What to do if you think a student has dyslexia

If you think a student needs to be referred to the DASS because they or you think they have dyslexia you should advise them to book online onto The My Learning Essentials / DASS ‘Do I have dyslexia?’ workshop.

If you advise a student to book onto this workshop, please ensure that you send them an email with the details of how to book online.  Please also ensure that you advise the student to book onto the workshop as soon as possible, due to the time it can take to get support in place.  This will provide a better student experience and will enable effective records management in case of future appeal/complaint from the student.

The workshop will run weekly.  The full list of dates is available here.  Courses will become available for booking 4 weeks in advance of the course date and up to 35 students will be able to be seen per workshop per week.

The aim of the workshops is to encourage students to determine whether the University assistive software available in all clusters using the student desktop image will meet their support needs.   In the workshops, students will be taught:

-        How to use assistive software on the networked computers and how they can use this in their studies.

-        If necessary, how to explore further support via an Educational Psychologist’s assessment (either via DSO or externally), and how to book this. 

-        Students will receive assistance in the session to complete the relevant paperwork.

Educational Psychologist’s assessments for dyslexia

• An Educational Psychologist’s assessment is the diagnostic appointment to determine whether or not a student experiences dyslexia (Specific Learning Difficulty).
• After attending the workshop, students will be able to book an Educational Psychologist’s appointment at the DSO, should they feel they need further support. 
• All students will be required to contribute £100 to the cost of their EP assessment at the DSO.
• The DSO has a limited number of Educational Psychologist’s appointments available on a first come first served basis.  These are provided by external professionals, not University staff. 
• EP appointments at the DSO are usually available during weeks 1-12 of semester 1 and from week 1 of semester 2 to the exam deadline for the May exam period.
• Students who think they have dyslexia and who are seen when EP appointments are not available will be added to a waiting list for the next available appointments.  They will also be advised how they can access an EP appointment externally.

Appendix  - Suggested template to use if a student tells you they think that they might have dyslexia

Hello,

Thanks for getting in touch.

Booking online onto to the Disability Advisory and Support Service’s (DASS) weekly workshop at the Alan Gilbert Learning Commons is the first step to accessing support if you think you have dyslexia. 

At the workshop the DASS will show you what support is available to you now, and what to do if you need more support.

There is a list of dates when the workshops run, and these become available to book 4 weeks in advance.

We’d encourage you to book onto a workshop as soon as possible, as if you need further support, this can take some time to arrange.

The DASS will tell you how to access an Educational Psychologist’s appointment to find out if you have dyslexia in the session and these appointments are also limited – another reason to book as soon as you can.