Screening for Dyslexia

Dyslexia means a malfunction in the reading process. A few kids read spontanously, most have to be clearly taught. Sadly, the American educational establishment--the education schools--have become enamored of whole language, so the teaching of reading has been

When and how should kids be screened for dyslexia? (Screening doesn't diagnose, it is a quick and cheap way to sort kids who are acquiring reading skills normally from those who may need more intensive or direct instruction).

1. After kindergarten (the natural variation in kids' maturity makes the kindergarten tests less reliable
2. In first grade before the Christmas break or at the latest before the spring break in first grade.
3. Given a mix of upper and lower case letters, can the child name them all? (/M/ and /m/= "em")
4. Does the child know the sound a given letter makes in a word? (/M/ and /m/= "mmmm")
5. Does the child have a grasp of the three parts of phonemic awareness?

1. comparison--“which word begins with the same first sound as cat: boy, cake or fan?”


2. segmentation--can the child count, pronounce, delete, add, or reverse one particular individual sound in a words (delete = “say card without the ‘d’ sound"; reverse ="can you say the sounds in ‘cat’ one at a time, backwards? ).


3. blending--The child hears a string of sounds in isolation: /f/ /a/ /t/ and is asked if he can blend them together to make a word.

These sorts of tests can be given very quickly to a child--in less than 20 minutes--and will sort the childen who need further help out (or more detailed diagnosis) --from those that don't, in an efficient very quickly.

It is better if the school uses a test that is "nationally normed"--a test that is used throughout the United States, and has been used and tested on enough kids that the tester (and the parent) can be satisfied that the test is well-designed, and is reliable in answering the questions: Is my child performing in an average way for his age? If not, where are the deficits.

TESTS THAT CAN HELP

• The Phonological Awareness Test (Robertson and Salter 1995). This includes five different measures of phonemic awareness plus a measure of sensitivity to rhyme. This test is nationally nomed on children ages 5 through 9.


• Test of Phonological Awareness (Torgesen and Bryant 1994). This is a group-administered test for kindergarten and first grade children. This test is nationally normed on children ages 5 through 7.


• The Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation. A brief test of children’s ability to isolate and pronounce the individual phonemes in words.


• The Letter identification subtest of the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test Revised (Woodcock 1987). The Graphemes subtest of the Phonological Awareness Test (Robertson and Salter 1995). This test provides a comprehensive assessment of letter sound knowledge.