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"This is not a Deficit, it’s a Difference" - conversations with students about their

diagnostic reports

Barbara Kelly & Bob BurwellUniversity of Hull

ADSHE Conference Presentation 2014

Rationale for Reframing Feedback

• Feedback on EP Report is an important first stage in teaching & support process.

• Guidance on feedback seemed limited, overlooked and unexplored.

• Students going through the process of undertaking a diagnostic assessment can find it a challenging, bewildering and stressful experience.

Rationale cont.

• Assessment process is Technicist; something ‘done to them’, by an expert.

• Assessment reports by nature highlight student’s literacy and cognitive deficits.

• Tutor challenges: how can we make feedback an informative, positive and empowering experience?

Aims • To provide practical guidance - understanding the test’s

rationale - summary/synthesis of test scores – 3 broad themes.

• Reframe interpretation of the report’s findings. Perceive SpLD profile as less of a deficit but more in terms of a Specific Learning Difference.

• Explain how support recommendations/DSA package relates to the SpLD profile, supporting students to become confident and independent learners.

• Create an SpLD ‘Assessment Feedback Map’ – a user-friendly

summary of the student’s SpLD profile.

A question of Identity

The dyslexia assessment process is usually about identifying a deficit – ‘this is what I can’t do’, ‘this is what is wrong with me’.Many students understanding of who they are is based on bitter experience of failure.

Underlying issues to consider when feeding back report outcome

Underlying issues might include: • Stress & Anxiety (feeling overwhelmed

by the complexity of recent assessment and with HE/life)

• Low self-esteem & feeling incompetent.

• Limited understanding of learning abilities and difficulties/differences.

• Learned helplessness.• Reliance on inappropriate coping

strategies.• PANIC

Who am I?• ‘born with’ vs ‘acquired’ disability• When you are born with a disability, that is

part of your identity• Most people born with a disability wouldn’t

want to change it• Acquired disability requires adjustment to

new situation• Dyslexia falls between ‘born with’ &

‘acquired’

A reminder of the bigger picture

To understand dyslexia is to accept that there is a pattern of difficulties that has an effect:• neurologically• socially • physically• intellectually

Conversations Matter

Central, rather than peripheral issues

• How have you found academic/learning experiences so far?

• Unpacking and loosening of previous conceptions about their capability – ‘I’m stupid’.

• How support in school made them feel – inappropriate support/lack of support.

• Beginning to identify patterns in learning behaviours which might be explained by the report.

How to engage with student• Relaxed & exploratory process• Close listening• Unpacking the learning journey• Engage student in dialogue about their styles

of thinking, learning & writing – relate to report

• Personalised construction of meaning• Explore the nature of dyslexia and reframe the

past and present learning differences

Listening Skills Active Listening

Attending

Maintaining eye contact & open posture

This person is interested in me

Actively listening

+ actively paraphrasing what they are saying

This person hears & understands what I am talking about

Empathetic listening

+ notices & reflects back non-verbal cues (tone of voice) & acknowledges their emotion.

They understand my reality

‘Close Listening’Listening with intuition

•Maintain eye contact.•Open posture.•Active paraphrasing.•Reflect back non-verbal cues (tone of voice, posture) & use of emotion.•Acknowledge their emotion.•Intuition + Insight = ability to acknowledge /express the impact of what student is saying.

This person helps me understand my position more fully than I can by myself.

Promoting positive messagesabout different styles of learning

A different way of thinking

• Holistic • Non-verbal thinking• High speed• ‘Random’• Instantaneous• Interconnected• Going off at a tangent• Complex

Developing students‘ understanding of the test rationale

Teach students rationale for tests: 3 broad themes.

• Attainment in Literacy • Underlying Ability

• Cognitive Processing

• Summary helps students have a working understanding of their scores and its relationship to their SpLD profile.

Task: Assessment Feedback Map

Feedback

To sum up ......

• Decoding/reframing the report can lead to ownership & understanding – empowerment rather than alienation + opportunity to allay their fears

• Potential to engage the student & provide a platform for development of confidence & self-esteem

• Bridge between psychological assessment & practical learning guidance/specialist tuition

When you get it right ........

“For the first time in my life it felt as if someone had actually articulated what I had felt my whole life and explained the reasons why I would get frustrated.” (DB 2010)