As a parent, perhaps the hardest thing regarding assessments is knowing where to start. For children with multiple difficulties, different professionals are required to assess for different things…. Occupational therapists can investigate motor difficulties (such as dyspraxia and sensory issues), specialist teachers can identify dyslexia and specific learning difficulties, but only medical practitioners (such as doctors and paediatricians) can diagnose physical conditions such as ADHD, ADD and ASD. It’s frustrating for everyone, as often a child will need to have multiple assessments and, if done privately, this can amount to a small fortune. Sadly, although many of these assessments can be arranged through the NHS, poor funding means that waiting lists can be up to 2 years long. This can mean that a child misses out on potential support whilst they are waiting, falling further and further behind in their education.
It is for this reason that many parents choose to go privately. As a specialist teachers and SpLD assessors, we are trained to identify dyslexia and dyspraxia (although for some bizarre reason we are only allowed to diagnose the latter in over 16 year olds) and recognise other conditions such as dyscalculia, autism, attention deficits and visual processing difficulties (which we then refer on to the necessary professionals). However, we are able to tie all of these things together in order to work out how it affects the learner – but more importantly, what can be done to help them overcome their barriers to learning.
This week I received a heart warming letter from the parent of a young boy I assessed who had extremely complex needs. I think it clearly states the advantages of having an specialist teacher assessment, and I am sharing it in the hope that it encourages others to bite the bullet and help their child achieve the best possible outcomes…..
Dear Natalie,
I just wanted to extend my gratitude to you for the assessment you recently completed for
my son.
My son has had multiple diagnosis including ASD and ADHD. His presentation has always been well documented but complex. As a family, we had a good understanding of how these differences affected our son in daily life but not in learning.
Having played ‘teacher’ for the past year we were concerned by some of the difficulties he
seemed to be having but had no idea about his specific areas of need or how we could best
support him moving forwards. We have never sought a private assessment before, and we were very reserved about this. We chose you primarily because we heard through parents and professionals of your good reputation and that you worked positively with both parents and schools to ensure the child’s needs were well understood.
We want to thank you for taking the time and energy to truly understand all aspects of our
son’s needs. You had a mountain of paperwork to sift through and a lot of history to unpick.
I can honestly say that choosing to have our son assessed by you was the best thing we have ever done for him. You were able to identify every single difficulty and explain this to us in a way we would understand. I feel completely at peace knowing what the barriers are for him.
The report you provided us with was extremely detailed and informative and the most
helpful piece of information to us as parents but also to professionals working with our son.
With this information, we can now plan ahead and ensure that our sons needs are
recognised and appropriately met.
On a personal note, thank you for the adjustments you made to make this assessment
possible for our son, by way of pre-planning, visual schedules, reassurance, encouragement
and your warmth. We felt very relaxed and it was a positively memorable experience for us all.
You come with our highest recommendation and I simply would not hesitate to encourage
parents in a similar situation to contact you.
We can’t thank you enough.
Best Wishes
Amy, Nick and Henry