FINDING A TEST

There are two types of tests for dyslexia: screening tests and comprehensive tests.

Screening tests
These tests are designed to be used on very large numbers of children, to narrow down the group of children who might need a more thorough test for possible dyslexia. They are not tests for dyslexia, but are designed to help researchers focus on children who appear to be having difficulties with their learning, and who might be dyslexic.

Typically, these tests consist of a short list of questions, such as:

• Do you have difficulties with spelling?
• Do you find directions confusing?
• Are you reluctant to go to school?
• Do you have problems with math/s?

Children selected by this method could be having problems with their learning for any number of reasons - emotional problems, confusion caused by a change of school, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), delayed learning, autism, dyspraxia, and possible dyslexia. Screening tests like these cannot be seen as valid tests for dyslexia, but they are very helpful for researchers.

Comprehensive tests
Comprehensive tests for Dyslexia look at the whole child and examine the root cause of any learning difficulties in the light of research into dyslexia and its causes. The word 'comprehensive' means 'thorough', and these tests examine which brain functions are interfering with the child's acquisition of normal school learning. Tests of reading, spelling, drawing, math/s and intelligence are given, as well as visual tests, laterality tests, visual scanning tests, sequencing and other tests.
The results are assembled into a complete report on the child, which outlines the evidence for the conclusions reached about the child.
A comprehensive dyslexia test may be administered in two ways, either by a psychologist or at a distance.

Comprehensive testing by a psychologist
Psychologists operate either through schools or privately.
A pupil may be seen by a psychologist in school if the principal/head-teacher recommends it and the parent/s agree. The psychologist has to be paid by the school authority, and there are constrains on the amount of money that is available for psychological testing.
Assessment by the school psychologist seems to be the method that works for the majority of children, though we do hear of a lot of parents who are dissatisfied with the process. More than one parent has reported that their school denied that dyslexia existed!
Some parents seek a private assessment by a psychologist. Although expensive, this is more straightforward. It is quite common to pay around a thousand dollars (over six hundred pounds) for a private assessment, but the costs seem to vary from one country to another. The assessment takes a few hours, and a detailed report will analyze the child's strengths and weaknesses which can assist in defining a child's IEP. Although assessments are thorough, few psychologists provide detailed recommendations for improving the child's learning skills. This is the responsibility of the Resource Specialist teacher.

Comprehensive testing at a distance
An alternative is comprehensive dyslexia testing at a distance. The tests used are the same as, or very similar to, those used by psychologists in schools or privately, but have been adapted so that they can be given by parents to their child at home. This type of test produces a far more detailed assessment report than a psychologist normally provides, and contains lengthy and detailed recommendations for learning techniques that will help the child raise their achievement into the broad average level. Typically, a test like this costs only a fraction of the cost of a private assessment by a psychologist.

Whatever method your school decides upon for a child, all the recent research indicates that the younger your child is tested the better: the sooner the diagnosis of dyslexia is made, the sooner the child starts to develop the appropriate learning strategies and raise their level of achievement in school.

Juliet Freud
June 1999

FURTHER REFERENCES

• Alternative Assessment Methods - Karen Fehring describes a range of alterantive testing methods for dyslexic children and teenagers.

• Reading Proficiency Tests in English (RPTE) - Information on the Reading Proficiency Tests in English (RPTE) from the Texas Education Agency.

• Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) - comprehensive listing of educational assessment tools.

• The Discrepancy in Discrepancies! - article by Kathleen Ross-Kidder about the difficulties involved in using a discrepancy between a child's ability and their actual achievement in order to assess a learning difficulty (LD).

• US Dept of Education's Online Application for Federal Student Aid