> Date sent: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 10:36:21 +0000 (GMT)
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: costs of dyslexia assessments
> To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
> Copies to: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
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> Organization: University of Luton
> Priority: normal
> Hi All
>
> I do so agree with Deb's comment regarding Dyslexia Assessment costs. I would be very
> interested to read Chris Singleton's recommendaiton in this particular area bearing in mind the
> increasing number of students who are requesting assessment. I feel it now importunes the
> Access Fund facility to a high degree, we are effectivley colluding with LEAs and in doing so
> depriving other students who are in financial need of access to resources because of the costs
> involved in an EP Assessment. I do not dispute that this method of paying for an assessment is
> a means of getting around the problem. However I find it difficult to swallow the fact that a
> student can apply for and receive DSA on submission of a very short medical report in some
> instances which is not queried and full access to funding is gained, whereas an extemely
> expensive and time consuming process is foisted on students seeking support for Specific
> Learning Difficulties which often results in further frustration as the support provided is
> often not adequate to meet their needs. I am now finding that increasingly selected parts of
> needs assessemnts only are being met. In the case of students without access to the DSA, they
> sink or swim depending on the standard of in-house provision at their institution provided to
> meet their needs.
Gillian HI I don't think that the length of a medical report is
particularly , it is I think, the confirmation of a
disability. The DSA is then calculated or recommended on the basis of
our assessment and experience. The disability called "Dyslexia" needs
the measured and professional recognition of a person trained and
qualified to give more than an 'opinion'. To prevent the unwanted
costs of the students who are "trying it on" each institution should
have access to a reasonable screening process. It is unfortunate
that dyslexia, being unseen and measurable only by a "testing"
process is necessarily 'foisted' not only to ensure that the
dyslexia is 'actual' but also at what level.
The "sink or swim" is another problem and down to the individual
institution.
>
> Students who wish to obtain a diagnoses often have to go through an extended period of great
> trauma which can result in a reduction of self-esteem when they are finally diagnosed with a
> positive result. In some instances we have had students who withdrew from HE purely as a result
> of the discussion of their weaknesses in an EP report. Frankly I
begin to find this method of
> gaining support for a person with what is now a very well documented and understood condition
> quite offensive and would suggest that the whole issue needs to be reviewed in light of the
> numbers of students nationally and internationally who are now known
to need support for > Specific Learning Difficulties.
I very much hope that Chris Singleton's long overdue report will be
published soon this in part will answer the 'review' element of your
message. Many of us are awaiting its publication as the hope
was that it would clarify need and therefore provision development.
>
>
> Gillian Malins
> Student Adviser (Disabilities)
> University of Luton
> Park Square
> Luton
> Beds
> LU1 3JU
>
Alan Muller
Able Centre
Middlesex University
Queensway, Enfield EN3 4SF
TEL: 0181 362 5366
EMAIL: [log in to unmask]
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