For Families · Learners aged 8–18
Services for Families
From first concerns to a clear plan: assessments that explain how your child learns, and support that turns understanding into progress. Every family journey starts with a free 20-minute consultation.
Diagnostic Assessments (Dyslexia & SpLD)
A full diagnostic assessment is the most thorough way to understand how a learner's mind works. It explores underlying ability, phonological processing, memory, processing speed, reading, writing and spelling, bringing the results together into a clear picture, including, where appropriate, a formal identification of dyslexia or another specific learning difficulty.
What's included
- Pre-assessment questionnaires for parents and school
- A full assessment session (typically 2.5–3 hours, with breaks)
- A comprehensive written diagnostic report with clear, practical recommendations for home and school
- A follow-up call to talk through the findings
Fee: please get in touch for current fees. A clear quote is provided after the free consultation.
Exam Access Arrangements Assessments
Access arrangements (such as 25% extra time, a reader, a scribe or rest breaks) allow candidates with learning difficulties to show what they know without being unfairly disadvantaged in exams.
How the process works under JCQ regulations
Access arrangements for GCSEs and A Levels are governed by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), and Insight Horizon's assessment practice is aligned to JCQ regulations. It helps for families to understand how the process works:
- The school or exam centre applies for access arrangements, not the parent and not the assessor.
- The assessment evidence is recorded on JCQ's Form 8, completed by an appropriately qualified assessor. As a Level 7 qualified assessor with a current APC, Ruth meets JCQ's requirements to carry out these assessments.
- JCQ regulations require the assessor to work in consultation with the school, and for the school to hold evidence of the candidate's normal way of working. Arrangements must reflect how the student usually works in the classroom, not just performance on the day of assessment.
- Importantly, JCQ regulations state that a privately commissioned assessment carried out without prior consultation with the school cannot on its own be used to award access arrangements. That's why Insight Horizon always works alongside your school's SENCo from the outset.
This isn't red tape. It's what makes arrangements robust and secure for your child. If you're a parent, the best first step is usually a conversation with your school's SENCo; Ruth is happy to liaise with them directly.
For schools and SENCos
Access arrangements assessments are available for individual candidates or groups, working within your centre's processes, including completion of Section C of Form 8 and standardised evidence for your centre's files, with qualifications and APC documentation provided as JCQ requires. Ruth's assessment experience spans the JCQ, IB, Pearson Edexcel and Cambridge International frameworks, including preparing files for JCQ inspections.
Fees per candidate, with group rates available. Contact us for a quote.
Literacy Assessments
Not every family is ready for a full diagnostic assessment, and not every child needs one. But if you have a feeling that something isn't clicking with your child's reading, writing or spelling, a literacy assessment is an affordable, low-pressure first step towards answers. In one friendly, one-to-one session, your child's attainment across the core literacy skills is explored, identifying genuine strengths as well as the specific areas where they need support.
What you receive
- A relaxed 90-minute assessment session with an experienced specialist teacher and SEN assessor
- A clear, jargon-free written report setting out your child's strengths and gaps in reading, writing and spelling
- Practical recommendations you can use at home straight away
What it can lead to
Every child is different, and the report gives you a solid basis for whatever comes next:
- Reassurance, if your child's skills are broadly where they should be
- Targeted specialist tuition, matched to the exact areas that need building
- A conversation with your school's SENCo, backed by clear, specific information
- A full diagnostic assessment, if the results suggest dyslexia or another specific learning difficulty is worth investigating
Individual Support Plan (ISP) Advice
Sometimes a family already has a diagnosis or a report. What's missing is a practical plan. ISP advice turns understanding into action: clear, realistic strategies and targets that can be shared with tutors and schools, so that recommendations are actually put into practice rather than sitting in a drawer.
What's included
- A review of existing reports, diagnoses and school feedback
- A practical, personalised support plan with specific strategies and targets
- A format designed to be shared with, and used by, tutors, teachers and support staff
Executive Function & Study Skills Coaching
Some learners understand the work but struggle with everything around it: getting started, planning ahead, organising materials, managing time, staying regulated when things get hard. These are executive function skills, and they can be coached.
Ruth trained as an Executive Function Skills Coach with Dr Peg Dawson and Dr Richard Guare, the leading names in executive function development in young people, and uses this coaching daily in her specialist practice. Coaching sessions help learners set meaningful targets, break objectives into achievable steps, identify the barriers they hit, and build accountability through regular check-ins, developing the independence and self-regulation that serve them far beyond any single subject.
Who it's for
- Learners who are bright but disorganised: missed deadlines, lost materials, last-minute panic
- Students facing a step up in demands: starting GCSEs, A Levels or a new school
- Young people with ADHD, dyslexia or autism, where executive function is often the hidden barrier
Specialist 1:1 Tuition (Ages 8–18)
Specialist tuition is different from general tutoring. Sessions are structured, cumulative and multisensory, drawing on evidence-based approaches designed for learners with dyslexia, ADHD, autism and other neurodivergent profiles, building skills in small, secure steps so that progress genuinely sticks.
What to expect
- One-to-one sessions tailored to each learner's needs
- A personalised programme informed by assessment or ISP
- Regular feedback to parents and, where helpful, liaison with school
Just as importantly, sessions build confidence. Many learners arrive believing they “can't do it”. Watching that belief change is the best part of the job.