BDA Assessment Service
The British Dyslexia Association a registered charity that is the voice for 10% of the population that experience dyslexia. We aim to influence government and other institutions to promote a dyslexia friendly society that enables dyslexic people of all ages to reach their full potential. We campaign to encourage schools to work towards becoming dyslexia-friendly; to reduce the number of dyslexic young people in the criminal justice system; and to enable dyslexic people to achieve their potential in the workplace. We work nationally with our Head Quarters being based in Bracknell, Berkshire.
If you would like to become one of our assessors please complete the application form supplied. In addition we need a professional reference and copies of the following certificates; APC (HCPC for psychologists), AMBDA (in some circumstances other professional memberships may be acceptable), Professional Indemnity Insurance, DBS, a copy of an anonymised report you have recently completedand a photo of your assessment room for our records.Some of our assessors use their home offices, some assessors rent office space and some travel to client’s locations, this is purely down to personal preferences all we ask is that you ensure that the environment is safe and you adhere to our lone worker policy. Once all the paperwork associated with an application is received we will contact you for an informal phone interview.
BDA Assessors work on a contract for services basis. Specialist teachers will be paid £300 gross for each full diagnostic assessment, psychologists £400 gross, which is to cover your fee and local expenses. Within the fee of £300/£400 is a factor of £25 for travel costs which we have equated to 120 mile round trip for mileage or a train fare. If we should ask you to undertake a journeys beyond 120 miles round trip we will discuss payments with you prior to booking but we would require receipts e.g. for train fares before payments can be made. You should claim for assessments carried out on a monthly basis. We cannot guarantee work as this depends on assessor’s locations and preferences, etc. but this is a very busy area of work for the BDA.
The BDA also offers workplace needs assessments, as a minimum requirement assessors for this area are required to have completed or be working towards the BDA’s Workplace Assessors Award at level 4. We are sometimes able to offer this (and other training) to our assessors at a reduced fee. Assessors for this work also required professional indemnity insurance and DBS.
Please also send details of particular days you might be or not be available e.g.if you prefer to work on a Tuesday and can do 2 assessments per day, what age ranges you prefer to work with and what geographical areas you would be able to cover.
We will be responsible for all aspects of booking the assessments including sending out questionnaires pre assessments and following up after the assessment and would expect the report to be with us within 15 working days. Your contact in the assessment office is Julia Lane or Kirstie Bannister– the office number is 01344 381567.
If the assessment takes place at our HQ in Bracknell we have copies of most tests available but otherwise we would expect you to use your own materials. There is plenty of parking at Bracknell and an assessment room which can be booked for you.
A BDA format needs to be followed for reports using the BDA logo a template will be supplied. All reports and tests should be to SASC guidelines. Samples of reports are Quality Assured regularly and we also use a peer review process.
After you have completed your assessment send to with your invoice. You are responsible for proof reading your report and making sure there are no errors. The copyright of the reports is the BDA’s and electronic copies of reports are kept securely according to Data Protection Principles.
After 12 months all clients are offered a review which may or may not be with the original assessor.
Your APC/HCPC registration needs to be kept up to date and where possible we will give you CPD opportunities.
As a charity, we are always needing volunteers with many of our services so if you are able to support us in any additional ways we would be grateful. Just let us know.
I hope you will enjoy working with us at the BDA,
Karen
Karen Mace
Head of Assessment and Professional Level Training