Pre-teaching programme assessment

The pre-teaching programme assessment (PPA) is a series of short activities targetting reading, writing, listening and spelling. It usually takes place in one 1.5 hours session, but could be completed in two 45-minute sessions if preferred or more suited to your needs. The aim of the assessment is to identify areas where specialist support for dyslexia would be especially valuable. Following the assessment, you receive a report on the results, particularly focussing on areas where strategic support may be needed for study and/or work, and a choice of options/suggestions for how to move forward if desired.

If you have not yet been diagnosed as dyslexic:

You do not need to have already been diagnosed as dyslexic to have a PPA. If you are waiting on diagnosis, or suspect that you are dyslexic, then the PPA will highlight any areas where you might benefit from literacy or cognitive support, and a specialised teaching programme can be developed. This can be especially useful if waiting for formal assessment of dyslexia for DSA or work-related purposes.

If you have already been diagnosed as dyslexic:

Please provide documentation from formal diagnosis and your DSA2 letter (if relevant) as it will provide important background to your SpLD support to-date and ongoing needs. A PPA is not essential, but it is recommended if you are intending to focus specifically on literacy issues (e.g.: spelling, sentence structure, word recognition, efficient reading, clarity and/or coherence of expression) or cognitive issues (e.g.: memory building, concentration and/or attention, understanding/deconstructing complex academic texts, inference). If you are seeking more general study strategies (e.g.: organisation, academic reading, writing structure, assignment planning, exams, etc.) then a PPA should not be necessary, but this can be revisited at any point in your tutorial programme if you choose.