Students pay Û500 for test to prove theyÕre dyslexic
Date Published: {J}
By Darragh McDonagh
Third-level students with dyslexia are being forced to pay up to €500 to undergo a test to prove they are dyslexic, and qualify for support services to which they are entitled by law, since funding was axed this year.
Students with the learning difficulty are also required to re-sit the costly test every five years in order to show that their dyslexia – an incurable, lifelong impairment – has not improved.
NUI Galway and Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) were two of five third-level institutions in the country that participated in the Ascent project, which provided funding for the psychological assessments of students with learning disabilities.
The project was designed to support the retention and progression of students with specific learning difficulties in third-level education, and standardise assessment policies and practices in each of the participating colleges – Letterkenny IT, Sligo IT, Athlone IT and the two Galway institutions.
However, the programme was discontinued this year and students with dyslexia or their guardians must now shoulder the €500 cost of the assessment in order to obtain a certificate to prove to third-level institutions that they have the condition.
Students with dyslexia are entitled to certain support services under the provisions of the Disability Act 2005, which may include extra tuition, examination allowances such as spelling concessions, facilities to photocopy notes or the provision of a mathematics tutor.Colleges will not provide such support services to students without the production of a document to certify that the individual does, in fact, have a learning difficulty. Nor will they accept certificates older than five years.
Deirdre McGuinness of the Dyslexia Association of Ireland said that the organisation provided what she understood to be the cheapest psychological assessments in Ireland at a cost of around €400 and that parents are now having to foot the bill for the tests. She also said that there was a waiting list of up to seven months for an assessment.
For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.