This document summarizes key points about reasonable adjustments for learners with specific learning difficulties (SpLDs) such as dyslexia. It discusses the duty to provide reasonable adjustments to remove substantial disadvantages for disabled people, including those with SpLDs. It also examines different perspectives on what constitutes a substantial disadvantage and what evidence is required to prove impairment. The document analyzes adjustments to assessments and exams, including debates around validating qualifications, unfair advantages, and students' normal ways of working. It also introduces concepts of universal design for learning and assessment to make exams more inclusive.

1. Reasonable adjustment in
assessments for learners with
SpLD - what does the future
hold?
Abi James
University of Southampton
BDA NTC

2. Reasonable adjustments
“Where a disabled person is at a substantial
disadvantage in comparison with people who are not
disabled, there is a duty to take reasonable steps to
remove that disadvantage by (i) changing provisions,
criteria or practices, (ii) altering, removing or providing a
reasonable alternative means of avoiding physical features
and (iii) providing auxiliary aids”
Equality and Human Rights Commission
http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/private-and-public-
sector-guidance/guidance-all/glossary-terms

3. Principles for making reasonable
adjustments for awarding bodies
Reasonable adjustments are available to candidates with a
disabilities but adjustments to assessments:
• should not invalidate the assessment requirements of the
qualification;
• should not give the candidate an unfair advantage;
• should reflect the candidate’s normal way of working;
• should be based on the individual needs of the candidate

4. Equality Act, Disability & SpLDs
Consider…
• Is everyone with a Specific Learning Difficulty disabled?
• Does a Specific Learning Difficulty have a ‘substantial’
and ‘long-term’ effect on an individual?
• Do Specific Learning Difficulties impact an individual’s
daily tasks?
Probably but not necessarily
Education providers & qualification providers may have an
anticipatory equality duty

5. SpLDs are neurological
and independent of intelligence
1. People whose overall level of intellectual and
language functioning is such as to predispose them
towards finding the acquisition of literacy, numeracy,
learning and work-related skills difficult: that is, people
who have problems learning most things.
2. People whose intellectual and language functioning is
at an average or better than average level, but who
have specific areas of cognitive weakness that
undermine their acquisition of some skills.
(2) Is the dyslexia group
McLoughlin, David; Leather, Carol (2013-02-14). The Dyslexic Adult:
Interventions and Outcomes - An Evidence-based Approach

6. Different philosophies to “substantial
disadvantage”
• Schools
– Establish if there is a significant difference from the
average expected performance.
– No account of the individual’s potential performance
• Higher Education
– Establish if there is a significant difference from the
individual’s expected performance.
– No linked to average expected performance

7. What evidence of substantive impairment
is required?
• Standardised scores for speed
scores
• Usual way of working
School (JCQ
regulations)
• Diagnosis of SpLD after age 16
following SASC guidelines
Higher
Education
• Positive screening or previous
diagnosis sufficient for claiming
Access to Work Support
Workplace
Vocational & professional
assessments?

8. For example…
• Student A has poor handwriting and uses a word
processor for assignments
 For A-levels able to use a word processor as it
is their usual way of working
 At university must hand write as they are not
disabled
 Student B is diagnosed with dyslexia at age 14
but standard scores are not be 81.
 Did not receive extra time at GCSE or A-level
 At university is able to request extra time
through disability officer

9. Adjustments to assessments:
• Should not invalidate the assessment
requirements of the qualification;
• Should not give the candidate an unfair
advantage;
Detailed assessment criteria are key
e.g. SPAG requirements in GCSEs

10. Reasonable adjustment in practical
exams
Christopher Hope, Chief
Political Correspondent,
Daily Telegraph:
“ I complained to the ISTD,
who made it clear that
“reasonable adjustments”
could be made – such as
allowing more time or extra
lighting – but essentially the
challenge of the test could
not be amended.”

11. Spanish exam example
• A student with low vision uses
text to speech to help with
reading a proof reading.
• Requests use of Spanish text
to speech in an exam to
assess reading and spelling
• Spanish is phonetically regular. Therefore spelling
errors easily identified and corrected using speech
• Student is allowed to use English text to speech
only as spelling is part of the assessment criteria

12. Traditional assessments…
“…tend to measure things that teachers aren't
trying to measure (visual acuity, decoding
ability, typing ability, motivation), thus
confounding the results and leading us to
make inaccurate inferences about students’
learning”
Rose & Meyer (2002)

13. Universal Design for Learning, UDL
Applying universal
design principles to
learning, including
assessment
www.udlcenter.org
UK – limited
awareness, referred
to as “Inclusive
design for learning”

14. Universal Design for Assessment (UDA)
Designed and developed from the beginning:
• To allow participation of the widest possible range
of students
• To result in valid inferences about performance for
all students who participate in the assessment.
– Inclusive Assessment Population
– Precisely Defined Constructs
– Accessible, Non-Biased Item
– Amendable to Accommodations
– Simple, Clear, and Intuitive Instructions and Procedures
– Maximum Readability and Comprehensibility
– Maximum Legibility
http://www.cehd.umn.edu/NCEO/onlinepubs/synthesis44.ht

15. Dyslexia Friendly Assessment
• Inclusive Assessment Population:
• Precisely Defined Constructs
• Accessible, Non-Biased Item:
• Amendable to Accommodations:
• Simple, Clear, and Intuitive Instructions
and Procedures: Maximum Readability
and Comprehensibility:
• Maximum Legibility

16. Computer based assessment

17. Computer-Based Assessment &
Accessibility
• Computer-based testing can be more accessible but can
just as easily present more barriers
• They must:
– be compatible with assistive technology & follow
accessibility stands (e.g. colour contrast)
– allow for accommodations (e.g. additional time)
– enable candidates to apply usual coping strategies (e.g.
enabling answers to be reviewed and proofed)
• Universal design principles and accessibility requirements
must be included in design/procurement stages

18. Computer-Based Assessment &
Accessibility
• Flash-based assessments usually not accessible and not
adaptable. E.g.
– Not compatible with text to speech
– Timing can not be altered
• But solutions available:
– Built-in accessibility tools e.g. read aloud button,
colour options
– Adaptive testing with accessible question banks

19. “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its
ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life
believing that it is stupid.”
Albert Einstein
http://www.joebower.org/2011/08/

20. Contact details
Abi James
a.james@soton.ac.uk
https://access.ecs.soton.ac.uk/
ATbar: www.atbar.org
STEMReader: www.stemreader.org.uk