Direct Learning provides dyslexia testing, professional assessment and independent advice for both children and adults. We advise parents with concerns about their children's problems with spelling, reading and learning at school, and adults with difficulties at work or college.

Direct Learning Customer Satisfaction Survey

Direct Learning sent questionnaires to parents who had been through the assessment process with their child in one week in November 2002. We received replies to the following questions:

* Of the parents who showed the Report to their child's school, all reported a positive response, though some mixed comments were made by three parents.

• One felt that the school was just keeping the parents happy by providing a very small amount of additional help each week.
• Another reported that the teacher did not even read the report before saying that she thought there was no problem (although this was later resolved by the school's special needs teacher who found the report 'well written').
• Another parent reported: 'When talking with the school teachers and principal, they didn't respond very positively. They recommended ADD/ADHD screening and possible medication (which we refuse to do)'. It seems that some schools are organised so that special provision is made for dyslexic children and teens, but other schools seem to think that dyslexia does not exist!

Feedback from numerous other parents over the years is that there is often a struggle ('a battle') to get the school to provide addtional help for a dyslexic pupil. Hopefully, things will improve as more teachers are trained to recognize and deal with dyslexia appropriately.

** Three parents replied that they had already recommended the service to another parent.

Other comments received

In addition to the YES or NO questions which are shown above, parents were asked to make any further comments about the service they received. A selection of comments are listed below:

• 'We went for a second opinion and received the exact same results.'
  
  
• 'The headteacher did acknowledge most of what the report said, though a couple of comments she disagreed with. It did make her admit that the child in question might be mildly dyslexic!!!'
  
  
• 'I am so glad that I found your website and trusted it enough to order the test.'
  
  
• 'Maybe the recommendations could be divided up into two - help to be given at home and that to be given at school. On the positive side we have used the advice given for our son whilst at home with good effect.'
  
  
• 'We were very grateful for the speed the test was marked and returned in.'
  
  
• 'I found the report informative and constructive. I was very pleased with the level of personal service we received considering it was done on the Internet. All of the recommendations made we have used and they have proved to be very helpful and now our daughter is so much more confident and coming along well with her learning.'
  
  
• 'I was happy with the report. It helped me to understand T's problem better.'
  
  
• 'I felt the report was well written and comprehensive.'
  
  
• 'I thought it was a very thorough and useful report especially the other recommendations - reference details like book and computer programs.'
  
  
• 'By having this done and letting the school know that this was being done, I think prompted them to move into more quick action. J has a very good teacher this year who has a daughter with dyslexia. She alerted me to this when we were trying to figure out why J had all these difficulties. That's how I happened upon and decided to use your website and facilities. I have not once been disappointed! Thank you all very much!!'
  
  
• 'We think that the report was very informative and showed us what we as parents needed to know for ourselves.'
  
  
• 'Overall, the report was helpful and also reinforced the fact that our child still has lots of time to develop his reading and writing skills. It gave us insight into what we should be looking for in his future development. We sought your advice only because our son was getting unusually upset about not being able to recognize and write all his letters and that was all a self-imposed pressure. Your report had good suggestions on how to handle this.'

Survey statistics

We e-mailed a questionnaire to parents who returned completed test booklets for the Dyslexia Test 7-16 in a week in November 2005. Some e-mails were returned to us automatically as the customer had changed their e-mail address. Of the 34 questionnaires we sent out, 15 replies were received (44%) and were processed by a separate member of staff who had had no contact with, or prior knowledge of, the parents during the week in question. The replies were treated anonymously. (In a survey like this it is common for only half or less replies to be received.)

Adult survey

In addition to the questionnaires sent out to parents, we also sent out e-mail questionnaires to 13 adults who had taken the Dyslexia Adults Test around the same time. Unfortunately, only three responses were received, and, in view of the low response, it is not meaningful to put these results into a chart. However, all the three adults who did reply were satisfied with the test process, were happy with the report (though one person found it a bit long), and would recommend the service to others.

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