Adults and Employers

Case Study One

66 yo man who had worked in accountancy all his adult life. He had failed professional exams by a small margin and his employer was keen for him to secure extra time to enable him to pass on his next attempt (final). 

X described how at school he was told he was ‘lazy’ and ‘not very bright’ by teachers and how he had hated school and left as soon as he could. He had always wondered if he had dyslexia, his father and grandfather had both had severe literacy problems. 

X was asked to complete a detailed pre assessment questionnaire in advance of his assessment; he came to my consulting room at my home for the assessment and we reviewed his questionnaire. 

I spent time talking to X and building rapport with him before commencing the assessment. I also made sure he had a hot drink and was relaxed. He coped well with the tests and enjoyed many of them. 

The results showed X had strengths in his cognitive ability, scoring above well over 90% of his age group, showing he is easily intellectually capable of passing his exam. X was very emotional on hearing this when I fed back his results, saying it was “like a revelation” to finally know he was “actually pretty clever” and that his teachers all those years ago had been wrong. X had weaknesses on the tests diagnostic for spld and was underachieving in nearly all his literacy skills. He easily met the criteria for extra time and I also recommended workplace adjustments in his assessment report. 

X asked a number of questions about what his results meant, all of which I answered at the time. He contacted me three months later to tell me he had passed his exam and that his employer found his assessment report very helpful in putting place adjustments for X. 

The employer referred another member of staff to me 6 months later. 

Case Study Two

50 yo female working as a laboratory assistant for a scientific research institution. Her employer contacted me seeking an assessment for X, about whom concerns had been noted with regard to her reading, writing and spelling skills, all of which were holding her back in the workplace. Her employers wanted to find out ways to support X at work and to look into supplying her with specialist equipment to help her in her role. 

X was very apprehensive about the assessment. X’s line manager and HR manager emailed me about this and asked me to supply information in advance of the assessment about nature of the assessment and for me to reassure X about the process. I was pleased to do this, as it is important to try to allay fears in the examinee. In the weeks leading up to the assessment, I communicated several times with these staff members, answering their questions and offering as much reassurance as I could; these were passed onto X. 

On the day of the assessment, I spent time with X informally chatting, to establish rapport. She soon relaxed and I explained in more detail what the assessment consisted of and that she could have rest breaks as often as needed. This reassurance was vital and X progressed through the assessment in a relaxed manner and completed all the tests. X had been worried about not being able to visit the toilet during the assessment; she was very happy to know that this was of course no problem. 

I gave her full results (feedback). Her results and score profile were strongly indicative of spld (dyslexia) and I went over what recommendations I would make. The recommendations were multi sensory tuition in literacy skills (one to one), specialist equipment and software for use in the workplace and reasonable workplace adjustments.  

Within a week X received her assessment report and the recommendations were acted upon. Both X’s line manager and HR manager were very pleased with the assessment report and the recommendations made to help X. 

Case Study Three

44 y o female working in an academic environment who was finding some aspects of her role to be causing her difficulty. Specifically, the new open plan office was very distracting for X and her role had altered so that she was required to complete large volumes of reading, write summaries and communicate with other team members. Meetings were a problem for X; she found the fast pace daunting and again, could not keep up with the reading in meetings. X had become stressed and unhappy at work and her HR manager referred her to me. 

In advance, X was asked to complete the pre assessment questionnaire and on meeting her, I went through this with her in great detail, paying particular attention to the aspects of her roles that had been causing her most difficulty. The assessment took place at her workplace in a quiet room. X was not nervous and rapport was easy to establish and maintain.

X completed the full assessment in around 3 hours and I fed back results to her. X was of very superior intelligence with relative weaknesses in her working memory, phonology and she was significantly underachieving at some aspects of literacy. 

X was happy with the results and we then had a discussion about what recommendations I could make to ensure workplace adjustments were put in place. These included her using a laptop and being given a room alone to work on it to minimise distractions, being given reading material well in advance of meetings, redesigned lighting at her work station, screens put around her workstation and specialist software to help her write reports. 

This was an in depth case and the outcome for X was very rewarding for her. I gather that X has since been promoted. 

Case Study Four

25 yo female primary school teacher. Very anxious, and on anti depressants and anti anxiety medications. She initially contacted me wanting an assessment for possible dyscalculia and decided to give it some thought. 2 months later, she decided to go ahead. This was a very big decision for X and she needed reassurance about her decision to go ahead, which I provided. It was made clear to X that she could change her mind and decide not to go ahead at any time. 

I spoke to X on the phone and listened to her describe her difficulties with maths which were related to how she performed in team meetings when she was often required to solve maths problems, in front of others. This was causing X to be very stressed and unhappy. It was a very big decision for her to decide to come and be assessed; her line manager was supportive but X still needed reassurance that the results were completely confidential, which I gave over the phone. 

X wanted me to travel to her home for the assessment and I was happy to do so. X had in advance of this been asked to complete the pre assessment questionnaire. This covers educational background and current difficulties under many different areas. The questionnaire is quite lengthy. 

I went through it with X and added information where necessary. We had an in depth discussion of the specific work roles that caused her the most difficulty. X was then assessed using the full battery of tests available to gain a comprehensive and detailed profile of scores, showing X’s strengths and weaknesses. Her profile of scores was strongly indicative of dyscalculia and mild dyslexia. 

X was actually very relieved to receive the diagnosis and cried with relief; she told me how she had feared the results might show she was ‘thick’ or ‘slow’. We then discussed what recommendations would be most helpful and I informed her of her rights in the workplace regarding adjustments. 

When X received her written assessment report 4 days later, she had some questions and I was pleased to be able to answer these via email, and via phone. X had a meeting with her line manager and the recommendations were put into place. X had some one to one multi sensory tuition in maths, she followed my recommendation to access CBT (an online free NICE-approved website) and to use some specialist software. The outcome for X was extremely empowering.