DSA

hi everyone

This question has probaly been asked a million times but I have a few questions on the DSA assessment

1) Can you recommend equipment you've used in the past that worked (i use a reading pen a lot but haven't seen anything of people getting on on dsa)

2) how long do the assessments take?

3) For others with dyslexia/visual stress were you recommended a note taker or voice recorded, It's in my report to have either but I'm not sure what is more commonly given.

thanks

Hi,
My daughter is dyslexic and is in her second year at uni. The DSA assessment took about 45 minutes if I remember correctly. It was basically just an informal chat about her way of studying and the things that would make life easier for her. Like you she has visual stress associated with the dyslexia so can start the week with 10/10 vision but be below 7/10 at the end of the week due to the amount of reading and the concentration that it requires for her.
The DSA assessor proposed all kinds of software and demonstrated the capabilities of each during the assessment. We then accepted or rejected the proposal. We were also allowed to request things that we used already at home and would like at uni.
So for us we were advised to take a voice to text application as well as a text to voice which would allow my daughter to listen to her lecture notes rather than reading them if her eyes really were too tired. In addition we requested an A3 colour printer for mind mapping. We had to pay the difference between the basic printer and the model requested but we were allowed it, so I would be surprised if they refused your reading pen even though they probably have better things to offer you.

Thank you so much Fore the reply. So I just had my DSA assesment today and it went really well. So much more reccomended that I didn’t even know about! I did question the reading pen and the assessors definalty going to try apply fore it as she could see how much I wanted one so fingers crossed. It’s Honeslty put me so much more at ease starting uni knowing I have support in place.

Hope your daughters corse is going well!

Glad it went well for you!!
Don’t forget to get in touch with the disabilities service at your uni before you start, and it’s probably a good idea to let DSA communicate your file to them. That way any adaptations that you will require for exams etc will be in place before you start your course.

Ahh that’s s good idea I will definalty do that once I’ve got my DSA stuff approved. Luckily my corse is 100% coursework so I don’t have to worry about exams but still good to contact them incase

Thansk so much fore your help