After the initial rush of excitement that dyslexia screening and funds for teacher training would come available to many public school students in the United States, there is now a steady wave of reality becoming apparent. What is passing for dyslexia screening varies...
Question: How can I tell that students are dyslexic if they're not reading aloud? Last week a high school teacher in my course asked how she might be able to tell that a student may be dyslexic if they don't read out loud in her class. Once a student moves into upper...
![Non-Reading Ways to Recognize Dyslexia [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Non-Reading-Ways-to-Recognize-Dyslexia-Premium-400x250.jpg)
Last month, I was surprised when one of the teachers in our Dyslexia for Teachers course said that a writing sample couldn’t lead anyone to suspect a student had dyslexia because dyslexia was a reading disorder. Of course, that statement is wrong. KNOWING MORE THAN THEY CAN EASILY SHOW BY TESTS OR WRITING Perhaps the most common way that dyslexic students come to the notice of their teachers is by unevenness in their abilities or what some refer to as a “spiky profile.” They may have strong reasoning abilities and make thoughtful observations and comments during class, but their written work may may be far lower than their knowledge from trouble getting their ideas on the page, the need for extended time, and […]
***. This article was previously a Premium post. Thanks to a donation by Christina, we've made this post public! The assessment of dyslexic students and employees is in dire need for a reassessment itself. Many institutions have decided that the most expedient...
![Multiple Choice Questions and Dyslexia [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Choices-e1641384810543-400x250.jpg)
One bane of higher education and professionals is the ubiquity of multiple choice questions and tests acting as gatekeepers for higher levels of credentialing, program admission, or pay. This problem affects individuals seeking their GED, drivers licenses, college entrance exams, graduate school exams, professional licensing and credentialing exams, and formal performance reviews in company settings. Individuals with stellar educational and work achievements, may find their advance in schooling or job positions blocked because of trouble on multiple choice tests which may hold inappropriate sway on assessments and evaluation. Why? WHY MULTIPLE CHOICE TESTING IS A COMMON CHOICE FOR ASSESSMENT One of the reasons that multiple choice questions are so pervasive is that once written, a database of questions can be used to automate […]
A recent article has sounded the alarm that schools and entire school districts are unable to assess and meet the needs of LD students. As an example, after a math teacher raised a question that a student was dyslexic, a parent initiated a process last January to have...
![Breaking Research : Dyslexia in Adolescents and Adults [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Screen-Shot-2019-10-08-at-4.23.50-PM.jpg)
An important paper was published this month from the University of Washington, entitled “Evidence-Based Reading and Writing Assessment for Dyslexia in Adolescents and Young Adults.” The paper is especially important guiding testing professionals who assess teens and adults for dyslexia or see gifted or twice-exceptional students. This paper also takes a more systematic look at the roles of individual factors like working memory and executive function on dyslexia and reading and spelling performance. The data will be helpful in targeting educational interventions and can also guide requests for testing accommodations. There are interesting observations too in that paper that will help with characterizing the strengths that occur among adolescent and adult dyslexics, with implications for twice-exceptional or gifted students with dyslexia. In several areas, adolescent / adult […]
![WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM A CHILD’S WRITING [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Screen-Shot-2019-09-03-at-2.11.37-PM.jpg)
There are many skills that are required to write by hand. Besides having an idea and being able to organize it into words, there’s remembering the motor, kinesthetic, and visual sequences of letters and words and being able to discern similar and dissimilar sounds (auditory processing, phonemic awareness). No wonder it’s hard to write! What do you see in the following writing? Mix of capitals and lower case letters, irregular spacing, sight word error (plaid instead of played), phonemic error (chr instead of tr), elision / dropped sound or attention / working memory mistake (chis instead of chips). This student would benefit from working with an alphabet strip of lower and upper case letters in view as well as a spelling or writing […]
![How They Did It: Dyslexia, Gifted Ed, and SAT and ACT Accommodations [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Screen-Shot-2019-09-10-at-1.59.16-PM.jpg)
Today I had a chance to catch up with a member of our Dyslexic Advantage community who had just heard the great news that her 17 year old son had been granted accommodations for both the SAT and ACT, including the calculator-free section of the new SAT. This family navigated several difficult transitions: private school to public gifted school, middle to high school, and now college entrance exams. Accommodations granted this student included: Double time for reading, computer for essay, extra breaks between test sessions, reader, double time for math, double time for essay, record answers in test book, 4-function calculator on non-calculator active sections Hooray! Mom sent all the previous evaluations from All Kinds of Minds (Mel Levine’s old system), but also old speech […]
In breaking news, the US Department of Education and Office for Civil Rights have released their a letter from Asst Secretary Catherine Lhamon and its Students with ADHD and Section 504 Resource Guide HERE. For your convenience, we also include them below -...
![Best Early Dyslexia Screeners for Schools – Elementary [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Screen-Shot-2019-09-15-at-4.30.16-PM.jpg)
With new legislation moving schools toward early identification of students with dyslexia, teachers, classrooms, and districts are having to decide on which screener would be best for identifying students “at-risk.” For dyslexic students, presence of a reading gap has been detected as early as the first grade and early intervention is well-recognized to be beneficial. Universal screening in schools is a great idea – parents, teachers, and students should just be aware of the limits that a brief screening tool can have. Most early screeners will not include cognitive or intelligence tests (e.g. working memory, reasoning, ‘giftedness’) nor will they assess non-reading academic tasks such as math, writing, or spelling. They are a start, however, and will definitely be valuable for helping kids get the […]
![Are Standardized Tests Making Kids Anxious? [Premium]](https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/our-shutterstock.jpg)
Florida Department of Education just released results of their Florida Standards Assessment or FSA Test. 46% of all of the public school children who took the test were below standard and 20% are at risk for being held back in the 3rd grade. What are these tests that can force 3rd graders to repeat a year? A sample 3rd grade reading passage (with questions and answers) is provided by the Department. The passage was clearly developmentally appropriate for 3rd graders – and ridiculous for dyslexic 3rd graders who are likely to make up 15% of every classroom. But don’t take just our word for it. When we put the 3rd grade FSA practice reading passage through a readability tool, What was the passage appropriate for? […]
