FAQs

Educational Psychologists are experts in child development, learning, emotional development, and behavior. They offer advice for children and adolescents and their families.

An Educational Psychologists offers help through:

• Advice to parents, carers, schools and other professionals
• Assessment: working with your child and other adults to obtain information. This may involve testing, discussing concerns and/or observing in different situations
• Support: working further with your child and other adults, e.g. devising IEPs, monitoring progress, counseling
• Training: Educational Psychologists offer training to school staff and parents/carers to support children with learning differences.

Educational Psychologists work with children and young adults across all ability levels and with a wide range of needs. This can include children who:

• Are academically able but underachieving
• Are demotivated
• Are potentially gifted and talented
• Find school challenging
• Have difficulty accessing the curriculum
• May have dyslexia, dyscalculia or dyspraxia
• May have learning differences
• Require an assessment and report to apply for Accommodations in examinations and curriculum due to a defined specific learning disability, inform the statutory process or support placement decisions

Educational Psychologists also work with children who

• Have difficulty forming and maintaining friendships
• Show symptoms of anxiety
• Find it difficult to recognize and manage their emotions
• Experience behavioral difficulties in school or at home
• Have a suspected diagnosis of autism, Asperger’s syndrome, Attention Deficit /
  Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)
• Are experiencing physical and/or sensory difficulties

This is just a selection of the support an educational psychologist can provide. If your personal requirements are not listed here, please contact us to discuss your needs in more detail.

1. You will complete some initial biographical information about your child and yourself, including some basic background information to help the psychologist to use your and his time efficiently.
2. The psychologist will explain the issue of confidentiality with respect to your personal information.
3. The psychologist may also ask you for some additional information to further support the assessment process. These may involve some standardized questionnaires and checklists.
4. The aim of the assessment is to gather as much accurate and useful information as possible. After gaining your agreement, some questionnaires and checklists may also be completed by your child’s school.
5. 5. The psychologist may use a range of different assessments and resources to establish a thorough understanding of the key issues. This may involve a number of standardized tests examining the child’s cognitive and academic strengths and weaknesses.
6. The psychologist will analyze the information and present their findings and recommendations within a written report. You will receive this report within two weeks of the assessment.
7. The report will contain detailed information about the assessment as well as specific recommendations including an action plan.
8. The report will be presented to you and discussed with you in a consultation of usually one-hour duration.
9. Follow up actions (meeting at school, direct interventions at the center, referral to other specialists etc.) will be discussed at this meeting

An assessment will take about five to six hours of child/assessor contact, parent interview/feedback time. The cost also includes the time taken to score the various tests and questionnaires and the preparation of a detailed report.

A screening Assessment provides information on a child’s basic level of functioning. It is a brief assessment of general cognitive ability and academic achievement.

For children who had a recent psycho-educational assessment, not at Lexicon Reading Centre, the screening assessment is tailored to the areas that may be in need of further investigation.

A screening assessment will take about three to four hours of child/assessor contact parent interview/feedback time. The cost also includes the time taken to score the various tests and questionnaires and the preparation of a short report.

It helps the psychologist focus their work if they have a clear issue or question to explore. Our reports, training and consultation records identify the question or issue you are interested in, and our advice and recommendations are structured around it. Some people already have specific areas that they would like to discuss, while others develop ideas during consultation with their psychologist. Each person will have their own specific needs, but some general examples include

1) Parents:

• How can my child develop their academic skills?
• What are my child’s strengths and areas to develop as a learner?
• How does my child learn best?
• How can my child develop their motivation?
• Is my child dyslexic?
• Is my child dyscalculic?
• Is my child anxious? How can we manage this?
• How can I manage and support a child with a diagnosis of ….?
• Why has my child’s behavior changed? What are their reasons for behaving this way?
• How can I help my child improve and develop their behavior choices?
• Is my child unhappy? If so, what can I do to help them?

Teachers:

• Why are this class finding it difficult to learn?
• Can I improve the academic results in my school?
• Can I improve the incidence of good behavior in my school?
• How can I develop the standard of teaching in my school?

Yes. We offer a range of educational services for adults. Options include:

• English and math assessments.
• Cognitive assessments which look for strengths and areas to develop in areas of your current profile of skills
• Support to develop study skills.
• Support to manage test anxiety
• Psychological assessment and report for applications for special accommodations and/or study exemptions at university. This is often requested by university students who have a diagnosis of dyslexia or seek an assessment to investigate the possibility that they may be dyslexic, dyscalculic or have other learning differences.

During the initial consultation, our specialist will have a detailed discussion with you, and interact with your child, to understand to what extent their functioning is affected at school, at home and/or socially. Growing up involves a lot of changes, and most children will experience some level of difficulty along the way. However, if your child is consistently struggling at school, demonstrating serious behavioral problems at home, and/or is unable to initiate and maintain attention or social relationships, there may be something more going on.

Although not impossible, it is rare to find that a child is struggling in school because of being lazy. School is such a large part of a child’s identity, and doing poorly in school sets them up for a whole host of negative consequences that will eventually impact on their concept of themselves. Words such as “lazy” and “unmotivated” in reference to a young child may warrant further investigation.

A label, or diagnosis, is only a problem if it is not accurate. When we avoid labeling (diagnosing), we are doing a real disservice to children. Without a diagnosis, we can’t determine the appropriate intervention. For example, if a child is diagnosed with moderate dyslexia, there are specific things we can do to remediate their literacy skills, which might not happen if the diagnosis were different. If we are afraid to ‘label’, we are unable to streamline treatment, and the child may consequently move from one programme to another without progress.

Your child may be asked to perform various tasks, such as drawing, working on blocks, solving puzzles, listening to stories and answering questions, as well as reading, writing, and math calculations.

Yes, you are allowed to be with your child during the assessment. However, this is not always helpful, as your presence may affect your child’s performance in subtle or unexpected ways that the psychologist cannot easily control.

We use internationally standardized assessment tools, such as the Woodcock Johnson cognitive and achievement battery, the WISC and the WIAT. In addition, there are further tools used according to the nature of the difficulties reported, such as in-depth language, auditory processing or math evaluation. Our psychologists are trained to use a range of assessment tools and we ensure that our resources are up to date and recently standardized.

Typically 6-7 hours of contact with the parent, the child and the school. The first hour is the initial consultation, and then 3-4 hours spent with the child, followed by a feedback meeting with parents once the report is ready. A school meeting can be arranged if parents so wish.

It depends. Usually, we request that the school fill out a set of questionnaires detailing their daily observations of the child. Our specialist will only conduct school-based observations if the issues reported are more behavioral than academic. This also helps in reducing the cost significantly.

It is recommended that you inform them (in advance) that they have an appointment scheduled with us. It is advised that you avoid using emotionally-loaded terms such as “testing,” “doctor,” “learning disabilities,” and “giftedness” around your child. For example, rather than saying “You are going to a doctor to be tested for learning difficulties,” you could explain that you made an appointment with someone who will help both you and them to understand “how your brain learns best,” which will make learning easier and more fun for them.

Since the assessment aims to evaluate the child’s ability levels across various areas, your child will be expected to perform tasks that may be challenging. As each child is unique, it is difficult to predict how your child might react to the testing experience. Nonetheless, the psychologists working with your child will strive to ensure that he or she is comfortable throughout the assessment.

Our team recognizes that this is a possibility with any child they plan to assess. They will do all they can to settle a child and encourage co-operation. The lengthy and rich experience of our assessment team enables them to handle these situations effectively.

The assessment is in English. The child should have enough exposure to English to understand the instruction. Our team members speak various languages, such as Arabic, German, French, Urdu, Tamil and more, and so can help communicate with parents and with the child if needed.

We do not recommend testing at such a young age, as the brain is still developing rapidly and so their cognitive profile is not yet stable. The minimum age to undergo the assessment is five years old.

This depends on the severity of the speech problems, as a major part of the assessment involves verbal communication.

It depends on the time of year, as some months are busier than others. Typically, it takes 2-3 weeks to get an appointment.

Please contact us on +971507954428/+97144547003 or send us an email to info@lexiconreadingcenter.org

Typically, it takes 15-20 working days to complete a comprehensive report. It may take less time if our caseload is lighter, or possibly longer during holiday seasons.

Yes, we provide educational therapy in reading, writing, math and higher-level language skills, as well as family therapy and behavior support. We also provide day programs, as alternative schooling. As we provide individualized interventions, we can tailor make an intervention package for your child depending on their learning profile.

No, it is your decision whether you enroll your child in our program after the assessment. In fact, not all children who undergo the assessment will be recommended a program, as this depends on the nature of the child’s difficulties and whether they will benefit from intervention by us.

Yes, we do. Our Educational Psychologists are all qualified to the level that is required by examination boards and educational authorities. However, granting accommodations and exemptions remains the decision of the concerned body.

You may want to consider a re-assessment in the following cases:

• If you are still concerned about your child’s difficulties, and you need to know what his or her current levels of performance are.
• If the previous assessment was carried out when the child was younger than eight years old.
• If you are applying for new school, university, exam accommodations or language based exemptions.

Learning specialists are usually professionals with masters or doctorate degrees in Learning Differences or Special Education. A learning specialist is specifically trained to work in a one-to-one setting with individuals who are struggling in the area of academics. The learning specialist provides individualized educational interventions for the individual with learning differences, giftedness and addressing the social/emotional aspect of those learning problems. The learning specialist serves a wide variety of students, both children, and adults.

Services of a learning specialist vary depending on the population and subjects. Learning specialists work with a variety of students possessing different learning needs. Some students have strong intellects but have difficulties that make it difficult for them to learn subjects in the usual manner. The goal of the learning specialist could be to identify best learning strategies and with help of other people like occupational therapists, psychologists, and others, determine how the student will be most supported in the learning environment. The learning specialist might then meet with the student privately or in a group setting several times a week or every day to help support the process of learning.

Among students with reading problems, two patterns of difficulties are especially common. In the first pattern, a student has difficulty reading words accurately and also reads in a slow, labored fashion. In the second pattern, a student may have achieved reasonably accurate word decoding, especially after remediation in phonemic awareness and phonics, but still reads very slowly relative to other students his or her age.

A parent may be the first person in a child’s life to recognize a reading problem. A parent’s observation is critical because some of the earliest signs that foreshadow a reading difficulty can be seen during preschool and kindergarten years. Difficulties include detecting differences in speech sounds and performing tasks, such as:

• Pronouncing new words and remembering them
• Breaking words apart into sounds
• Blending sounds together to make words
• Remembering the names and sounds of the letters
• Doesn’t know the sounds associated with all of the letters
• Skips words in a sentence and doesn’t stop to self-correct
• Can’t remember words; sounds out the same word every time it occurs on the page
• Frequently guesses at unknown words rather than sounding them out

Poor spelling skills:

• Spells phonetically and cannot remember patterns
• Spells words differently in the same document (Divorce, for example, may appear as devoice, devocie, devoeace)
• Reverses letters in spelling

The difficulty with copying or completing work on a printed page:

• Difficulty copying from the board
• Difficulty copying from a book or other printed material
• Difficulty filling out forms
• Difficulty completing bubble answer sheets
• Difficulty completing fill-in-blank worksheets

Difficulty taking notes from oral presentations:

• Unable to write homework assignments correctly
• Writing is too slow to get lecture points on paper
• Takes notes but unable to distinguish important information from extraneous information;
• Reverses or ignores numbers, parts of sentences, and/or whole words when taking notes

May have problems with grammar, syntax, and organization:

• Demonstrates inconsistent memory for sentence mechanics (e.g., lack of punctuation and capitalization);
• Persistent problems with sentence structure (sentences may be incomplete or syntax may be incorrect or disassociated);
• Does not have all parts of a well-organized paragraph (topic and supporting sentences, transitional sentence)

Demonstrates writing skills inconsistent with verbal abilities:

• Writes short and/or simple essays even though he can verbalize more complex thought;
• Can verbalize answers to tests but written answers are wrong, left blank, or incomplete;
• Oral vocabulary more complex than written vocabulary

Math difficulties can be a challenge to most of the students who have histories of academic failure which contributes to the development of learned helplessness in math. Students may practice computing division facts but do not understand what division means. This lack of understanding fosters the student’s dependency on the teacher and promotes the belief that external help is needed to solve problems correctly. Students with math problems usually have visual perception difficulties which affect their ability to see likenesses and differences in shape and form.

The Individual with math difficulties:

• has trouble with mathematical concepts ( >,<, x , – ,+,=);
• demonstrates inconsistent mastery of math facts and procedures;
• has trouble with following sequential procedures and directions with multiple steps;
• has problems with math concepts in word problems;
• has trouble with left/right orientation;
• confuses similar numbers (e.g., 7 and 9; 3 and 8);
• reads numbers out of sequence;
• has difficulty managing money;
• has trouble balancing a checkbook;
• cannot do written calculations;
• cannot do simple mental calculations;
• has trouble with basic skills assessment;
• has difficulty using a calculator;
• cannot count money or make change;
• has trouble with measurement;
• has difficulty conceptualizing time and space.

Teaching students with learning differences can be described as remedial teaching.The instructional activities must mediate the student’s differences using a variety of tools and techniques. During remediation, learning specialists attempt to reduce the student’s learning difficulties and to include him or her in the normal planned curriculum as much as possible. Remediation involves determining both what the student must learn and how to teach it, on a day-to-day or lesson-by-lesson schedule.

Remedial teaching as involves the following steps:

• Discover the unique learning style of the child.
• Develop long and short-term objectives.
• Analyze the tasks to be taught.
• Begin instruction at the child’s level.
• Decide how to teach.
• Select appropriate awards for the child.
• Provide the opportunity for the student to experience success.
• Give time for extended practice.
• Provide the student with feedback.
• Continuously measure the student’s progress.
• Decide the next steps.

A screening test is a quick, initial assessment. The test will see how far if your child’s profile of abilities and skills match those of people who have been found to have suggested literacy difficulties. The screening process does not consider background information or school history, nor does. Nor will it assess in-depth cognitive and academic skills and sub skills in depth. Screening tests do not require prior licensing and special credentials to be administered, and therefore. For this reason, they do not represent constitute a diagnosis.

An effective intervention program can only be developed once the source of the problem has been identified. A key success factor of success in any remedial plan is to begin beginning at the child’s current level of skills development. This information can be only provided through a comprehensive diagnostic assessment, which. The assessment gathers data from multiple sources (for example from parents, schools and comprehensive testing) and identifies to identify the factors affecting resulting in the student’s difficulties. This process can only be carried out by qualified Qualified, trained and licensed individuals, such ase.g., psychologists, who must carry out this process. These individuals, have the necessary credentials and experience to analyze the data and make a diagnosis.

Only children with a professionally recognized psychological assessment report confirming that the child has dyslexia or other related literacy difficulties are able to may enroll in our program. A psychological assessment is important because it allows us to determine the best way of helping your child. The Lexicon Reading Center has its own Assessment Service, but. However, we also accept reports and referrals from other qualified psychologists.

If the assessment was carried out less than two years ago, we don’t do not usually require a re-assessment, but we would request that you send us the report. If the report provides enough information for us to develop an intervention plan, we will contact you to advise you on the enrollment procedure. If not, we may have towill arrange for our psychologists to meet with your child for further evaluation. In both cases, our specialist will discuss the planned program plan with you, including. This will ensure you understand the goals, set, and methods, and who informs you of the name of your child’s educational therapist who will work with your child will be.

The decision to enlist a professional to work with your child to overcome his or her literacy difficulties is a critical one. It is always necessary to. You should seek detailed information, not only to avoid wasting time and money but also to minimize disappointment and frustration. For example, you should inquire about:

• • Educational background.
  • Previous work experience.
  • HasIf the professional had specialist training in instructional approaches designed to address the needs of students with literacy difficulties?
  • How effective is this special training, according to recognized research?

Request references from professionals, parents, and former students, if appropriate.

Useful Reading:

• Use the IDA’s Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading
• The IDA’s fact sheet “A Parent’s Guide to Effective Instruction”

• Certification by a training course aligned with the standards listed by international organizations and research bodies, such as the International Dyslexia Association, or the British Dyslexia Association.
• Certification by an accredited multisensory structured language training course.
• Ongoing quality supervision, under which therapists should be conducting conduct their sessions.
• You should establish the year and location of the training course, as well as any contact information for references from the director, institute, academy, or clinic.

Every child is different, and the length of the program will depend on each child’s profile of strengths and weaknesses, as well as the nature and severity of the difficulties they encounter. Our individualized programs aim not only to develop skills but also to and ensure automaticity in skills application.

The overall goal is to help the child function at the expected grade level for his or her cognitive ability. (Look at the program structure)

Again, this will depend on the level of difficulty your child is encountering, and how big the skills gap is. We require each child to attend a minimum of two hours, weekly, for a period of twelve weeks. At the end of this phase, we evaluate the child’s progress against the targets set initially, and then offer advice on the next level of the program.

This again depends on the nature of difficulties identified. If the problems are mainly academic, then we will focus on remediating skill deficiencies as a priority. We believe that self-doubt, frustration, stress, anxiety and some behavioral problems are a reflection of learning issues, rather than vice versa. Students with literacy difficulties show an instant confidence boost once they realize they can learn how to read and write.

According to the International Dyslexia Association, recent research shows that a poor visual memory has a minor effect on spelling skills; it. It is mainly a language-based learning difficulty.

Poor spellers struggle to remember letter sequences in words due to weaknesses in basic language skills, such as; i.e., letter-sound association (e.g.., j/g, ch/sh, v/f), syllables analysis (e.g.., mem, pos) or recognizing meaningful parts of words, or morphemes (e.g.., sub, ed, able).

At the end of each program phase (typically twelve weeks), your child will see our specialist for a formal progress evaluation session. During that session, your child’s progress will be evaluated thoroughly against the goals originally set at the beginning of the phase. However, for the duration of each phase, our educational therapists will constantly evaluate their students’ progress informally, and keep. They will remain in contact with you and your child’s schoolteacher, to keep up to date with information on the child’s skills application outside of beyond the remedial setting.

Please look into our intervention process, sample progress reports, testimonials.

As a parent, you can expect to receive regular updates after every session from your child’s educational therapist. Regarding schools and other professionals involved, we are happy to exchange weekly cross over sheets (detailing what is covered during each session, what has been mastered and what needs to be emphasized.). We welcome input from parents, the school and other professionals on how the child is using the skills they have mastered so far.

Once the progress report has been discussed with you at the end of each phase, our specialist will be happy to brief your child’s school about the results.