Who needs an assessment?
There is no specific definition. It may be someone who has struggled with aspects of literacy throughout education; someone who has trouble with attention, focus, concentration, handwriting or maths; they may have difficulty with reading comprehension and retaining information, not completing exams in time allowed, falling behind with work, missing deadlines, being disorganised in general or experience problems with fine and gross motor skills.
Friends, parents, previous teachers, family members or employers may all suspect the person has an SpLD – and they are often correct.
Quite often, family members will also have an SpLD as there’s a strong genetic component and people often self-refer on this basis.
Some people may feel that they work very hard but that their results don’t reflect this. They may be feeling frustrated with many aspects of work or study – some want to ‘know what is happening’ to them and want an explanation. Many people tell us that they know what they want to say in their written work but find that they are not able to get it down on paper or a computer.