For Employers
Are you meeting the Equality Act (2010) for your employees?
Many companies are still not Dyslexia Friendly and getting the best out of their staff with dyslexia. We can offer training for Line Managers and Staff to be Dyslexia Aware and be compliant with the Act.
Training sessions can be bespoke to both your needs and the time available for training and is delivered by experienced Trainers. We can also offer Assessments and Work Based Needs Assessments so that your staff can be effectively supported in the workplace. Recent companies we have worked with include Conde Nast, L'oriel, the Ambulance Services, NHS and many National Banks.
Organisations
It is estimated that 15% of the population have dyslexia and/or other specific learning differences (SpLD) (BDA), therefore it's very likely that there will be neurodiversity within any workplace.
Being neurodiverse can be a significant asset to an organisation, bringing a different dimension to problem-solving or creativity in the way that an organisation operates and delivers its products and/or services. Many companies such as NASA, Google and GCHQ actively look for neurodiverse employees for this reason.
Being dyslexia-friendly makes good business sense. Embedding this ethos within your organisation benefits everyone, it enables your employees to fulfil their potential and also supports your dyslexic customers and clients.
“When dyslexic difficulties are well supported you will find that there are great positives to thinking differently. Dyslexic people can show great strengths in areas such as reasoning, problem-solving and in visual and creative fields, these are all valuable assets in the workplace.” BDA
Recognising that your employee is dyslexic and the difficulties that they may be facing is the first step to putting strategies in place to support and get the best out of your employee. Many organisations such as Ernest and Young envisage a skills shortage in the future and that neurodiverse people will be the ones to fill that skills shortage.
Signs of dyslexia in employees
Every person with dyslexia will have a profile individual to them but there are common indicators in adults. A cluster of these indicators alongside abilities in other areas could suggest dyslexia, and should be investigated further. Do they:
Spell erratically and avoid writing reports or taking notes in meetings
Find it hard to scan or skim text
Read/write slowly
Often forget conversations or important dates
Have difficulty with personal organisation, time management and prioritising tasks
Avoid certain types of work or study
Need to re-read paragraphs to understand them
Find it hard to listen and maintain focus
Have difficulty organising thoughts on paper
Feel sensations of mental overload /switching off
Have difficulty telling left from right
Get confused when given several instructions at once
Have poor self-esteem, especially if dyslexic difficulties have not been identified in earlier life
Find some tasks really easy but unexpectedly challenged by others
Avoids promotion or shows difficulty after a promotion or job change
If you or your employee have spotted any of these indicators, there are several tools available that can help you to find out more. The most effective of these is a full Diagnostic Assessment but this may not always be necessary. We have trained specialist assessors with current Assessment Practising Certificates who can carry these out.
Checklists
Checklists are often used as a first step in understanding the nature of any difficulties that are being experienced and also to advise as to whether further investigation should take place.
The Adult Checklist, which is on the BDA website is quick and free. It contains questions that are predictive of dyslexia and scores for each answer indicate the relative importance of that question.
Alongside each line you can keep a tally of your score and calculate the total which you can use to see if there is any indication of dyslexia. You can also the Questionnaire on this website as an indicator.
A checklist cannot diagnose dyslexia, it can only indicate that difficulties could be due to dyslexia and further investigation should be carried out.
Screening tests
These are usually online tests and can be free or available to organisations for a licensing fee. Through a series of questions they can give an indication of possible dyslexic difficulties and give suggestions for appropriate support strategies to try. They are not a diagnosis and will only look at signs of dyslexia or dyslexic traits.
The Do it Profiler is a very effectively online screener which looks at a range of difficulties on and associated with the SpLD spectrum such as ADHD, Dyscalculia and Mental Health. You are guided through a range of short questions and there is a section for the employer to fill in also. The cost is low although companies can buy a licence if they are testing several employees over the year. More information can be found on the website www.doitprofiler.com
The only way to really know whether an employee is dyslexic and how best to support them is through a diagnostic assessment
Diagnostic Assessment
A Diagnostic Assessment is the only way to really understand whether your employee is dyslexic and how best to support them. A full diagnostic assessment will generally take around 3 hours and you will need to provide a quiet room if the assessment is taking place onsite.
You will receive a very detailed report which will help you to make sure that any reasonable adjustments are tailored to your employee’s need, therefore saving the organisation expenditure and supporting your employee in the best way you can.
Reasonable adjustments needn’t cost much money and could be as simple as changing the background colour of the computer screen. The report can be used to apply for Access to Work support. Further details on this can be found at https://www.gov.uk/access-to-work.
If your employee is doing any kind of professional exam and needs access arrangements the full assessment will be needed. If they are not, it may be that the online screening is enough for them. We can always advise further on this for you.
A full diagnostic assessment costs £600 plus VAT(plus any travel costs if travelling to the place of employment).
Work Based Needs Assessments
Positive Dyslexia can also provide Work Based Needs Assessments following on from the DoitProfiler/Quickscreen or previous evidence of assessment.
This as the name suggests takes place at work and looks at the employee’s Job Description, their work area and suggests reasonable adjustments and resources that could be introduced to support that employee.
These can be carried out remotely and include a full report after the Zoom call.
Reasonable adjustments might include:
Coaching for organisational skills
Changes to shift hours
Extended mentoring support
You will be asked to fill in a detailed questionnaire before the assessment, giving details of any difficulties that may have been highlighted already. Please email for the Booking Pack which includes the Employer and Employee Questionnaire.
The cost of this service is £450 plus vat ( from April 1st) plus any travel. Generally these can be done online A 15 minute disscusion with the Line Manager should be factored in to any booking with the client. A full report is sent after the Needs Assessment.
What can we do to support the employee after assessment?
One of the best ways to support your employee after assessment is to remove the stigma of dyslexia is by training your staff. We offer Lunch and Learn sessions which are only one hour long and can take place in the staff canteen for example. A typical session would look what dyslexia is, signs of dyslexia, what it feels like to be dyslexic and strategies and resources to support in the workplace.
A session like this will cost £400 plus VAT plus any travel costs. We also offer half day training for Line Managers and HR Personnel and we can also train staff to carry out commercial screening tools. Our training is Accredited and provides CPD points.
Celebrating Dyslexia Awareness Week in your organisation is also a way of removing any stigma associated with dyslexia and showing how many successful businessmen and entrepreneurs have used their dyslexia to their advantage. DAW is the first week of October and the BDA produce resources for companies each year.
BDA Smart Award
Once you have carried out training for your staff, you can apply for the BDA Smart Award as the BDA will accept Positive Dyslexia Ltd training as evidence towards this.
The Smart Award is designed to recognise and promote good practice for supporting the needs of dyslexic and neuro-diverse individuals.
Organisations complete six simple steps that lead to dyslexic employees and customers being better supported, and that raise awareness and understanding.
These include:
Awareness raising activity ( which you will have already done with Positive Dyslexia)
Identifying a dyslexia lead in the organisation
Taking proactive steps to support employees with dyslexia who want support
Staying involved in the dyslexia community and keeping up to date with key developments
Our Prices for Companies from April 1st 2024
Training from: £400 | Work Place Needs Assessments: £450 | Assessments: £600 - Joint assessment/wpna £1000
(either Remote or in person - please include travel costs if in person and vat)
Terms and Conditions
1. The Booking Form must be signed and submitted to us before the assessment. Dates can only be provisionally held for 24 hours.
2. Assessments/Training cannot be guaranteed to be rescheduled to a later date and may be charged if cancelled.
3. A full assessment usually lasts around 3 hours for adults but may be shorter for children . Testing for Access Arrangements will be shorter.
4. For an assessment the results will be analysed and a detailed report will be sent to you at your address within 15 working days of the appointment.
5. Payment by BACS or cash must be made at the time of the appointment or in advance. The report will not be released until payment is made.
6. Positive Dyslexia reserve the right not to accept a referral, to terminate an assessment or not circulate a report if: the referral appears to be outside of their area of expertise the client fails to cooperate with the requirements of the assessment procedure in such a way that may compromise the validity of the assessment the client fails to comply with the terms and conditions outlined above.