Hi

One your first question:

We have used Quickscan recently - and can confirm that it does generate a few
false positives.  However, our intention was to get some idea of the study
skills capabilities of a particular group of students - and it seems to have
been reasonably effective in this respect.

On the second issue:

Our IT trainer is a dyslexia support tutor with a familiarity with enabling
software packages.  I feel that this is preferable to having a trainer who is a
'techie' with an interest in dyslexia.  Given her awareness of learning styles,
much of what she does transfers well to other disabilities - though I hasten to
add that she will not offer training in packages with which she is unfamiliar.

Regards

Peter Hill

------------------------------------------------------

K M wrote:

> Hi Iain,
>
> Thanks for the response, and to all the others who responded direct to me.
>
> I think I may have caused unnecessary confusion by my inappropriate use of
> the term 'on-line'. I simply meant use of a computerised initial screen
> which students could undergo before coming to me. I'm afraid from my point
> of view it would be a time-saving exercise, as during busy times of the year
> I can spend up to half my week carrying out screening tests.
>
> On the IT trainer front, my aim was to find out who actually employs someone
> in this role, without providing DSA assessments too, providing the training
> in-house or in the student's own home, as recommended by the access centre
> report. This would also provide the flexibility of offering training to
> non-DSA students.
>
> Thanks!
>
> (Tumbleweed not actually as evident as I had presumed!)
> Kirsty
>
>         -----Original Message-----
>         From:   Iain Hood [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
>         Sent:   Wednesday, August 08, 2001 12:13 PM
>         To:     [log in to unmask]
>         Subject:        Re: 'Quickscan' and IT Support - 2 queries
>
>         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
>         [log in to unmask]

--
Peter Hill

Disability Coordinator
University College Worcester
Henwick Grove
Worcester
WR2 6AJ

Tel 01905 855413
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