After assessment, students receive their Assessment of Needs (AoN) report and their Disabled Students Allowances (DSA) letter, either in the post or via email. The information on both of these documents are recommendations of the academic support the student is entitled to receive.

On the DSA letter (which will have been sent by Student Finance England or the NHS Student Bursaries) there will be a breakdown of the supplier of assistive technology and who the trainer of this will be (this might be the same company but not necessarily).  The letter will also contain details of who the support provider, e.g. The Learning Support Centre, will be and the academic support or support types, the student is allocated to receive.

Students should be contacted by all of the providers listed on their letter to introduce themselves and to set up support. If the student referral is received during the summer and it’s too soon for students to know their timetable, the phone call acts as reassurance that their support is in place.

The contact details of the companies all appear on the DSA letter and AoN but we at LSC think it’s much nicer if we make the first contact with the new student to discuss their academic support. Initial phone calls are followed up with an email to confirm details of arrangements made. This is also useful because students then have all of our contact details as they are listed within our email signature and are encouraged to get in touch with us as they receive their academic support.