Students with existing dyslexia reports

To apply for the Disabled Students' Allowance at university a post 16 Educational Psychologist’s report or other dyslexia assessment is required.  This means that the assessment must have been carried out when you were aged 16 or over.  If you are a mature student who may have had a report post 16 but more than two years before entering university, you might be required to have an up-dated assessment.  Before going through a reassessment, send the document you have to Student Finance England (SFE) with your Disabled Students' Allowance application form (the DSA1).  See the site below for more information about Disabled Students' Allowance.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/EducationAndTraining/HigherEducation/DG_10034898

Some of you may have an alternative exam arrangements ‘report’ for GCSE and/or A level exams; this would allow the AccessAbility Centre to make a similar arrangement for examinations at the University but it is unlikely to be adequate for Disabled Students' Allowance application.  For this a full Educational Psychologist or Specialist Assessor’s report is necessary and should include: 

• Your details and the date of the assessment
• A clear statement of the presence of a specific learning difficulty
• A detailed description of the tests used which must conform with guidelines available to assessors on: http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/downloads/dsaguidelines.pdf
• A complete breakdown and analysis of test scores
• Conclusions which explain why there is a statement of disability
• Recommendations:
• Reasonable adjustments such as
• Extra time in examinations (this is usually 25%)
• Departmental and subject specific support recommendations
• Extensions for course work with the relevant conditions
• Assistive technology recommendations related to the nature of the specific learning difficulty (essential for Disabled Students' Allowance purposes)

You can have support from the AccessAbility Centre as soon as you have made yourself known to the University.  You do not have to wait until your DSA comes through to use the AccessAbility Centre or make appointments with staff.