For university & college students
If you are a university or college student and you suspect you have dyslexia, or you have always wondered but never had a formal assessment, a diagnostic assessment can help you understand your learning profile and identify appropriate next steps. Whether you are exploring Disabled Students' Allowance, discussing support with your university or simply trying to understand how you learn, an assessment can provide useful evidence and clearer answers.
Face-to-face across Sheffield, South Yorkshire and Peterborough · Remote UK-wide
Start with what you know
Assessments are available face-to-face across Sheffield, South Yorkshire, and Peterborough, or remotely anywhere across the UK.
You do not need to have a previous diagnosis or a referral from your GP, university or anyone else to get in touch. If you have a previous school-age assessment, your university or DSA provider can advise whether it provides the evidence they currently require or whether a new assessment would be helpful.
Not sure whether assessment is the right next step?
Explore the patterns first with our free indicator check.
The wider profile
Students often notice more than one thing: reading and writing speed, but also attention, planning and coordination. Where it is relevant, the assessment looks at the whole cognitive profile rather than reading and spelling in isolation, and the report can note traits associated with ADHD or dyspraxia (Developmental Coordination Disorder) where the evidence points that way.
To be clear about what this is, and is not
Educational ADHD traits screening describes how traits present in learning; it is not a medical diagnosis. Download our free quick guide: A Quick Guide to ADHD (PDF)
Notes about attention and concentration are observations rather than diagnoses. Defining Dyslexia can assess dyslexia and wider specific learning difficulties. Download our free quick guide: A Quick Guide to Attention and Concentration (PDF)
The assessment
A Defining Dyslexia assessment is a detailed, one-to-one evaluation covering reading accuracy and fluency, spelling, writing speed, phonological processing, and memory. It is designed to build a clear picture of your individual learning profile, including areas of strength and difficulty, and to identify whether a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia is present.
Most assessments take around two to three hours. Shorter split sessions are available where needed. Every assessment concludes with a full written report that meets SASC standards and includes clear, practical recommendations relevant to university study.
The report can support
A full assessment considers several areas together.
Literacy: reading accuracy, reading fluency, reading comprehension, single-word reading and spelling.
Cognitive processing: phonological awareness, phonological memory, rapid naming, working memory and processing speed.
Writing: writing speed, legibility, structure and organisation, and composition and vocabulary.
Where appropriate, additional areas may also be explored, and recommendations for further professional input will be made when needed. The aim is to understand the complete pattern of strengths and difficulties.
Evidence and next steps
It is worth understanding the difference between a diagnostic assessment and a needs assessment before you start your DSA application.
Two of the questions asked most often before an assessment, answered in plain English.
Questions students ask
It is not uncommon for dyslexia to occur alongside other neurodevelopmental differences, including ADHD and dyspraxia. Trait-based screening for these conditions can be included as part of an adult assessment. See the adult assessments page for full details of what this involves and what the resulting report can be used for.
Defining Dyslexia reports are written to current SASC standards by a PATOSS-registered assessor holding an Assessment Practising Certificate (APC). If you are seeking support through your university or DSA, it is always worth checking whether they have any specific evidence requirements.
No. Many students come to Defining Dyslexia without any previous assessment or diagnosis. You do not need a referral from your GP, your university, or anyone else. You simply need to get in touch and we will take it from there.
Your written report will typically be with you within twenty working days of your assessment. If you have an urgent deadline, such as a DSA application or an upcoming exam period, mention this when you get in touch and we will do our best to accommodate you.
Whatever the outcome
Not every assessment results in a diagnosis of dyslexia. The purpose of an assessment is to understand your individual profile, rather than to reach a predetermined outcome.
If the evidence does not support dyslexia, this does not necessarily mean that you will not be able to access support at university. Your assessment may still identify areas of difficulty that are affecting your studies, alongside important areas of strength.
I will explain what your results show and what they may mean for you as a student. Where appropriate, I can help you understand the next steps to explore with your university, disability or student support service.
Whatever the diagnostic outcome, the aim is for you to leave with a clearer understanding of your learning profile, practical recommendations and a way forward.
Transparent pricing
£495
A full diagnostic assessment with a comprehensive written report and practical recommendations. Venue fees or additional adult screening are discussed before anything is confirmed.
View full pricingWhere it happens
Term-time diaries rarely leave room for a day of travel. Remote assessment is the usual choice for students, and face-to-face assessment at home or another agreed setting is available within the service areas.
A full diagnostic assessment online, wherever you are studying. This is the most common choice for students and is usually the quickest to arrange.
Face-to-face assessment at your home, or at your family home in the holidays, where there is a quiet private space.
Another suitable location can be discussed, including a room your university or college arranges for you.
If you would prefer an alternative arranged venue, please ask. Where an external venue has to be hired, an additional venue cost may apply, and it would always be agreed with you beforehand.
The £495 fee covers the assessment, the report and travel within the normal face-to-face service areas. There is no Defining Dyslexia clinic or assessment centre, the service travels instead. Where you specifically ask for an alternative arranged venue that has to be hired, an additional venue cost may apply and is always agreed with you before anything is booked. Full pricing.
Only where your university or college arranges and agrees a suitable private room. Defining Dyslexia cannot book campus space on your behalf. In practice most students choose remote assessment, which avoids the arrangement entirely.
Yes. Remote assessment is available across the UK and produces the same full diagnostic report, which is what your disability service or funding body will be looking at.
Before the assessment
An assessment is not just a series of tests. It brings together what you notice, what education has seen and what the assessment day shows. A few things are genuinely useful to think about beforehand:
You do not need any of this before getting in touch. We work with the information available and help you identify anything else that may be useful.
Areas we cover
Face-to-face assessments are available across two main regions (South Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire) covering a wide area across both. Remote assessments are available for students anywhere in the UK.
Sheffield, Doncaster, Barnsley, Rotherham, Chesterfield and the Peaks.
See Sheffield assessmentsPeterborough, Stamford, Rutland and surrounding areas.
See Peterborough assessmentsRemote assessments are available for children, adults and students across the UK.
Explore remote assessmentsLocal information
Your university or college disability service is the main route to support while you are studying, and Disabled Students' Allowances are assessed nationally rather than locally. If you are under 25 and still connected to your home authority, its Local Offer may also list post-16 support worth knowing about.
Official Local Offer and SEND advice links for each area we work in, alongside the assessment page for that area. Defining Dyslexia is an independent service and is not part of, or endorsed by, any local authority.
Local dyslexia & SEND informationEvidence and adjustments
Different organisations ask for different things, and an existing report is often enough. These pages explain who decides and what is usually required, including benefits, where a dyslexia report is only ever part of the picture.
Exams, university and DSA, driving theory tests, professional qualifications, apprenticeships and work.
Evidence hubThe everyday activities considered within a Personal Independence Payment application, and the other evidence that may be required alongside a dyslexia report.
Read the PIP guidanceCheck what it already contains before arranging anything new. Nobody should pay twice for evidence they already hold.
Do I need a new assessment?
About your assessor
Every Defining Dyslexia assessment is carried out by Mark, a PATOSS-registered specialist assessor with fifteen years of experience supporting children, young people and adults with dyslexia and other learning differences. Mark holds an Assessment Practising Certificate (APC) and works to the standards set by SASC.
He is also a qualified teacher and former SENCo, bringing a practical understanding of how assessment findings can be used in education, the workplace and everyday life.
Learn more about your assessorTell us a little about the situation and we will respond within one working day. No pressure, no jargon, just a calm first conversation.
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