Before your assessment
We build the picture together
A diagnostic assessment is not simply a series of tests. It brings together what you notice day to day, what education has observed, and what the assessment itself shows. This page explains what information helps and why, and which of it genuinely matters. Almost none of it is compulsory.
You do not need to have everything before getting in touch. Most people arrive with a worry and a few fragments, which is a perfectly normal starting point. We work with the information available and help you identify anything else that may be useful.
What information might be useful for my child's assessment?
An assessment of a child draws on what you see at home, what school sees in the classroom, and what the assessment day itself shows. Those three views rarely match exactly, and the differences between them are often the most useful part of the picture.
Don’t have all of this? That’s absolutely fine.
Some families arrive with a folder of reports and intervention records. Others arrive with a worry and nothing written down. Both are completely workable. Bring what you have, and we will work out together whether anything else is worth asking for.
You do not need to have everything before getting in touch. We can work with the information available and help you identify anything else that may be useful.
Why background information matters
A diagnostic assessment is not a single test score. Standardised tests show how someone performs on a particular morning; background information explains what that performance means.
It shows how things developed
A snapshot on one morning cannot tell you whether a difficulty is longstanding or recent. History can.
It shows the real-world impact
Scores describe performance under test conditions. Homework, lectures and work emails describe life.
It brings strengths into view
Tests are designed to find difficulty. What someone is good at usually has to be told to us.
It puts the findings in context
The same score can mean different things depending on schooling, health, language and what has already been tried.
It makes recommendations usable
Advice that repeats what has been tried for two years helps nobody. Knowing what has happened avoids that.
What the labels mean
- Needed before the assessment
- Short list. These are the only things genuinely needed, and we will remind you.
- Really useful if you have it
- Makes the report sharper and the recommendations more practical.
- Helpful in some circumstances
- Worth a look if it is easy to find. Not worth a hunt.
- Only if it applies
- Relevant to some people and not others. Skip anything that is not your situation.
0 of 13 areas marked. Nothing here is compulsory.
- What is your child genuinely good at?
- What do they enjoy, and where do they look confident?
- What comes more easily than the reading and writing does?
- Which teachers, subjects or approaches seem to work better, and why?
- What technology or tools help, audiobooks, speech-to-text, a reading pen?
- What environments make things easier: quiet, movement, a partner to talk to first?
- What have you worked out for yourselves at home that nobody suggested?
Not sure where to find it?
This section shapes the recommendations more than almost anything else. A report that only lists difficulties is not much use to a teacher on a Tuesday morning; a report that knows what already works can build on it.
- What made you start thinking about an assessment, and when?
- What are you noticing at home, with reading, writing, homework, confidence or tiredness?
- What is school saying, if anything? Do their observations match yours?
- What does your child say about it themselves?
- What questions do you most want the report to answer?
Not sure where to find it?
This is the single most useful thing you can bring, and it needs no paperwork at all. A few honest sentences about what worries you is a better starting point than any document.
- Current school and year group, and any previous schools if there have been moves
- Recent school reports, especially comments about reading, spelling and written work
- Anything the SENCo has shared, a support plan, review notes, a provision map
- Reading, spelling or standardised scores the school has recorded, if you have been given them
- Any interventions or extra literacy support, and roughly how long they ran for
- Whether your child is currently on the SEND register or receiving SEN support
Not sure where to find it?
You may already have more than you think, old parents' evening notes, the last written report, an email thread with a teacher. If you want more, a short message to the class teacher or SENCo asking what support is currently in place is usually all it takes. If school does not reply before your appointment, that is not a problem.
- How reading aloud goes, and how that compares with reading silently
- Whether understanding is better than the reading itself suggests
- How reading varies, good days and bad days, fresh versus tired
- How your child feels about reading, and whether it is avoided
- A couple of samples of unaided written work, ideally from different subjects
- The gap, if there is one, between what your child can say and what ends up on the page
- Spelling patterns you notice, the same word spelled several ways, phonetic attempts, avoided words
- How long homework actually takes compared with how long it is meant to take
Not sure where to find it?
Unaided means work your child did without an adult sitting beside them. A photo on your phone of a page from an exercise book is perfectly good. Nothing needs printing.
- Following instructions with several steps in them
- Remembering equipment, times, messages and homework
- Time taken to start a task, and how quickly work is produced once started
- Copying from the board, or holding a sentence in mind while writing it
- Anything that stood out about early speech and language
- How learning letters and sounds went in reception and Year 1
- Hearing history, including glue ear or grommets
- Whether anyone else in the family has literacy or learning difficulties
Not sure where to find it?
Please do not go hunting for the red book. "I honestly can't remember" is an acceptable and very common answer, and it does not weaken the assessment. Family history is often the single most telling item in this section, and that is just a conversation.
- Interventions, tutoring, phonics programmes or reading schemes used so far
- What appeared to make a real difference
- What was tried and did not seem to help
- Anything you do at home that works, even if it feels informal
Not sure where to find it?
This matters more than it sounds. Recommendations that repeat something already tried for two years are useless, and knowing what did work shapes what gets recommended next.
- A previous dyslexia or SpLD screening, from school or elsewhere
- An Educational Psychology report
- Speech and language therapy involvement
- Occupational therapy involvement
- Any assessment or diagnosis relating to attention, coordination or language
- An EHC plan, if there is one
Not sure where to find it?
An old or partial report is still useful background, even if you are unsure whether it meets what a school, university or employer now wants. Bring it anyway and we will tell you what it does and does not cover. If none of these exist, that is entirely normal, a dyslexia assessment does not require another professional's report first.
- Any arrangements currently used in class or in internal exams
- Anything being trialled, such as extra time or a reader
- What your child's normal way of working actually looks like day to day
- What school has said about access arrangements so far
Not sure where to find it?
Worth being clear about this early: a dyslexia diagnosis does not automatically grant extra time or any other arrangement. Access arrangements are decided by the exam centre, based on evidence of need and the pupil's normal way of working. A report contributes evidence. It does not make the decision.
- Whether home, school or another agreed setting would suit best
- Whether remote assessment would actually be easier
- A quiet room, free of interruptions, for the length of the session
- Anything about timing that matters: school day, shifts, childcare, travel
Not sure where to find it?
Within the face-to-face service areas Mark travels to you. There is no assessment centre to visit. Tell us what would be easiest and we will work around it.
- An eye test within roughly the last two years, or one booked before the assessment
- Any glasses to be brought and worn on the day
- Any known hearing concerns mentioned in advance
Not sure where to find it?
A routine free NHS eye test at any high street optician is enough. It is not about ruling dyslexia in or out (vision problems and dyslexia are separate things) but reading is harder to interpret if it turns out the words were blurred. If an eye test was done recently, you have already done this.
- A short questionnaire covering development, education and current concerns
- Where relevant and with your consent, a brief form for school to complete
- Anything you would rather discuss on a call than write down
Not sure where to find it?
You do not fill anything in on this page. Everything here is just thinking ahead, the actual questionnaire arrives once an assessment is booked, and there is always the option of talking it through instead of writing it out.
Keep a copy
Your answers stay in this browser. There is no login, no email address and nothing to upload. Nothing on this page is sent to Defining Dyslexia. Take a copy if it helps you gather things together.
The download is a small branded file you can open, save or print on any device. “Email myself a copy” opens your own email app with the text already written, no address is collected, nothing is stored by Defining Dyslexia, and you are never added to any mailing list.
When you are ready
The next step is a conversation
A free 15-minute telephone call is usually the easiest way to work out what is worth gathering, what is not, and whether an assessment is the right step at all. There is no form to complete first, and no documents to send.
Not sure an assessment is needed yet? Try the free child indicator check or the free adult indicator check. Wondering what happens afterwards? After your assessment covers the next steps.