Testing for dyslexia

Welcome to our testing for dyslexia/dyslexia tests info.

Here are some example dyslexia questions – suitable for a child.

Are you above-average intelligence, but unable to read at your grade level?
Do you struggle with word problems — even though you’re good at maths?
After reading a passage, can you summarise it?… Discuss the key points?
Do you have difficulty sustaining attention? Or sometimes space out?
Is your handwriting inconsistent?… Less legible on certain days?

Are you better at expressing yourself orally rather than in writing?
When you read out loud, do you repeat words?… Or mix up letters?… Or change word order without noticing?
Do you struggle to sound out unknown words?
Have you often struggled to budget your time?… Or to follow a schedule?
Do you spell inconsistently?… Or misspell even when you do in fact know a word’s spelling?

Dyslexia in Children

Dyslexia, a learning disorder affecting the capability of an individual to read, write, speak, and spell. Nevertheless, having dyslexia does not mean that individuals are not intelligent.

Few of the greatest minds across the globe had or have dyslexia. Children with dyslexia often experience the challenge to process language and make it difficult to communicate with others. Testing children with dyslexia involves different assessments and processes.

Parents can go for several tests to examine whether their child is dyslexic as tests will help in identifying specific areas of weakness. Testing dyslexia assesses the skills that include decoding, phonological awareness, rapid naming, comprehension, and reading fluency.

Tests used for assessing phonological awareness among children include a comprehensive test of phonological processes, sound blending subtest of the Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ III), and NEPSY-II Phonological processing subtest.

These tests help in measuring the ability of a child to work in isolation and with sound.

The examination of phonological awareness is important as phonological processing skills are considered to be the foundation for reading competencies.

For determining the impact of tests, the evaluator asks children to segment words and to blend sounds.

Test of Word Reading Efficiency-2 (TOWRE-2) is utilised for assessing decoding where the ability of children to decode words accurately and quickly is measured.

Also, the capability to recognise familiar words is tested. It is important to test decoding because younger children can appear to be reading at grade level when they are really not.

This may be due to the fact that they memorise words and not applying the rules of phonics. For performing TOWRE-2, the assessor makes kids read aloud single real words and pseudowords.

Therefore, helps to know the extent to which a child can decode fake words.

Gray Oral Reading Test (Gort-5)

along with other tests such as TOWRE-2, Reading Fluency subtest of WJ III, Passage Comprehension subtest of WJ III, and Reading Comprehension WIAT-III helps to assess reading fluency and comprehension.

The test is effective in measuring the accuracy and fluency of a child to read aloud a paragraph and comprehend what was read.

This test is essential as it helps in assessing children’s “real world” capability to read. Apart from that, the Rapid Automatized Naming Test is used for assessing rapid naming skills among dyslexic children.

Also, other tests comprise the Rapid Picture Naming subtest of WJ III and the Speeded Naming Subtest of NEPSY-II. The identified test is useful to measures how easily children can quickly name common letters, colours on a page, objects, and numbers. These tests are important because they can help a child to retrieve phonological information automatically and quickly.

Post completion of all dyslexia testing discussed above, the evaluator will assess and review the results of all the assessments conducted together.

This helps in identifying the actual state of progress of a dyslexic child. Apart from that, the British Dyslexia Association gives significant stress on performing diagnostic assessments. This assessment allows a person to apply for funded assistance at university and also can utilise as evidence for Exam Access Arrangements while studying at university or college.

Both educational psychologists and specialist teachers can work together with the dyslexic child to provide possible recommendations to deal with the dyslexic issue and help improve the situation of children.

It is also important for the parent to discuss with educational psychologists and specialist teachers about their child’s difficulties.

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice 2014 also state that identification of problems at the earliest point helps to conduct proper assessments to improve the long-term outcomes for the child.

Therefore, a diagnostic assessment can be effective to collect information regarding the writing, reading, and spelling skills of a child, which will help to undertake any reasonable adjustments to curriculum and exams.

Testing dyslexia in children

Dyslexia typically affects the ability of a person to read, write, speak and spell. Children with dyslexia often have trouble processing language. A full dyslexia evaluation is advisable in such instances.

Testing dyslexia identifies the particular areas regarding the weakness in reading. The evaluator should test the processing issues and other languages that might be a role. Testing dyslexia assesses the skills that include decoding, phonological awareness, rapid naming, comprehension, and reading fluency.

While assessing phonological awareness, a similar test is also performed that includes a comprehensive test of the phonological process, sound blending test of Woodcock-Johnson, NEPSY II, a subtest of phonological processing. It helps in testing and measuring the ability of a child to work in isolation and with sound. Problem with phonological awareness trouble is one of the basic signs of dyslexia. This is due to the fact that logical processing skills are considered as the basis for reading skills. Therefore, it is also a good predictor concerning the reading ability in young children.

Testing for dyslexia

Test of Word Efficient-2 (TOWRE 2)

Examines a child’s decoding skills.
Measures the capability of a child in recognizing familiar words.
Assesses how children decode words accurately and quickly.
Is useful for assessing younger kids’ reading level – especially those who are memorizing words rather than using phonics.

TOWRE-2 assessors read single words and pseudowords out loud. The child being assessed must therefore decrypt such false words. This assesses their ability to apply language rules.

There are other tests too:

Word attack of WJ III
and the Word Identification subtests of the same dyslexia test, the WJ III
Word Reading subtest of the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Third Edition (WIAT-III).
Pseudoword Decoding subtest of the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Third Edition (WIAT-III).

Rapid Automatized Naming Dyslexia Test

This test also includes a subtest of Speeded Naming NEPSY II as well as a subtest of rapid picture naming WJ III. It helps in measuring the ability and speed to name common letters, objects, numbers, and colours on a page. This specific skill is associated with reading fluency. It is essential as it can visualize the symbol, object, word on a paper, and naming it quickly prove that a child can retrieve phonological information automatically and quickly.

Testing for Dyslexia

Our Dyslexia Testing Specialist

Hannah…

Firstly, is a Chartered Psychologist specialising in careers guidance and talent management.
Secondly, works with individuals from across the age range (12-70 years) within schools and also with a wide range of different businesses and organisations.
And Hannah also has 20 years of experience of guiding and coaching individuals through their career journey, helping them to work towards achieving self-actualisation in their chosen goals.