The assessment process for current students

If you are referred for a full assessment, your name will be added to a waiting list.   Although you may have been screened fairly quickly, you may wait 4-6 weeks for a full assessment, and a further 4 weeks for the full report and recommendations to be written up.  Final year students will not be able to apply for funding for the full assessment if they present for screening after January 1st in their final year. 

After your screening appointment, you should wait for the AccessAbility Centre secretary to contact you to offer you a full assessment.  Availability is limited, so you may need to be flexible about dates and times.  The Educational Psychologists and specialist assessors come into the University roughly once every two weeks during term time.  The assessment appointment lasts for 2 hours.

For non-final year students, the University will usually meet the cost of the full assessment.  This is currently £285.  You will be asked to fill in an Access to Learning Fund form in order to apply for this funding.  The educational psychologists and specialist assessors charge the University for missed appointments, so it is very important that you let the AccessAbility Centre know (giving at least one working day of notice) if you cannot attend.  If you are more than 15 minutes late for the appointment,  the assessor cannot carry out the assessment before the next student arrives, and you will not be seen on that occasion.  Only in exceptional circumstances will the University fund a second assessment fee.  If you are worried about your ability to remember the appointment, please tell the Centre Secretary so that she can telephone you before the appointment.  

Students will usually be offered extra time in their exams whilst they are waiting for their assessment by the educational psychologist.  This extra time (pending assessment) will be removed in cases where students decline up to 2 assessment appointments.  It is automatically removed if students are assessed as not having a specific learning difficulty. 

The assessment report

Once the assessment report has been written, the educational psychologist or specialist assessor will send it to the AccessAbility Centre.  You will then receive an email from the Centre Secretary inviting you to meet with a Study Adviser to discuss the conclusions and recommendations.  If you have a specific learning difficulty, it is at this appointment that you will be given information about setting up extra time in exams.  You will also be offered a cover sheet to put on your written work, and you will be given information about applying for a Disabled Students' Allowance.

Assessment Process Flow Chart