When assessing a child or teenager to determine whether they may have a specific learning difficulty, or more than one, it is important to assess as many aspects of their relevant processing skills as possible. Each student presents with their own very specific strengths and weaknesses and background history which all needs to be delineated accurately and considered very carefully. This information may lead to a slightly different set of assessment tools being used which may mean that the report takes longer to write and this is why the cost may vary. And this is also why carrying out the assessments can take up to 3 hours on the day and the subsequent report may take up to 14 days to be finalised.

This is an assessment which is designed to determine whether the student processes words both when reading or/and writing, at a below average rate or/and efficiency. This would then impact on their ability to work through examinations papers as easily as their peers sitting the same test. They may then, if the tests prove this to be the case, be given ‘Access Arrangements’ to be used when taking public and internal examinations. There are various access arrangements available depending on the specific difficulty the student is experiencing. They may be given a reader, to read examination papers to them, or if they prefer they may be given extra time to read the paper themselves. If necessary students may be given a scribe to write down their answers, if their spelling or writing makes their own writing illegible, or they may prefer to be given extra time to write down their answers themselves or they may opt to use a lap top.