Dr Hester Howells is an Educational
Psychologist based in Norfolk.
Dr Howells offers independent assessments diagnosing the educational aspects
of Neuro-diversity (specific learning difficulties)
for both children and adults.
The assessment typically assesses one or more areas:
cognition and learning, communication and interaction,social, emotional and mental health
or sensory and physical skills. Individualised
evidence-based recommendations are made for needs identified in any of these areas.
For more information
give us a call on 01362 681 869.

17 yr old male referred to me by his mother, who was concerned he had dyslexia. There was a family history of dyslexia and although X had passed his GCSE’s, his grades were lower than expected by teachers. Now in his lower 6th, he was struggling with the reading and writing demands of his A levels. He had previously encountered some difficulties acquiring literacy skills at primary school and had been given extra help by family members and private tuition. A short teacher assessment had been carried out when he was at primary school but the results were not known.

In class, he found note taking and copying hard and despite having had normal eye test results, he found words appeared to blur on the page and he needed to follow lines with his finger or use a ruler. His written work was marred by errors of grammar and he found it hard to structure his written work.

I asked him to fill out a pre assessment questionnaire in advance of the assessment; I went through this with him at the assessment. I completed a full assessment and gave results and feedback to X and his mother and one week later they received the assessment report via the post, and a PDF version to share with the school. The results showed that X was of high cognitive ability and easily capable of A grades. He had specific weaknesses in all areas diagnostic for dyslexia (working memory, processing speed and phonology) and these impacted significantly on all aspects of literacy. I made recommendations in his assessment report – special access arrangements for A levels (extra time, a reader) and for study skills and learning support from the school SENCO.

Other recommendations were oriented to his future needs – the DSA and support for when he attended University.

X passed his A levels at grades A, A, A, B and got a place on his preferred course and University, where he took advantage of all the recommendations made in his assessment report; he is doing well and is set to gain a 1st class degree in Pharmacy.

01362 681 869