Diagnosing Dyslexia:Its Not Just Numbers'

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Diagnosing DyslexiaIts Not Just Numbers.

• Teresa Oettinger Montani, Ed.D.
• Fairleigh Dickinson University
• montani_at_fdu.edu

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Definition of Dyslexia

• Specific Learning Disability
• Neurobiological in nature
• Difficulties with
• Accurate and/or fluent word recognition
• Poor spelling
• Decoding abilities

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Definition continued

• Results from a deficit in the phonological
  component of language
• Unexpected in relation to other abilities
• Secondary complications may include
• Problems in reading comprehension
• Reduced reading experiences

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Characteristics of Dyslexia

• Problems in Speaking
• Problems in Reading
• Strengths in higher level processes

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Guidelines for Diagnosing Dyslexia

• IQ-Achievement Discrepancy??
• Detailed assessment of phonological processing,
  spelling, reading
• Assessment of areas other than reading for
  comparison of strengths weaknesses
• Qualitative quantitative data

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Profile of Dyslexia

• Overall intellectual/cognitive ability at least
  average
• Listening comprehension at least average
• Reading comprehension lt Listening Comprehension
• Word recognition or lt Reading Comprehension

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Profile Cont

• Spelling lt or to Word Recognition
• Word attack or lt reading single words in
  isolation
• Phonological awareness below age level

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Ability/Achievement Discrepancy Formula

• Use of an ability/achievement discrepancy formula
  as the sole criterion for determining an SLD
  should be discouraged
• American Academy of School Psychology (2002)

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What should we compare?

• Consider the following.

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Oral Language Ability/Achievement Discrepancy

• Compare oral language abilities to reading,
  written language, and mathematics domains (Aaron,
  1997 Badien, 1999 Spring French, 1990)

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Compare Listening Comprehension Reading

• More advantageous than comparing IQ reading
  because.

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Concept of a discrepancy between reading and
listening can be easily understood
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This discrepancy is more related to a variety of
remedial strategies

• Spring French, 1990

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Readers without disabilities

• Levels of reading and listening comprehension are
  generally similar

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What distinguishes a READING DISABILITY from a
POOR READER..
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LISTENING COMPREHENSION is higher than the
ability to decode words

• Rack, Snowling, Olson, 1992

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If students perform poorly on reading listening
comprehension, the problem is not unexplained or
unexpected

• Carroll, 1997

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Study of 3rd 4th graders with LD compared with
those w/o LD

• Woodcock Reading Diagnostic Battery
• Those with LD scored lower than grade-mates on 7
  of 10 tests that involved..

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Phonemic AwarenessProcessing Speedand Print
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Tests that showed a difference

• PA Sound Blending Incomplete Words
• PS Visual Matching
• Print LWID, WA, RV, PC

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Tests that showed no difference between groups

• -Oral vocabulary
• Listening comprehension
• Memory for Sentences
• (Montani, Frawley, Smith, 2000).

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Phonological Processing

• Phonological Awareness-
• Ability to manipulate individual sounds within
  words

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Phonological Memory

• Coding of information to store in working or
  short-term memory
• Look for deficits on weaknesses on measures of WM
  STM

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Rapid Naming

• Quick retrieval of information from long term
  store
• Rapid Naming Measures on CTOPPS, WJIII, and
  several other measures

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Interpreting Oral Language TestsWJIII

• Story Recall - understanding a connected passage
• Understanding Directions listening to a series
  of oral commands
• Oral Comprehension understanding a connected
  passage
• Picture Vocabulary identifying and naming a
  picture
• Sound Awareness rhyming manipulating phonemes

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Interpreting Reading TestsWJIII

• Passage Comprehension
• Reading Fluency
• Reading Vocabulary
• Letter Word ID
• Word Attack
• Rapid Naming (Cognitive)

• Connected Discourse
• Rate/Automaticity
• Verbal Reasoning- analogies
• Isolated Words
• Phono/Orthographic Coding
• Cognitive Fluency- processing speed- direct
  recall of information from acquired knowledge

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Test of Early Reading 3 (TERA-3)READING
COMPOSITE(for ages 3-6 through 8-6)

• 3 SUBTESTS best measure of childs overall
  reading ability.
• BEST SINGLE PREDICTOR OF FUTURE READING ABILITY
• GOOD INDICATOR OF SCHOOL ABILITIES THAT ARE
  INFLUENCED BY READING ABILITY

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Children who do poorly on Reading Composite

• May have weak word identification skills
• May be unable to decode phonemically regular
  words or recognize words with irregular
  orthography
• May not comprehend what they read
• Examiner will need to go beyond interpreting the
  TERA-3 to discover the basis for poor
  performance.

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Alphabet Subtest

• Measures childs knowledge and use of letters
• Those who do well probably
• Are good at phonics
• Have no trouble decoding words in print
• Have a good grasp of sound associated with
  letters and letter combinations

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Alphabet Subtest

• Those who do poorly on this subtest
• Probably confuse or mispronounce letters
• May omit or add inaccurate sounds to words
• May have difficulty learning about sound-letter
  relationships
• Their ability to decode written words will likely
  be poor

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Conventions Subtest

• Those who do poorly on this test probably
• May find print confusing
• May overlook punctuation
• May not be able to navigate easily through a book

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Conventions Subtest

• Measures the arbitrary aspects of English print
• Those who do well on this test probably
• Understand how to hold a book
• Where to begin reading on a page
• When to turn a page
• Know that books have different parts (table of
  contents, glossary, index)
• Understand punctuation marks

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Meaning Subtest

• Measures a wide variety of ways in which a child
  comprehends print.
• Children who do well on this subtest probably
• Recognize the meanings of signs, logos, words in
  both figural and situational contexts.
• Understand relations among words
• Are knowledgeable about different types of print
• Interpret stories, predict, paraphrase

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Meaning Subtest

• Children who do poorly on this subtest
• Often do not understand what they have read
• Lose their place when reading
• Struggle to relate to ideas.
• Cannot accurately answer questions about what
  they have read.

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DIBELS

• Website http//dibels.uoregon.edu
• DIBELS measures are FREE to download and use.
• Kindergarten through Sixth Grade Benchmarks and
  Progress Monitoring Booklets are available

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Gray Oral Reading Test-4

• Graded passages
• Measures rate, accuracy, fluency, and reading
  comprehension
• Multiple choice format
• Oral Reading Quotient

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Interpreting Writing TestsWJIII

• Writing Samples- connected discourse
• Editing
• Writing Fluency- rate/automaticity
• Spelling-
• Spelling of Sounds-

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Analysis of Spelling Errors

• Differentiate between phonetically inaccurate
  spelling phonetically accurate
• Spell words with regular grapheme-phoneme
  correspondence?
• Spell words that require memory of visual
  patterns/features

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Specific Error Patterns

• Addition of unnecessary letters
• Omissions of needed letters
• Mispronunciations of dialectal speech patterns
• Reversals of whole words, vowels, consonant
  order, or syllables
• Consonant or vowel directionality (brithday)
• Phonetic spellings of non-phonetic words
• Wrong associations of sounds with letters

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WJIII Cognitive Tests

• 7 Clusters assessing processing areas underlying
  academic achievement
• Comprehension-Knowledge
• Long-Term Retrieval
• Visual-Spatial Thinking
• Auditory Processing/Phonemic Awareness
• Fluid Reasoning
• Processing Speed
• Short-term Memory