be made clear that the impact of the SpLD is greater than the impact of any
cultural or linguistic factors.
Section 3 Notes
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1 If necessary information is not provided in the report(s) the student must seek clarification from the individual who
has undertaken the assessment. The Disability Advisory Service will give guidance as to the clarification required by
the University.
If it is not possible for the student to get this information, the Disability Advisory Service can assist the student by
making arrangements for him/her to meet the visiting Educational Psychologist in the University.
2 If the University considers that the information in the report does not meet the criteria the University will require that
further assessment be carried out. The Disability Advisory Service can assist the student in making this arrangement.
The student may use an alternative qualified person to provide this information.
3 Students who have undergone an assessment of support needs for the purposes of Disabled Students Allowance
(DSA) (or equivalent) are required to provide the evidence as outlined above as well as the DSA Needs Assessment
report prior to any recommendations being actioned.
4 The University needs evidence that a student has a SpLD, evidence of literacy difficulties alone will not be sufficient
even if this evidence meets requirements set by schools or colleges. For instance, it is not normally acceptable for
students to provide the University with the ‘Request for Special Examination Arrangements – Psychological
Assessment Report’ used for GCSE, ‘A’ levels etc as evidence since this report does not normally contain all the
appropriate information e.g. standardised tests which are recommended by the DfES. From 2007/08 these reports are
not acceptable.
5 The University might not regard global or general learning difficulties as a disability on a course in Higher Education.
The University needs to maintain academic standards so, if a student does not have a disability, then no adjustments
will be made.
International and European students
The procedure applies. All Assessment reports provided by the student must be in English and should broadly meet
the requirements outlined above.
Distance Learning Students
Where adjustments are perceived as necessary, the student will be responsible for providing evidence of disability.
Adjustments must be reasonable and will be in line with University guidelines on distance learning. For example, a
reasonable adjustments are the use of the University’s guidelines on marking the work of students with a SpLD and
additional time for examinations.
Short Courses
The student is responsible for providing appropriate evidence if adjustments or support are needed for learning or
assessment.
This evidence should be made available as soon as possible so that adjustments can be in place at the earliest
opportunity.
The evidence must meet the criteria set for full-time courses and the University will not contribute to any costs that
gathering this evidence may incur.
Students on Business Development courses
Students who require individual adjustments must provide evidence as outlined above.
Appendix
Courses accredited by BDA for SpLD assessments carried out by teachers
Regional Centres and Distance Learning Courses
Dyslexia Action (formerly known as Dyslexia Institute)
(AMBDA and ATS and ATS FE/HE)
National Training Office
Tel: 01784 222 304
Fax: 01784 222 393
Teaching centres running diploma courses at: Bristol, Leicester, London, York & Tonbridge.
Distance learning also available.
OCR (Oxford, Cambridge & RSA) (AMBDA and ATS)
Customer Information Bureau
Tel: 024 7647 0033
Fax: 024 7642 1944
37 centres running diploma and certificate courses.
Open University (AMBDA)
Doreen Cowling
Tel: 01908 652 897
South and South West
East Sussex County Council (AMBDA and ATS)
Joan Amos
Tel: 01825 764 177
Fax: 01825 768 667
Please note that these courses are only open to teachers working for East Sussex County Council.
Somerset LEA (AMBDA)
Rosemary Latham
Tel: 01823 334 475
Fax: 01823 323 656
Southampton University (AMBDA and ATS)
Geraldine Price
Tel: 023 8059 2611
Fax: 023 8059 3556
University of Gloucester (AMBDA)
Amanda Pill
Tel: 01242 543 361
Fax: 01242 536 262
University of the West of England (Bristol) (ATS)
Jillian Harker
Tel: 0117 965 6261
Fax: 0117 976 2146
See also Dyslexia Action (Bristol)
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London and South East
London Borough of Sutton (Mainstream Teachers' Recognition)
Sue Carless
Tel: 020 8770 6743
Fax: 020 8770 6743
Oxford Brookes University (AMBDA)
Georgina Glenny
Tel: 01865 488 570
See also Dyslexia Action (London and Tonbridge) and OCR (London and home counties)
Wales
Bangor, University of Wales (AMBDA and ATS)
Ann Cooke
Tel: 01248 383 841
Fax: 01248 383 614
Carmarthenshire County Council (ATS)
Margaret Beaumont
Tel: 01994 231 866
Fax: 01994 231 255
Conwy LEA. (ATS)
Training Department
Tel: 01492 575 019
Fax: 01492 541 311
Newport, University of Wales (AMBDA)
Val Miller
Tel: 01633 432 432
Fax: 01633 432 074
North East Wales Institute (ATS)
Maggie Bowen
Tel: 01978 293 172
Fax: 01978 293 326
Swansea LEA. (AMBDA and ATS)
Deborah Avington
Tel: 01792 405 689
Fax: 01792 404 705
North West
Liverpool John Moores University. (AMBDA and ATS)
Pat Mullins
Tel: 0151 231 5261
Fax: 0151 231 5338
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Manchester Metropolitan University (AMBDA, AMBDA FE/HE and ATS (ITT)).
Judy Capener
Tel: 0161 247 5621
Fax: 0161 247 6370
Midlands
Birmingham University (AMBDA, ATS and ATS)
Tel: 0121 414 4866
Fax: 0121 414 4865
See also Dyslexia Action (Leicester)
Northern England and Scotland
Cumbria County Council (ATS)
Diana Crewdson
Durham County Council (AMBDA and ATS)
Mary Coffield
Tel: 01740 656 998
Fax: 01740 657 792
Moray House Institute of Education - see Open University
See also Dyslexia Action (York)
Overseas
Bar Ilan University (Israel) (AMBDA Overseas)
Avril Rose
Tel: 00 972 3 534 4744
Fax: 00 972 3 534 9532
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SUMMARY OF SUITABLE TESTS FOR ASSESSMENT OF SpLDs IN H.E.
Underlying Ability:
WRIT Wide Range Intelligence Test – Verbal IQ + Visual IQ
WAIS Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale – Full Scale IQ inc WM + presg spd
WASI Weschler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence
Cognitive Processing:
WMS-III
Weschler Memory Scale 3rd edition – Working Memory
WRAML2
Wide Range Assessment of Memory + Learning
WAIS-III
The Digit Memory Test
Phonological Processing:
CTOPP Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing
Speed of Processing:
Symbol Digit Modalities Test
CTOPP
WAIS-III
Speed of writing prose task – open
Attainments in literacy – single word recognition:
WRAT3 Wide Range Achievement Test
WRMT-R Woodcock Reading Mastery
TOWRE Test of Word Reading Efficiency
Continuous Text Reading (oral reading):
SDRT
Spadafore Diagnostic Reading Test
ART
The Adult Reading Test
GORT-4
Gray Oral Reading Test
Silent Reading
GRST Gray Silent Reading Test
Advanced Reading Comprehension Test
SDRT
WRAT (forms G or I)
WRMT-R
Non-word reading
TOWRE
WRMT-R
Non-word Decoding Test
Listening Comprehension
SDRT
Spelling – single word:
WRAT3
HAST Helen Arkell Spelling Test
BSTS British Spelling Test Series
Writing Free writing – timed (upto 15 mins)
Attainments in Numeracy (where appropriate):
WRAT3
WRAT – Expanded Group Assessment (form G and I) Mathematics Test
Mathematics Competency Test
Attainments in Motor Control:
Morrisby Manaual Dexterity Test