Dyslexia Help

Assessment & Treatment Of Visual Reading Problems

One aim of our research is to investigate the causes of dyslexia and to identify treatments to help with reading and writing skills.

We offer visual assessments which form part of our research. On average the initial appointment takes 11/2 hours, whilst the follow up appointments take about 1/2 an hour. We may need to reasses the child's progress at 3 monthly intervals, over the year.

Our visual assessment includes a background interview taking a full medical, visual and reading history. Special attention is given to visual symptoms when reading, such as letter movement. blur, colour changes, glare, headaches or other visual discomfort. We ask about family history of reading and any neurological, immunological or psychiatric problems. These assessments consist of short tests of reading, spelling and basic intelligence to look for discrepancy betweeen intelligence and literacy progress.

During the eye examination, we do a colour test to determine whether different colours, in particular deep yellow or blue, may affect vision, eye movement and reading speed. We also measure visual motion sensitivity using random dots moving in different directions. We have shown that visual motion sensitivity correlates well with people's visual(orthographic) reading skills because high motion sensitivity is necessary for stabilising the eyes when reading. Sometimes we also measure contrast sensitivity and visual evoked eye or brain waves to get extra information about subjects' visual function and what treatment is likely to benefit them most.

On the basis of these tests we can suggest treatments to improve any visual problems (usually using yellow or blue coloured filters, fixation or tracking exercises). In subjects with visual reading difficulties we have shown that we can usually more than double their rate of reading progress. In a study of severely affected dyslexics whose reading was more than 3 years behind their age before treatment, using our treatments they had caught up with their peers within a year.

We would like to emphasis that all the results we obtain remain entirely confidential, and nothing we may publish or talk about could ever be identified with individuals.

Dyslexia Diagnosis Service

We offer a Dyslexia diagnosis service for children and adults who require a full diagnosis of dyslexia for examination or support purposes. We can also offer support tutoring and workplace advice (see below).

The diagnostic assessment is made up of lots of different tasks. Each task is unique and covers a whole range of different skills. Participants will find some tasks easier than others, but no task lasts longer than 10 minutes. Due to the variable lengths of the tests, it is best not to try squeezing the assessment into too short a time slot as it can take 2-4 hours to complete.

A full dyslexia diagnostic assessment can be used for schools, access arrangements, DSA application, exam concessions, workplace accommodations or for peace of mind.

Our assessment includes a background interview, literacy assessments, psychological assessments, questionnaires, handwriting assessment, psychophysical evaluations and a visual symptoms screening.

The DRT package will provide a comprehensive educational assessment, identification of key strengths and areas of weakness, post assessment analysis, an individual intervention plan and learning strategy recommendations. We can also provide advice on exam concessions, dyslexia in the workplace and DSA grant applications. You will receive an independent evaluation of helpful supporting technologies, an explanation of dyslexia research results and how to take it further.

Support Tutoring & Workplace Consultations

Your report will incude our recommendations. If you wish to take these further we can offer one to one support sessions to help cement these strategies and/or help with specific projects, exams or coursework.

A DRT Representative may be able to visit you in your workplace with advice on how best to implement strategies suggested in your report. We can also provide support to help both employers and employees in the workplace.

Helping with Research

Understanding the neural basis of dyslexia will improve both the diagnosis and treatment of dyslexia. You might be interested in volunteering with our research. It's a great way to get more of an insight into dyslexia and you can be added to our mailing list for research updates.