Does Dyslexia Assessments Work?

I found out I had dyslexia by having a dyslexia assessment done, it was with a lovely lady she broke everything down, the session lasted up to 3 hours, I had to to do some test which involved reading, writing, solving puzzles and numbers.
The process was all very quick as I already knew I was, the signs were very clear to me, my memory and grammar was terrible, I would miss out words and sentences when writing, when reading words would disappear (especially on white paper) I found it challenging to stretch out my paragraphs when needing to write long pieces of text, my spelling was poor however I could recognise and read long words that I could not spell (how funny is that lol) I was great with taking in information but when it came to writing it down my brain would just freeze, I just couldn't do it..... even though I had these signs (which didn't show itself every day) not all signs showed when having my assessment done, I was able to articulate my 30 years of dealing with my signs of dyslexia to the assessor and was intrigued with the whole assessment process.

Being assessed was the best thing that could of happen, it changed my life and others also, I wanted to make a difference and help others who were going through something similar to me, after all I wasn't just a dyslexic I also knew first hand inside a mind of one also, knowing we are not stupid academically it's just our gifted brain works differently to others. I decided to become a dyslexic practitioner myself.

A Dyslexia Practitioner, Tutor, Trainer and Coach 

Being qualified meant I could help other people like myself and keep the cost down for people that couldn't afford it financially, if you didn't know an assessment could be as much as £800 for a full assessment.
It can take up to 3 hours to have an assessment done then the assessor writes up their findings in a report to clarify if that person has dyslexia, then the person is left with an assessment and no follow up support. As being dyslexic myself I found the older you got the more you could hide the signs, also the signs does not always shows itself daily.

So this made me think is 3 hours of assessing enough? can we really identify if a person is dyslexic in only 3 hours? and if a person was having a good day academically did this mean they were not dyslexic?

The children, young people and adults I assess, there are times (especially with adults) were they can see and explain there experiences very clearly however this is not always the case.

Having a report done is a great support for young people in schools, they can receive support in class and get support in exams and for adults you can get support at work or even a paid support worker if you are self-employed, so I am not stating to get rid of assessments of course not, I am saying is 3 hours enough to  determined if a person has dyslexia?

I feel there should be a assessment then follow up sessions (if needed depending on the person) this way a clear understanding of the signs can be shown and strategies can be put in place, if you are a dyslexic reading this you would know it is very complex with each person showing different signs and needs.

So I ask you this question does dyslexia assessment work and does it need to be updated? 

Regards
Zoe Joseph-Pennant
Founder of Dyslexia for the Wise
Please note from a dyslexic sender

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Can dyslexia bring fear and rejection phobia?

Definition of Fear - An unpleasant emotion caused by threat, panic, danger, pain,etc
Definition of Rejection - The dismissing or refusing of a proposal, idea, etc

This is a question many people ask, We all may face dyslexia in different ways however one thing that we may all have in common is not being understood, feeling silly with the constant errors, not having an understanding on how we see words and how we read, why we find it challenging to absorb information, why our brain keeps racing constantly, the list can go on and on..... At school I never got 10 out of 10 in any academic studies I done not one, so to me I was forever failing, I never knew how it felt to have a 60% or above on my papers, if you didn't get 80% upwards then it was basically a fail, when I got older I chose to try my best not to do anything where there had to be a win of fail.

Something was raised in my subconscious recently which awoken my awareness of fear and rejection regarding my journey in life, I challenged these thoughts and feelings and realised it came right back to my dyslexia traits.

I asked myself some questions with regards to my company:
Why is it I didn't like selling?
Why did I find marketing a bore?
Why was I uncomfortable when people unsubscribed?
When I went through these questions and broke them down to the core, I realised it was coming from a place of fear and rejection, not just from my company but from the whole of my life I was living in a home of fear and rejection of some sort. Now you maybe asking what has this got to do with dyslexia.

From when I was young to adult life I was never comfortable with competing in competitions, don't get me wrong I was happy to compete with someone or people but never on my own, I had a fear of failing, I knew I took extremely long to figure out things (dyslexia trait) so going into a competition alone I knew I would not win first time and did not want to experience the feeling of losing so never put myself in that situation, despite this feeling I was fine if I lost within a group, for some reason that made me feel safe and not alone. This brings me back to my company, and how I felt when people would unsubscribe I would feel a form of lost and rejection (how ridiculous was that lol).

Marketing seemed to be a bore for me, I found it confusing and could never get organised with what I was trying to market (disorganisation dyslexia trait) I didn't want to go on a course as I knew my concentration span would not hold, anything I wasn't passionate about my concentration skills would be a challenge. To me marketing meant the action of promoting, selling something, including market research and advertising, an action where I needed feed back from people, a response again I wasn't keen on experiencing, you see it would put me back in that place of fear and rejection. I made that place my home for most of my life (which I didn't realise) it became my comfort and safe blanket so what I was fearing I was actually attracting.

Throughout my life everything I wanted to create I made sure it didn't grow big enough for the feeling of fear and rejection to manifest, the problem with this was my creations wasn't able to have the freedom to grow, this had to change.

I decided to leave my home of fear and rejection around dyslexia and business and move to a home of acceptance, what I put into that home was very important to me as I knew it wouldn't just help myself but others always.

Things that are now in my acceptance home:
1. Feeling the fear and doing it anyway.
2. To have the confident and patients to take time when completing anything, even if it means not getting to that so called winning line in the time that you had hoped.
3. Replacing the word selling something to sharing something.
4. Giving love to fear and rejection as without it's energy growth cannot appear.
5. It's OK for people to not be interested in your products, information, sharing/selling and unsubscribing you lol.
6. To re-member the balance of choice, a special gift that is given to us all.
7. Zoe to learn marketing first before getting a colleague to take over (this new home was really challenging me lol)

 Every single being at some stage has experienced fear and rejection it's how we choose to deal with it that determines the impact it will have on our life.

So the question to you is, can dyslexia bring fear and rejection phobia?

Creative Tutors - Dyslexia for the Wise

Creative Tutors - Dyslexia for the Wise

Marketing and Promoting Officer

Marketing and Promoting Officer

The ARCS Programme starting January 2017

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