The home of QuickScan and StudyScan
the original dyslexia screening programme
the original dyslexia screening programme
The "Inclusion in the Mainstream of Learning" project was a collaborative project between the Department of Mental Health: (St George's Hospital Medical School), the London School of Economics, the British Dyslexia Association and Circles Network.
It was funded to run for one year by the Learning and Skills Council and the European Social Fund.
Circles Network, (a national voluntary organisation) co-ordinated this project, drawing on 10 years experience of providing a range of support and services, particularly to children and adults with learning disabilities.
To offer innovative practical support and assistance to a range of health care students who may have been experiencing difficulty in some areas of their education, and also to help improve their examination performance.
To offer this support in educational establishments where it had not previously been available.
To ensure that each student involved was fully consulted and given opportunities to design and influence support which would make a positive difference to their educational achievement in line with new legislation and policies on inclusion.
The Widening Participation Officer, members of the Medical School Club, and representatives of the Student Counselling Service, Registry, Occupational Health and the Department of Mental Health were invited to join the steering group for the project, which was chaired by Professor Sheila Hollins.
The group helped to decide how the venture would be run at St George's, and supported the project team in its organisation.
Dr Alice Thacker: Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mental Health (Learning Disabilities). Dr Thacker oversaw the day to day running of the project, and gave intensive one-to-one support to students that the project had identified as having particularly severe difficulties.
Lindsey Dickinson: A medical student working for the School Club while taking a year out of her studies. Lindsey was the first point of contact with the students, both for administering the screening software, and for forming circles of support. She facilitated a number of Circles of Support.
Michael Woodman: A research and departmental secretary in the Mental Health (Learning Disabilities) department, who gave administrative support to the project, IT support, and formed an initial point of contact for students requesting more support, as well as participating in a Circle of Support.
The facilitators were trained by staff from Circles Network. Training included learning how to use support technologies devised by Circles, (such as Person Centred Planning), as well as learning how to facilitate a circle.
The team was also trained in how to administer the 'Visual Stress' test by Isabel Martin from West Kent College, and how to use the software screening programmes used to determine learning styles, and to identify possible indicators of dyslexia.
All students from the Medical School and Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences were invited by email to complete an individual on-screen test, designed to identify their learning strengths and talents as well as any specific learning difficulties, (in order that alternative learning strategies could be suggested).
The screening tool chosen was 'QuickScan', (part of the StudyScan Suite developed by Pico).
QuickScan is a 20 minute subjective screening that asks students about 100 yes/no questions. Their answers determine the students' preferred learning methods and activities, which inform their 'learning style'.
The QuickScan screening test produces a two to three page individualised report that gives students information about their learning style, identifies any specific areas that may require attention, (including 'Visual Stress', Maths, English and general study skills support needs), as well as identifying any indicators of dyslexia.
Following the screening, students were offered practical advice on their individual learning style by Sue McKenna, a trained facilitator from the British Dyslexia Association. She worked closely with a number of the students who had requested specific resources, and spent a large duration of the project on hand at St. Georges to answer queries.
She also helped to point healthcare students towards information showing how they might enhance and develop their learning, and helped them to make links with a range of services and organisations that could benefit and support their learning.
All students were invited to a "Learning Styles and Dyslexia" lecture given by Gavin Reid , a senior lecturer in Educational Studies at the Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh and an acknowledged international authority in the field.
Students identified as having indicators of dyslexia were offered an opportunity to speak with a representative of the British Dyslexia Association to discuss any problems that had been identified and possible implications of these, or just to receive some advice. These students were also offered an opportunity to participate in further testing to identify indicators of dyslexia in a more thorough way. The diagnostic tool used was StudyScan; the parent software application to QuickScan.
StudyScan comprises 14 on-screen tests that take approximately 3 hours to complete and gives a 19 page report in much greater detail than QuickScan. This information was then used to enable students to plan positive approaches to achieving higher-level study skills.
Students with additional educational needs were also given the opportunity to develop a "Circle of Support". This is an informal structure offering personal support which empowers and assists the individual student to plan using Person Centred Planning technology, and gain assistance to achieve their own goals such as note taking systems, revision techniques etc.
Students identified by the QuickScan questionnaire as having possible 'Visual Stress' were offered further testing. 'Visual Stress', (Irlen Syndrome) is a perceptual problem causing distortions of print resulting in reading difficulties affecting up to 12% of the general population.
The test used was developed by the Institute of Optometrists and uses a series of coloured overlays to establish if visual stress is present and to reduce the symptoms experienced by using colour. Students who were felt to benefit from this technology were issued with the appropriate coloured overlay to use in study and given advice on changing computer screen colour and the use of coloured paper for printing.
St George's targets were to screen 100 students, to offer 25 students an intervention and to hold 84 individual circle meetings. In total the project was expected to screen 800 students in both higher education and in 6th form colleges. St George's far exceeded the targets set. In total 209 students were screened, 90 circle meetings took place and most students involved in the project had a further intervention.
The students screened were attending a variety of different courses at SGHMS. The following figures are representative of those students that informed us of their course title.
The QuickScan questionnaire assessed students according to learning styles, these are: Auditory, Kinaesthetic, Visual, a combination of these or Multisensory (a mixture of all three).
The QuickScan questionnaire reported on several aspects of learning, including Maths and General study skill support, Visual stress and Learning confidence.
QuickScan identifies possible indicators of dyslexia. A number of students were identified. Many of these students were already aware of a learning difficulty and had previously informed the school.
Students had their individual learning style established and they were given resources and information to make the most of this new information. Any specific needs students had were identified, and again resources were supplied to enable the students to tackle any issues. Further support was given to each of these students if needed.
Support needs were met by an informal circle of support for several students with a variety of difficulties, using person-centred planning. This empowered the individual, enabling them to improve their studying abilities and to feel supported whilst doing this.
Following testing and overlays being issued, students were able to overcome some of the symptoms of visual stress which they had previously experienced.
The recommendations that we would like to make to SGHMS as a result of this project, are:
That all first year students should be given the opportunity to complete the QuickScan screening tool.
That adequate support is put in place to make sure that those finding they have difficulties are included in the mainstream of learning.
That Visual stress and StudyScan testing is available to students who are identified as possibly being in need of additional learning support.
That staff should be more aware of the range of learning styles when delivering teaching to students.
That a designated Disability or Learning Support Officer be employed to support students and educators.