Disabled Students Allowance - Dyslexia support

Mschievous

I am not sure if students who receive DSA for one to one study support for dyslexia are aware that they can choose who provides this support so I am copying part of a post I made on another thread.

I have many students who have been trying in vain to access support via their universities for between 9-12+ months and these are the students who haven't given up. I wonder how many more just stop looking or end up leaving their course due to lack of available support at accessible times or staffing.

How to get DSA for Dyslexia

"An assessment report by a Psychologist or Dyslexia Specialist can diagnose Dyslexia or a Specific Learning Difference/Difficulty. For the Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) the report must have been undertaken after the age of 16 and may need up dating depending on it's age. If is it over 2-3 years old it may need to be brought up to date for it to be accepted for Disabled Students Allowance.

Once DSA has been applied for then a Needs Assessment is done and a "Study Aid & Study Support Strategies Report" is produced by the needs assessor which recommends the level of need and a costing for this. In the case of Dyslexia this may include assistive technology and non-medical helper support such as one to one specialist non subject specific tuition. All this sounds confusing but it will be listed as "Human Support - Non subject specific study skills tuition (One to One support) under section C-3 and the number of hours recommended (this can be reviewed later and is not set in stone). There are then a minimum of two quotes for this in D-2 "Non medical helpers allowance" and who can provide this service locally. This is just pulled from a list, usually the University is quoted for and an employment agency.

Now this is the important bit. :think:

You are the client, it is your support and you can choose who carries this out as long as it falls withing the outlined costings.

I am a dyslexia tutor and I have many university students come to me because the University is unable to provide tuition at hours that suit them or they do not have the staff available. Many people who provide the tuition in support/student services provide an excellent generic support on a more ad hoc basis but one to one support should provide strategies for working towards independent learning and be carried out by someone who is specialised in Dyslexia. For example, your DSA could be paid to a university for you to receive support from a learning assistant who has some experience of dyslexia or you can choose a dyslexia specialist tutor with the benchmark AMBDA qualification and an MA Ed in SEN.
It annoys me that students are not made aware that they have a choice of provider and that this information is not easily available. Many are unaware that the estimates listed are just that, names of local suppliers who can provide services and how much this will cost. You do not have to chose from these suppliers!!!

There is no paperwork to arrange this change, just an email to Student Finance England (SFE) informing them who you are using, their suitability/qualifications and the cost. The invoice for providing support is then sent directly to SFE so the student just arranges the support they need directly with the tutor. So simple really.

Contact the British Dyslexia Association for a list of tutors near you or PATOSS as they both have details of specialist tutors. Be warned though the list can be out of date. I have tried unsuccessfully to get my local university to pass students on to local tutors as they themselves do not have staff available for on going Dyslexia support but they still insist students find their own suppliers."

Good luck and remember it's your funding and your choice :money:

flo5

Thanks for this brillant information. My daughter attend University and has recently had an assessment - we are awaiting approval from Student Finance so fingers crossed.

Thanks