A lot of adults who are potential dyslexics have second thoughts on getting a formal assessment for dyslexia. If you are one of them, then it’s about time that you stop thinking this way. Getting an assessment is actually not so hard at all. In fact, it is very easy as long as you know where and how to get one.
How To Get A Formal Dyslexia Assessment
One institute that can help you with getting a formal dyslexia assessment is The Dyslexia Institute. They can help arrange an assessment session for you with a certified professionally qualified independent psychologist who has proficient knowledge on dyslexia.
It can be helpful for the psychologist to have additional background information about you from your tutors or employers; however, sometimes you may want to get advice first before involving other people.
Confidentiality Issues
If you are worried of your condition’s negative effect on your identity, then fear no more. You can be assured that the institute’s Consulting Psychologists and Institute staff would definitely treat all information that you give them confidentially. They would not release any kind of information without your permission.
What Happens During An Assessment
The assessment session would usually last for about two hours only. In this time span, discussion about the findings is already included. Additionally, you get to talk with a psychologist about different ways of dealing with any difficulties that may arise in the future regarding the information that were revealed during the session.
During an assessment, you will undergo a somewhat “investigation” about your learning, thinking, and problem-solving skills. This is done to get indications where are your areas of strength and difficulty. Additionally, it can examine your achievements on basic writing, reading, mathematics and spelling skills.
Relevance Of The Results
The details that are gathered during your assessment are used by the psychologist to ensure whether you have areas of performance that do not meet up to the expected level for your age. If the results are like that, then it is usually a sign that you have a specific learning difficulty, which is responsible for your complexity on developing certain abilities.
If your results yield complex data, then sometimes, further elaboration may be needed. In able to do this, more test are usually done. After the extra tests are done, you will have another talk with your psychologist to discuss about the new data gathered on your condition.
Need Help?
After getting an assessment, the first question that would probably pop into your mind is whether someone out there is capable of helping you. That question is immediately answered since after your assessment session, your psychologist would give you practical instructions depending on the severity of your case and difficulties that you are experiencing.
The instructions can also highly depend on your career and educational goals, which you sought out for.
Typically, these instructions would include making other people aware of dyslexia’s presence in your life. This is important so that they would not relentlessly pass judgment on your poor handwriting or spelling skills. There are a lot more other instructions that your psychologist can give you after the assessment; however, they greatly vary on a case to case basis.
So, now that you know how a typical dyslexia assessment for adults carries through, you can see that there is really no reason why you should be afraid of getting one and knowing if you have the condition or not.
Even though adult dyslexics are tremendously talented, they still have some problems that may need special attention, especially coming from their employers and colleagues.
Most likely, adults with this condition are defensive and secretive. They also write down inverted financial figures and phone numbers. A simple memo can take an hour of their time just to decipher.
Masquerade
However, even with the acceptance of the condition, most would still likely try to hide their illiteracy from their colleagues. They have their own subtle ways on manipulating other people to write and read for them, which is a skill that most dyslexics have developed during their school years.
In most cases, severe headaches are the result of putting much effort into trying to read with accuracy. There is a loss of productivity that is obvious to anyone, although it can be hard to estimate up to what extent.
Playing such kind of masquerade won’t do any good in the part of both employee and employer. That is why openness about the condition is needed so that the employer and employee with the condition can help out each other in able to achieve productivity and success.
Compromise
A little give and take between the employer and employee is important. Both sides should cooperate with each other on how they can improve the working experience and product of the employee.
One example would be devising a way to make it easier for the dyslexic adult to read while in the workplace. Employers should take charge and initiate that they’d be giving support to their employee to make reading easier. Adapting the workplace is easy, as long as there is cooperation between the workers and employers.
Some Reading Techniques In The Workplace
One way to help out reading disabled people so that they can efficiently work is to give them instructions orally. Dictating through an audio recorder or voice mail would also be helpful. Doing this can help save time and increase productivity since there is no more need for an hour long memo deciphering sessions.
Assigning someone to read things to them is okay. However, this can sometimes make the employee with the condition feel somewhat awkward. It would be better to provide a computer that has a voice synthesizer. The computer can easily be the one to read the memos for you employee.
Computers are of great help, since most dyslexics are good in using one. In fact, some people with this condition sometimes find it easier to read from screens than reading from paper. Additionally, they are able to compose presentable reports and letters by using the spell-checker feature of the computer.
On Writing
With regards to writing, avoid giving written tests that are similar to those given in school. Another is that if possible; avoid asking your dyslexic employee to fill in very complicated forms.
If your employee haven't had remedial training, then he or she has a somewhat disadvantage. But there’s no need to be discouraged, since they have accurate and detailed memories.
What you can do is to question them orally. You can also assign someone to write down their answers while they dictate it. If you really have to give a written test, then you are obliged to give extra time for your employee to answer it.
Additionally, the test should be conducted in an environment that is distraction free.
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