Dyslexia UK testing, reports and independent advice for both children and adults. Advice for parents about their children's problems with spelling, reading and learning at school, and adults with possible dyslexia.

Dyslexia can be a positive advantage
Dyslexia is usually associated with average, above average or high intelligence. Although dyslexia creates difficulties in particular areas, dyslexic people frequently enjoy above average physical co-ordination skills, lateral thinking abilities, empathy, and can be creatively gifted.

The greatest barrier to success is the lack of confidence experienced because of problems with writing and correct spelling. Our policy at Direct Learning is to help build people's confidence with recommendations on how to develop strategies to deal with their dyslexia.

With accurate diagnosis and proper help, there is no reason why a Dyslexic person cannot live a rewarding life and enjoy a successful career. There are thousands of examples of well-known dyslexic people who have achieved this, including:

• Albert Einstein
• Tom Cruise
• Cher
• Walt Disney
• Thomas Edison
• General George Patton
• Nelson Rockefeller
• Pablo Picasso
• Hans Christian Anderson
• Leonardo da Vinci
• Richard Branson
• Sir Winston Churchill
• Gustave Flaubert

It is estimated that about one person in ten is dyslexic. If strategies are not developed to deal with it, the effects of dyslexia can be devastating, often resulting in a huge loss of self-confidence .

If you answer 'Yes' to five or more of these questions, then you may be dyslexic, and our Dyslexia Test for Adults will give you a clear assessment:

• When writing checks/cheques, do you frequently find yourself making mistakes?
• When using the telephone, do you tend to get the numbers mixed up when you dial?
• Is your spelling poor?
• Do you mix up dates and times and miss appointments?
• Do you find forms difficult and confusing?
• Do you find it difficult to take messages on the telephone and pass them on correctly?
• Do you mix up bus numbers like 95 and 59?
• Do you find it difficult to say the months of the year forward in a fluent manner?
• Did you find it hard to learn your multiplication tables at school?
• Do you take longer than you should to read a page of a book?
• Do you find difficulty in telling left from right?
• When you have to say a long word, do you sometimes find it difficult to get all the sounds in the right order?

Our Dyslexia Test for Adults has been specially prepared for you to complete at home. It is designed to be extremely accurate, yet simple enough to be easily carried out by an adult at home and then mailed to us for assessment.

The Test consists of a questionnaire and sub-tests which you will receive in our test package. All of the tests can be completed on your own at home and include a tape. No other person is needed for you to complete the tests - you just need pen and paper and an ordinary cassette tape player/recorder.

The Dyslexia Test for Adults contains standardized tests of all the auditory, phonological, visual and other functions which are affected in a dyslexic person. These include reading and spelling, short-term memory, comprehension, writing, intelligence, laterality (left and right), sequencing, visual tracking, medical and genetic factors, and others.

This may sound a lot, but each factor can be established by a simple test, and you will appreciate the need to be thorough. Many indicators can be quickly established by your answers to questions in the questionnaire.

Click here to see a sample page from the Dyslexia Test for Adults.

The standardized tests we use have all been written - with clear, easy-to-understand instructions - so that you can do them at home over a weekend.

We carry out many assessments, and we receive a lot of e-mails from people saying how straightforward the test was to do. (Some of these can be read on our page About us.) A number of the tests are fun, and you will enjoy them.

The cost is kept at an affordable level by your work. You provide us with some of your writing, let us hear you reading onto the tape, fill in details about your medical history, etc., and we analyze the results.

This whole process takes us far less time than if you were to come to be assessed. (It normally takes a thorough psychologist the best part of a day to carry out all the different tests.)

The fact that we never meet you means that we are totally objective - but also caring - in our assessment. We simply assess you on what we see from the tests you have done and from your answers to the questionnaire. We are not open to influence, for example, from a person who is determined to be assessed as being dyslexic, regardless of the evidence.

The entire assessment is conducted in total confidence, and your anonymity is safeguarded. The whole process is designed to be as personal as possible, allowing you to add your own comments about your difficulties with words. and to e-mail us afterwards about your Assessment if you wish. 

Your written Assessment Report outlines all the different results in your test, highlighting areas which indicate dyslexia.

A summary indicates whether, and to what extent, you are suffering from dyslexia, or whether there may be other factors which are hindering your confidence with writing and spelling.

The report gives clear advice and precise strategies for improving your achievement and improving your work-related skills. Specific learning strategies are outlined and recommendations made to meet your particular needs as diagnosed by the test.

Many adults have found a professional assessment like this helpful for their own self-development, as well as being useful evidence to submit to colleges when requesting extra time or provision of computers for exams. However, you would have to check with the university first. Our Reports are accepted by many universities, but some have their own requirements.

The cost of your assessment is kept at an affordable level and is shown on our web-page - FEES and how to order.