How Dyslexia Is Diagnosed Professionally
How Dyslexia Is Diagnosed Professionally
Blog Article
Dyslexia Screening Tools
Dyslexia screening tools need to be accessible and easy to administer. Screening should occur regularly, beginning in preschool and continuing through 2nd grade. Screening should include students who are English Language Learners and those who have a family history of dyslexia.
Western Psychological Services has a variety of dyslexia assessments available through our Online Evaluation System. These assessment tools include a tier 1 dyslexia screener that flags students whose performance suggests possible risk factors for dyslexia.
Spelling Test
A poor ability to spell is one of the primary indicators of dyslexia. Students who struggle to spell have a more difficult time decoding words to read and write, which makes it hard for them to remember spelling patterns.
Unlike standardized tests that measure only word recognition, spelling assessments provide teachers with a complete picture of a student’s skills. They show the consonant, vowel, and syllable patterns that bright students miss when they are assessed with reading tests that only require them to name letters or whole words.
This free screener allows teachers to sort students, as early as kindergarten, into two groups -- those who are at risk for dyslexia and those who are not. It takes about 20 minutes and can be administered individually or in a group.
Word Test
The Word Test is a screening tool designed to measure a student’s ability to recognize sight words. It is often used with students who have been identified as needing more intensive instruction in reading skills.
Screening tests are a useful tool, but they cannot replace a full diagnostic assessment. If a child’s screening indicates that they have a moderate to high probability of dyslexia, it is important that this is followed up with a formal Dyslexia assessment by a qualified Dyslexia assessor.
A thorough Dyslexia assessment requires a trained educational psychologist and can cost over $500 – this can make schools reluctant to refer students without solid evidence. However, there are now low-cost online screeners that provide an indication of the likelihood of dyslexia based on memory and learning abilities.
Oral Reading Test
The GORT-5 includes 16 developmentally sequenced reading passages that students read aloud and answer questions about. The test provides information about a student's rate and accuracy, as well as a system for analyzing miscues.
The test can help clinicians identify a client's areas of strength in reading. The results can also be used for planning effective interventions and monitoring progress to determine if intervention is effective.
Using the Dyslexia Screener, you can evaluate students quickly and efficiently. It includes Foundational Skills measures and a Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) measure, as well as a predictive model that flags students who have performance patterns indicative of possible dyslexia or other reading difficulties. The Dyslexia Screener also includes an optional oral reading component—the Adaptive Oral Reading - Passages Only Benchmark test subtype.
Test of Written Language Skills 5 (TWS-5)
The TWS-5 is a dyslexia screening tool that sorts students, as early as Kindergarten, into two groups - those at risk for dyslexia and those not at risk. The screener is normed using data from the Connecticut Longitudinal Study (CLS), and has strong psychometric strength with good content-description, criterion-prediction and construct-identification validity.
In addition, it is important to measure a student’s receptive vocabulary level as many dyslexic students evidence a poorer receptive vocabulary than their typically developing peers. The receptive vocabulary component of the EOWPVT-2 is a great measure for this.
It is also essential that a dyslexia screener can be easily administered online and at a low cost, allowing a large number of students to be assessed. This helps to break free from the traditional wait-and-fail cycle and allows teachers to offer assistance sooner.
Word Recognition and Meaning Test (WRMT)
This assessment measures four components of reading: comprehension, decoding and word analysis, phonological awareness and vocabulary. It is designed for students in pre-Kindergarten through grade 12. Average dyslexia accommodations in school alternate form and test-retest reliabilities are.87,.83, and.96 for the Passage Comprehension, Listening Comprehension and Word Attack subtests respectively.
Screening tests are an important stepping stone between a parent or student voicing concern and a thorough Dyslexia assessment with a specialist. A full diagnostic assessment typically costs upwards of $500 and can require weeks for results to be analysed and a report prepared.
Online screening assessments are easy to use, fast and cost-effective. Many employers will accept these as evidence of dyslexia for access to reasonable adjustments in the workplace. Using a dyslexia screener can also help schools avoid the expensive process of assessing a student without clear and actionable results.