Hi Kirsty
The thread 'Another Adult Checklist' on the dyslexia forum may
be of help to your musings on Quickscan. I looked into
Quickscan/Studyscan (and a number of other checklists and screening
tools) for some time a couple of years ago and this investigation
convinced me, specifically, to not use Quickscan. I feel there are a
number of issues with the questionnaire itself (the questions asked,
the fact it is also a screening test of PC phobia or otherwise, the
length of the screening) but it is actually structural issues that most
make me pause for thought when I think about it at all, now.
I'm intrigued to hear what you mean by 'on-line dyslexia screening'. I
recently used the word 'despicable' in reference to a website that
offered 'on-line' diagnostic assessment to people. What they did not
offer was the immmediate, professional, human response and support that
people need throughout assessment and subsequently. I can't honestly
say I feel over the top in my description. Of course, the context of
your intended use of Quickscan, I don't know. My suspicion is you would
create a supportive environment that allowed people the opportunity to
verbalise their concerns, and for an experienced professional to
sort the dyslexic from the non-dyslexic (I'm a bit wary of what your
'genuine' and 'less genuine' categories imply) but in that case, what
is the Quickscan process for?
If your intended screening 'on-line' is as part of a process of mass
screening there are a number of problems that I won't go into here, but
I am convinced that the result will be a high density of false
positives and the 'worried well' clogging up your systems, doing
neither you nor your students good.
An addition to my own screening process (a one, and sometimes two, one
hour interviews with the student) was precipitated by a discussion with
the EP we use for full diagnostic assessments: she was telling me, on
the rare occassions it happened, that the usual way an assessment was
stopped before it got started was that an assessee (that's not a word,
but you know who I mean) would mention he or she was on some
prescription medication or other (major psychoactives can put a BIG
crimp on performance, so I'm told) and effects cannot always be
differentiated for dyslexic traits. I have always checked people out on
the 'when were your eyes and ears last tested' front, but the drugs
thing was, for the EP, the bigger issue. I don't know of any screening
tool that asks these questions (that is, the essential screening method
of ruling out other possibilities is missing). The focus is almost
always on (notoriously unreliable) subjects' analyses of their
capabilities and feelings.
My proviso is, as I have said before, I'm not saying I don't work
through a nominal (yet flexible) checklist in my head as I talk to
students, or that the working model for what I feel dyslexia to be and
what it is not (which could, I guess, at a push, be expressed as a
set of yes-no answerable questions) is an important start point. It's
just...well I feel I've made a case, and maybe other people want to
comment.
(On the second question, I hope I'm not speaking out of turn, but the
ACCESS Centre assessors whose working methods I know of provide
training when it is requested and the need has been assessed, but you
really need one of them to comment.)
Iain.
On Wed, 8 Aug 2001 10:24:31 +0100 K M <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Although the tumble weed blowing down the airwaves of dis-forum is now
> almost audible, I thought I might throw a couple of questions into the
> darkness and see if anything more than an echo comes back...
>
> 1. Does anyone out there use 'Quickscan' for on-line dyslexia
> screening? I am contemplating using it just as an initial screen, before
> referring students on to an EP. As we pay for EP reports out of the Hardship
> Fund, I need to know that it would be effective in separating the genuine
> from the less-genuine cases.
>
> 2. Does anyone (apart from you Sara!) have an IT support officer
> employed by their institution to train students on DSA funded equipment? If
> so could you give me an idea of their job description?
>
> Thanks on both counts!
>
> Kirsty
> Disability Support Officer
> University of Brighton
----------------------
Iain Hood
Student Adviser
Anglia Polytechnic University
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