Teresa is a Chartered Occupational Psychologist. She provides diagnostic dyslexia assessments and specific advice to students in higher education and adults in the workplace. Teresa also conducts workplace assessments to evaluate the work environment and job role in more detail. She gives advice to employers and employees about making adjustments to enable them to manage and improve their performance.

What is dyslexia?
Dyslexia affects approximately 10 per cent of the population. Dyslexia is not related to intelligence, but as dyslexics have difficulties in developing literacy skills, they may have had negative experiences during their education. As a result, they may feel that they have under-performed at school and at work. It can affect their confidence and self-esteem.

What does a Diagnostic Dyslexia Assessment involve?
A diagnostic dyslexia assessment investigates an individuals thinking, learning and problem-solving skills and it examines their attainments in reading, writing and spelling. The assessment lasts about two and a half hours.

Following the assessment, a detailed written report is provided which gives an overview of their abilities and includes practical recommendations for further action.

The assessment is confidential and provides an opportunity to discuss personal concerns in more detail.

Benefits of having an assessment for dyslexia:

• to gain an understanding of your strengths and weaknesses
• to identify why you have difficulty with some aspects of learning
• to help you explain to teachers, tutors or work colleagues how you work best
• to find ways of learning and working more effectively and develop coping strategies
• to identify aids, equipment and specialist tuition which may help
• to access formal support that is available for people with dyslexia in education (Disabled Students' Allowance) and employment (Access to Work)

Background
Teresa has considerable experience of workplace performance and disability issues. She worked extensively for Jobcentreplus, the Probation Service and the Royal National Institute of the Blind before setting up as an independent consultant in 2002. Teresa's clients include major public sectors organisations, private companies, training organisations, universities, higher education colleges and individual dyslexics.

Qualifications
Teresa has been an Occupational Psychologist for 18 years. She has a degree in Psychology and a Masters degree in Organisational Psychology. She is member of the British Psychological Society and the Division of Occupational Psychology.

Teresa says, "the key to managing dyslexia is understanding how it affects you, knowing how to make the most of your strengths and feeling empowered to be you."