Tests to be included in SpLD Tutor/Assessor diagnostic reports:
Information for Assessors and Parents/Guardians

Background and some general assessment criteria:

  • The professional must hold a qualification recognised under the SpLD Working Group 2005/DfES Guidelines and hold a valid Assessment Practising Certificate. The SpLD Assessment Practising Certificate for Specialist Teachers (a Practising Certificate has been needed since 2007/08 in order to be qualified to assess for DSA allowances).
  • The Professional Association of Teachers of Students with Specific Learning Difficulties (PATOSS) or Dyslexia Action issue these certificates. Only those qualifications which have been accredited by Dyslexia Action, PATOSS and BDA Accreditation Board will qualify holders for a Practising Certificate.
  • Please note that “top up” assessments are not acceptable.
  • The assessment must have been conducted when the student was aged 16 years orover, using adult tests, and on an individual rather than a group basis;
  • The report should identify strengths, current strategies and anticipated difficulties that impact on study at HE level.
  • Tests of cognitive functioning are regarded as essential for a proper assessment. It is not expected that any given assessment will include all tests mentioned in the list below. However assessments must report on cognitive ability along with results from reading, writing and spelling tests at the very least.
  • Report format: follow the SpLD Working Group 2005 / DfES pro-forma.
  • A technical appendix providing a tabulated summary of all the quantitative results of the assessment and a detailed test reference list is anticipated.

Range of possible tests:

Essential:Underlying ability:

Wide Range Intelligence Test (WRIT)

Reading:

Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) 3 or 4
Woodcock Reading Mastery tests (WRMT-R) or (WRMT-III)
Wechsler Individual Achievement Test Second UK Edition for Teachers (WIAT-II UK -T)
Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE) (has two parallel forms):
Test of Word Reading Efficiency - Second Edition (TOWRE-2)
Gray Oral Reading Tests 5th Edition (GORT5): Oral Reading
Gray Oral Reading Tests 5th Edition (GORT5): Silent Reading
Spadafore Diagnostic Reading Test (SDRT)
The Adult Reading Test (ART)

Spelling:

Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) 3
WRAT 4
Wechsler Individual Achievement Test – 2nd UK Edition for Teachers (WIAT-II UK-T)

Working Memory:

Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning 2nd Edition (WRAML2)
The Test of Memory and Learning 2nd edition (TOMAL2)
Alloway Working Memory Assessment, 2nd Edition (AWMA-2)

Processing Speed:

Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT)
CTOPP & CTOPP 2 (Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processsing)

Phonological Processing:

Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processsing (CTOPP)

Free Writing:

Free Writing – 15 minutes

Handwriting

Detailed Assessment of Speed of Handwriting 17+ (DASH 17+)

Numeracy:

Wide Range Achievement Test 3 (WRAT3)
Wide Range Achievement Test 4 (WRAT4) Math Computation
Mathematics Competency Test:

Motor and Visual Perception Skills (for Dyspraxic type difficulties)

The Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration,
5thEdition (Beery VMI)