This is a practical course for Specialist Teachers who carry out diagnostic assessments for Pre and Post 16 students. It is assumed that delegates will hold an Assessment Practising Certificate (APC), or will be working towards one. Communicate-ed is an Authorised Assessment CPD provider for the SpLD Assessment Standards Committee (SASC). This is a SASC approved course giving 5 core hours for renewal of SpLD Assessment Practising Certificates.

This course has been updated to reflect the SASC guidance on the writing of diagnostic assessment reports from October 2021.

We are currently working on a new ‘Diagnostic Assessment of Pre and Post 16 Students - Tests, Interpretation & Report Writing’ course.

You may be aware that SASC are currently conducting a consultation with a view to publishing guidance on Diagnostic Assessment in 2023. We have therefore made the decision to delay the recording of the new course until the SASC guidance is published. We want, of course, to ensure that the course is fully up to date.We have therefore withdrawn our Diagnostic Assessment course and we recommend that delegates wait until the new course is ready to access this training. We understand that SASC are planning to publish the new guidance in April 2023, and we will make our new course available asap after that.

The current course has been written from a practitioner’s perspective and gives guidance on writing clear, accurate reports that follow the recommended guidelines from 2021. It addresses common issues that arise particularly when assessors are relatively inexperienced.

The course covers:

The interview

• Alternative questionnaires
• Tests – core tests and optional tests
• Practical considerations – timing, over testing

The report

• The recommended template
• Consideration of potential readers
• Comment writing - developing a clear style
• Use of qualifying descriptors
• Identification

The profile and impact

• Co-morbidity issues
• Recommendations
• Good practice

Feedback

• Timings
• Presentation
• Data storage

The course tutor is Ros Lehany.

Ros Lehany

Ros was an Adult Dyslexia coordinator at Dyslexia Action and has tutored on their Postgraduate certificate course. She worked part time at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds for twelve years where she was responsible for diagnostic assessment, support and the administration of DSA related issues. As an independent consultant (Dyslexia Solutions) she delivers training across the sector and regularly carries out assessments to support DSA applications. From 2008- 2012 she was chair of the Association of Dyslexia Specialists in Higher Education (ADSHE) and during this time she was part of the Disabled Students Stakeholder Group at Student Loans Company.

​This course is available online.

Our course tutors can come to your school or college to run the training face to face. Please email for more information (admin at communicate-ed dot org dot uk).

Communicate-ed is an Authorised Assessment CPD provider for the SpLD Assessment Standards Committee (SASC). This is a SASC approved course giving 5 core hours for renewal of SpLD Assessment Practising Certificates.

Mentoring for Diagnostic Assessment report completion

Our experienced course tutors can offer 5 hours mentoring for delegates who would like support with their report writing.

Please note:

• There can be no guarantee of passing the APC renewal after mentoring
• The report that the mentor feeds back on cannot be used for the Assessment Practising Certificate renewal (the APC renewal report needs to have been completed independently).

The fee for mentoring (which will take place by a mixture of email, phone or online video call by agreement with your mentor) is £350 for Communicate-ed members and £395 for non-members. For more information please contact debbie at communicate-ed dot org dot uk dot