Academic support from Disability Advice

Our specialist tuition cancellation process

To meet the DSA Quality Assurance Framework guidelines published by the Department for Education, we need to ensure you fully understand the cancellation process for specialist tuition.

The following is taken from the Participation Agreement signed and discussed with students during their first tutorial. We expect you to:

• provide at least 24 hours notice if you need to cancel a tutorial
• contact us by telephone, in person or from your University email account

Our opening hours are Monday to Thursday 8.30am – 5.00pm and on Friday, 8.30am – 4.00pm. 

You can contact us on +44 (0)23 9284 3462 or email disabilityadvice@port.ac.uk for further advice

If you provide less than 24 hours notice:

The session will have to be recorded as Did Not Attend (DNA) and your funding authority charged for the missed session.

You will be need to provide a valid reason for the non-attendance by email from your university account. We understand that there are reasons for short notice but "I forgot" or "My lecture changed" are not valid reasons that your funding authority will accept.

Missing two or more appointments, with reasonable justification or not, will mean you are invited to discuss this with a member of our team. The discussion will enable you to explore ways of engaging with the support or something alternative if possible.

Protecting and sharing your information

You can use your Student View to consent to share your reasonable adjustment and disability information, or inform us of any new information relating to your academic support needs.

When you log into your Student View, you'll see an area called Disability Advice with an option called 'My Consent'. 

Reasonable adjustment information will default to consent to share being given, but disability information will not. You have the option to change these settings by selecting 'Grant Consent' - this will make your details viewable to relevant University of Portsmouth staff. If you select 'Revoke Consent' this will mean that your information is not visible to the nominated staff and the adjustments will not be put in place.

More information is available in our guide to updating your information on Student View.

Who can see my personal details?

If you give Consent to Share, the following nominated staff will have access to your reasonable adjustments information where applicable:

• Academic Staff (Personal Tutor, Course Leader).
• MyPort administrators 
• Health and safety 
• Timetabling staff
• Security administrator 
• Student Housing team 
• Fire Officers Estates 

This section details the processes for screening for Psychological Assessments for Specific Learning Differences and ADHD. This is to help you make an informed decision about whether to access a full assessment. 

Please note that if you are not eligible for the Disabled Student Allowance or are unlikely to be able to complete an application before the end of your studies, then the University may not be able to offer funding for a full psychological assessment.

If you require additional support for your study (e.g. exam arrangements) at any time during your course, please contact disabilityadvice@port.ac.uk or call 023 9284 3462 to review the support available. We recommend contacting us at the earliest possible chance to ensure your support is in place. 

Screening for Specific Learning Differences

To complete the screening:   

1. Go to the QuickScan questionnaire.
2. Enter a username — this should be your student number. You'll be given a QuickScan number at the end of the test to share your results. 
3. Complete the questionnaire. This will take around 15-20 minutes. 
4. Your results will be emailed to you, or will be available to export as a PDF report from QuickScan. You'll access the results with your QuickScan number. 
5. If the report shows any indicators of dyslexia or dyspraxia, contact Disability Advice so we can provide options for funding or accessing a full Psychological Assessment.
6. If you need to review your report, you can enter both your user ID and the QuickScan number on the QuickScan website. 

Screening for ADHD

1. Go to the ADHD Screening Tool.
2. Complete the screening (both Section A & Section B) and download your report as a PDF. 
3. If the screening shows any indicators of ADHD, then please contact and share the outcome with the Disability Advice team. We can provide options for funding or accessing a Psychological Assessment. This screening may also be shared with your GP, who may be able to refer you for an ADHD assessment via the medical route. 

Usually, evidence for these conditions is a letter from your doctor or a consultant confirming your disability, and how it affects you, your studies and everyday living.

This letter may also be used by external funding bodies when you apply for additional disability related funding.

The letter should:

• identify your condition, impairment or ongoing symptoms
• state whether the condition will be short or long term (over 12 months) and how it will impact your day-to-day activities as a student
• identify any medication and treatment, with any relevant side-effects

To access additional academic support for a specific learning difference via the Disabled Students' Allowance, you need a diagnostic assessment. The sooner you do this, the more likely it is that all of your support will be in place when you start your course.

You can get a private assessment through the following organisations:

• The British Psychological Society (BPS) has an online directory of chartered psychologists you can use to find a local psychologist to assess your learning difference
• The British Dyslexia Association diagnostic assessment guide outlines the steps you need to be assessed through their service
• The Professional Association of Teachers of Students with SpLDs (PATOSS) have an online directory that can be filtered to show teachers near you