Dyslexia in the Classroom

Introducon 2

About IDA 2

What is Dyslexia? 3

Signs and Symptoms of Dyslexia 4

Social and Emoonal Connecon 5

Classroom Strategies, Tips, and Tools 7

Mulsensory Structured Language Teaching 11

Screening, Evaluaon, and Diagnosis 12

Addional Resources and Further Reading 14

References 15

IDA encourages the reproducon and distribuon of this resource kit. If porons of the text are cited,

appropriate reference must be made. This may not be reprinted for the purpose of resale.

40 York Road, 4th Floor • Balmore, MD 21204

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www.interdys.org

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The degree of diculty a child with dyslexia has with reading, spelling, and/or speaking varies from person to person

due to inherited dierences in brain development, as well as the type of teaching the person receives. The brain is

normal, oen very “intelligent,” but with strengths in areas other than the language area.

This “dierence” goes undetected unl the person nds diculty when learning to read and write. Each individual with

dyslexia is unique, but the mulsensory approach is exible enough to serve a wide range of ages and learning

dierences. A mulsensory approach can be valuable to many; to the dyslexic child it is essenal. The experse of the

teacher is the key.

The intent of this toolkit is to provide classroom teachers with basic informaon about dyslexia, dispel some of the

myths and misconcepon surrounding it and be a resource that will increase their capacity to ensure the success of the

diverse group of learners in their classrooms.

INTRODUCTION

The Internaonal Dyslexia Associaon (IDA) was founded in 1949 as The Orton Society to honor and further the work

and passion of Dr. Samuel Torrey Orton. IDA serves individuals with dyslexia, their families, and professionals in the

eld. We have more than 8,000 members, 43 branches throughout the United States and Canada and have 21 global

partners in 19 countries. Together we are working to help those with and aected by dyslexia.

We believe that all individuals have the right to achieve their potenal, that individual learning abilies can be

strengthened, and that social, educaonal and barriers to language acquision and use must be removed.

IDA acvely promotes eecve teaching approaches and related clinical educaonal intervenon strategies for

individuals with dyslexia. We support and encourage interdisciplinary research. We facilitate the exploraon of the

causes and early idencaon of dyslexia and are commied to the responsible and wide disseminaon of research

and evidence based knowledge.

The purpose of IDA is to pursue and provide the most comprehensive range of informaon and services that address

the full scope of dyslexia and related dicules in learning to read and write...in a way that creates hope, possibility,

and partnership, so that every individual has the opportunity to lead a producve and fullling life, and society benets

from the resource that is liberated.

ABOUT IDA

The formal denion of dyslexia is:

Dyslexia is a specic learning disability that is neurological in origin. It is characterized by dicules with

accurate and/or uent word recognion and by poor spelling and decoding abilies. These dicules typically

result from a decit in the phonological component of language that is oen unexpected in relaon to other

cognive abilies and the provision of eecve classroom instrucon. Secondary consequences may include

problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede the growth of vocabulary

and background knowledge.

But what does that mean exactly?

Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability. Dyslexia refers to a cluster of symptoms, which result in people having

dicules with specic language skills, parcularly reading. Students with dyslexia usually experience dicules with

other language skills, such as spelling, wring, and pronouncing words. Dyslexia aects individuals throughout their

lives; however, its impact can change at dierent stages in a person’s life. It is referred to as a learning disability

because dyslexia can make it very dicult for a student to succeed academically in the typical instruconal

environment, and in its more severe forms, will qualify a student for special educaon, special accommodaons, and/

or extra support services.

What causes dyslexia?

The exact causes of dyslexia are sll not completely clear, but anatomical and brain imagery studies show dierences in

the way the brain of a person with dyslexia develops and funcons. Moreover, most people with dyslexia have been

found to have problems with idenfying the separate speech sounds within a word and/or learning how leers

represent those sounds, a key factor in their reading dicules. Dyslexia is not due to either lack of intelligence or

desire to learn; with appropriate teaching methods, students with dyslexia can learn successfully.

Dyslexia occurs in people of all backgrounds and intellectual levels. People with dyslexia can be very bright. They are

oen capable or even gied in areas such as art, computer science, design, drama, electronics, math, mechanics,

music, physics, sales, and sports. In addion, dyslexia runs in families; having a parent or sibling with dyslexia increases

the probability that you will also have dyslexia. For some people, their dyslexia is idened early in their lives, but for

others, their dyslexia goes unidened unl they get older.

What are the eects of dyslexia?

The impact that dyslexia has is dierent for each person and depends on the severity of the condion and the

meliness and eecveness of instrucon or remediaon. The core diculty involves word recognion and reading

uency, spelling, and wring. Some individuals with dyslexia manage to learn early reading and spelling tasks,

especially with excellent instrucon, but later experience their most debilitang problems when more complex

language skills are required, such as grammar, understanding textbook material, and wring essays.

People with dyslexia can also have problems with spoken language, even aer they have been exposed to excellent

language models in their homes and high quality language instrucon in school. They may nd it dicult to express

WHAT IS DYSLEXIA?

themselves clearly, or to fully comprehend what others mean when they speak. Such language problems are oen

dicult to recognize, but they can lead to major problems in school, in the workplace, and in relang to other people.

The eects of dyslexia reach well beyond the classroom.

What misconcepons exist regarding dyslexia?

It is equally important to understand what dyslexia isn’t. There are great misconcepons and myths about dyslexia

which make it that much more dicult for someone with dyslexia to receive help and generally be understood.

It is a myth that individuals with dyslexia “read backwards.” Their spelling can look quite jumbled at mes not because

they read or see words backwards, but because students have trouble remembering leer symbols for sounds and

leer paerns in words.

Dyslexia is not a disease and, therefore, there is no cure. With proper diagnosis, appropriate and mely instrucon,

hard work, and support from family, teachers, friends, and others, individuals who have dyslexia can succeed in school

and later as adults.

Individuals with dyslexia do not have a lower level of intelligence. In fact, more oen than not, the complete opposite

is true.

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF DYSLEXIA

It is crucial to be able to recognize the signs of symptoms of dyslexia. The earlier a child is evaluated, the sooner he or

she can obtain the appropriate instrucon and accommodaons he or she needs to succeed in school.

General problems experienced by people with dyslexia include the following:

 Learning to speak

 Learning leers and their sounds

 Organizing wrien and spoken language

 Memorizing number facts

 Reading quickly enough to comprehend

 Keeping up with and comprehending longer reading assignments

 Spelling

 Learning a foreign language

 Correctly doing math operaons

Some specic signs for elementary aged children may include:

 Diculty with remembering simple sequences such as counng to 20, naming the days of the week, or

recing the alphabet

 Diculty understanding the rhyming of words, such as knowing that fat rhymes with cat

 Trouble recognizing words that begin with the same sound (for example, that bird, baby”, and big all start

with b)

 Pronunciaon dicules

 Trouble easily clapping hands to the rhythm of a song

 Diculty with word retrieval (frequently uses words like “stu” and “that thing” rather than specic words

to name objects)

 Trouble remembering names of places and people

 Diculty remembering spoken direcons

It is important to note that not all students who have dicules with these skills have dyslexia. Formal tesng of

reading, language, and wring skills is the only way to conrm a diagnosis of suspected dyslexia.

An individual can have more than one learning or behavioral disability. For example, in various studies as many as 30%

of those diagnosed with a learning or reading dierence have also been diagnosed with ADHD. Although disabilies

may co-occur, one is not the cause of the other.

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

Samuel T. Orton, M.D. was one of the rst researchers to describe the emoonal aspects of dyslexia. According to his

research, the majority of preschoolers who were later diagnosed as having dyslexia are happy and well adjusted. Their

emoonal problems begin to develop when early reading instrucon does not match their learning needs. Over the

years, the frustraon mounts as classmates surpass the student with dyslexia in reading skills.

Stress and Anxiety

Jerome J. Schultz’s informave IDA fact sheet entled, “The Dyslexia-Stress-Anxiety Connecon, Implicaons for

Academic Performance and Social Interacons,” is a must read for those wanng guidance on understanding the

relaonship between dyslexia and emoonal and social dicules. Dr. Schultz explains his DE-STRESS model in a step-

by-step guide for addressing stress, anxiety, and dyslexia.

Stress and anxiety increase when we’re in situaons over which we have lile or no control (e.g., a car going o

the road, tripping on the stairs, reading in public). All people, young and old, can experience overwhelming

stress and exhibit signs of anxiety, but children, adolescents, and adults with dyslexia are parcularly

vulnerable. That’s because many individuals do not fully understand the nature of their learning disability, and

as a result, tend to blame themselves for their own dicules. Years of self-doubt and self-recriminaon may

erode a person’s self-esteem, making them less able to tolerate the challenges of school, work, or social

interacons and more stressed and anxious.

Many individuals with dyslexia have experienced years of frustraon and limited success, despite countless

hours spent in special programs or working with specialists. Their progress may have been agonizingly slow and

frustrang, rendering them emoonally fragile and vulnerable. Some have been subjected to excessive

pressure to succeed (or excel) without the proper support or training. Others have been connuously

compared to siblings, classmates, or co-workers, making them embarrassed, cauous, and defensive.

Individuals with dyslexia may have learned that being in the company of others places them at risk for making

public mistakes and the inevitable negave reacons that may ensue. It makes sense, then, that many people

with dyslexia have become withdrawn, sought the company of younger people, or become social isolates.

(Schultz, 2013, p. 2)

This fact sheet can be found on the IDA website, www.interdys.org.

Self-Image

Dyslexia can also aect a person’s self-image. Students with dyslexia oen end up feeling “dumb” and less capable

than they actually are. Aer experiencing a great deal of stress due to academic problems, a student may become

discouraged about connuing in school.

If children succeed in school, they will develop posive feelings about themselves and believe that they can succeed in

life. If children meet failure and frustraon, they learn that they are inferior to others, and that their eort makes very

lile dierence. Instead of feeling powerful and producve, they learn that their environment controls them. They feel

powerless and incompetent.

Researchers have learned that when typical learners succeed, they credit their own eorts for their success. When they

fail, they tell themselves to try harder. However, when learners with dyslexia succeed, they are likely to aribute their

success to luck. When they fail, they simply see themselves as stupid.

Research also suggests that these feelings of inferiority develop by the age of 10. Aer this age, it becomes extremely

dicult to help the child develop a posive self-image. This is a powerful argument for early intervenon.

Depression

Depression is also a frequent complicaon in dyslexia. Depressed children and adolescents oen have dierent

symptoms than do depressed adults. The depressed child is unlikely to be lethargic or to talk about feeling sad. Instead

he or she may become more acve or misbehave to cover up the painful feelings. In the case of masked depression,

the child may not seem obviously unhappy. However, both children and adults who are depressed tend to have three

similar characteriscs:

 They tend to have negave thoughts about themselves, that is, a negave self- image.

 They tend to view the world negavely. They are less likely to enjoy the posive experiences in life. This

makes it dicult for them to have fun.

 Most depressed youngsters have great trouble imagining anything posive about the future. The

depressed child with dyslexia not only experiences great pain in his present experiences, but also foresees

a life of connuing failure.

So how can you help?

Children are more successful when early in their lives someone has been extremely supporve and encouraging, and

when they have found an area in which they can succeed. Teachers can create an incredible support system by:

 Listening to children’s feelings. Anxiety, anger and depression can be daily companions for children with

dyslexia. However, their language problems oen make it dicult for them to express their feelings.

Therefore, adults must help them learn to talk about their feelings.

 Rewarding eort, not just “the product.” For students with dyslexia, grades should be less important than

progress.

Schools can implement academic accommodaons and modicaons to help students with dyslexia succeed. For

example, a student with dyslexia can be given extra me to complete tasks, help with taking notes, and work

assignments that are modied appropriately. Teachers can give taped tests or allow students with dyslexia to use

alternave means of assessment. Students can benet from listening to books on tape and using text reading and word

processing computer programs.

Teaching students with dyslexia across sengs is challenging. Both general educaon and special educaon teachers

seek accommodaons that foster the learning and management of a class of heterogeneous learners. It is important to

idenfy accommodaons that are reasonable to ask of teachers in all classroom sengs. The following

accommodaons provide a framework for helping students with learning problems achieve in general educaon and

special educaon classrooms. They are organized according to accommodaons involving materials, interacve

instrucon, and student performance.

Accommodaons Involving Materials

Students spend a large poron of the school day interacng with materials. Most instruconal materials give teachers

few acvies or direcons for teaching a large class of students who learn at dierent rates and in various ways. This

secon provides material accommodaons that enhance the learning of diverse students. Frequently,

paraprofessionals, volunteers, and students can help develop and implement various accommodaons. Material

accommodaons include the following:

 Clarify or simplify wrien direcons. Some direcons are wrien in paragraph form and contain many

units of informaon. These can be overwhelming to some students. The teacher can help by underlining or

highlighng the signicant parts of the direcons. Rewring the direcons is oen helpful.

CLASSROOM STRATEGIES, TIPS AND TOOLS

 When confronng unacceptable behavior, do not inadvertently discourage the child with dyslexia. Words

such as “lazy” or “incorrigible” can seriously damage the child’s self-image.

 Helping students set realisc goals for themselves. Many students with dyslexia set perfeconisc and

unaainable goals. By helping the child set an aainable goal, teachers can change the cycle of failure.

In his IDA fact sheet, “Social and Emoonal Problems Related to Dyslexia,” Michael Ryan reminds us that:

Even more important, the child needs to recognize and rejoice in his or her successes. To do so, he or she needs

to achieve success in some area of life. In some cases, strengths are obvious, and self-esteem has been salvaged

by prowess in athlecs, art, or mechanics. However, the strengths of someone with dyslexia are oen more

subtle and less obvious. (Ryan, 2004, p.5).

Above all, it is crical that school personnel, parents, and outside professionals working with the child with dyslexia

communicate on an on-going basis in order to provide the support needed, so he or she can become a happy and

successful student, and eventually, a happy and successful adult.

 Present a small amount of work. The teacher can tear pages from workbooks and materials to present

small assignments to students who are anxious about the amount of work to be done. This technique

prevents students from examining an enre workbook, text, or material and becoming discouraged by the

amount of work.

 Block out extraneous smuli. If a student is easily distracted by visual smuli on a full worksheet or page,

a blank sheet of paper can be used to cover secons of the page not being worked on at the me. Also,

line markers can be used to aid reading, and windows can be used to display individual math problems.

Addionally, using larger font sizes and increasing spacing can help separate secons.

 Highlight essenal informaon. If an adolescent can read a regular textbook but has diculty nding the

essenal informaon, the teacher can mark this informaon with a highlight pen.

 Use a placeholder in consumable material. In consumable materials in which students progress

sequenally (such as workbooks), the student can make a diagonal cut across the lower right-hand corner

of the pages as they are completed. With all the completed pages cut, the student and teacher can readily

locate the next page that needs to be corrected or completed.

 Provide addional pracce acvies. Some materials do not provide enough pracce acvies for

students with learning problems to acquire mastery on selected skills. Teachers then must supplement the

material with pracce acvies. Recommended pracce exercises include instruconal games, peer

teaching acvies, self-correcng materials, computer soware programs, and addional worksheets.

 Provide a glossary in content areas. Students oen benet from a glossary of content-related terms.

 Develop reading guides. A reading guide helps the reader understand the main ideas and sort out the

numerous details related to the main ideas. A reading guide can be developed paragraph-by-paragraph,

page-by-page, or secon-by-secon.

 Use an audio recording device. Direcons, stories, and specic lessons can be recorded. The student can

replay the tape to clarify understanding of direcons or concepts. Also, to improve reading skills, the

student can read the printed words silently as they are presented on tape.

 Use of assisve technology. Assisve technology products such as tablets, electronic readers/diconaries/

spellers, text to speech programs, audio books, and more can be very useful tools.

Accommodaons Involving Interacve Instrucon

The task of gaining students’ aenon and engaging them for a period of me requires many teaching and managing

skills. Teaching and interacons should provide successful learning experiences for each student. Some

accommodaons to enhance successful interacve instruconal acvies are:

 Use explicit teaching procedures. Many commercial materials do not cue teachers to use explicit teaching

procedures; thus, the teacher oen must adapt a material to include these procedures. Teachers can

include explicit teaching steps within their lessons (i.e., present an advanced organizer, demonstrate the

skill, provide guided pracce, oer correcve feedback, set up independent pracce, monitor pracce, and

review).

 Repeat direcons. Students who have diculty following direcons are oen helped by asking them to

repeat the direcons in their own words. The student can repeat the direcons to a peer when the teacher

is unavailable. If direcons contain several steps, break down the direcons into subsets. Simplify

direcons by presenng only one poron at a me and by wring each poron on the chalkboard as well

as stang it orally. When using wrien direcons, be sure that students are able to read and understand

the words as well as comprehend the meaning of sentences.

 Maintain daily rounes. Many students with learning problems need the structure of daily rounes to

know and do what is expected.

 Provide a copy of lesson notes. The teacher can give a copy of lesson notes to students who have diculty

taking notes during presentaons.

 Provide students with a graphic organizer. An outline, chart, or blank web can be given to students to ll

in during presentaons. This helps students listen for key informaon and see the relaonships among

concepts and related informaon.

 Use step-by-step instrucon. New or dicult informaon can be presented in small sequenal steps. This

helps learners with limited prior knowledge who need explicit or part-to-whole instrucon.

 Simultaneously combine verbal and visual informaon. Verbal informaon can be provided with visual

displays (e.g., on an overhead or handout).

 Write key points or words on the chalkboard/whiteboard. Prior to a presentaon, the teacher can write

new vocabulary words and key points on the chalkboard/whiteboard.

 Use balanced presentaons and acvies. An eort should be made to balance oral presentaons with

visual informaon and parcipatory acvies. Also, there should be a balance between large group, small

group, and individual acvies.

 Use mnemonic instrucon. Mnemonic devices can be used to help students remember key informaon or

steps in a learning strategy.

 Emphasize daily review. Daily review of previous learning or lessons can help students connect new

informaon with prior knowledge.

Accommodaons Involving Student Performance

Students vary signicantly in their ability to respond in dierent modes. For example, students vary in their ability to

give oral presentaons; parcipate in discussions; write leers and numbers; write paragraphs; draw objects; spell;

work in noisy or cluered sengs; and read, write, or speak at a fast pace. Moreover, students vary in their ability to

process informaon presented in visual or auditory formats. The following accommodaon involving mode of

recepon and expression can be used to enhance students’ performance:

 Change response mode. For students who have diculty with ne motor responses (such as handwring),

the response mode can be changed to underlining, selecng from mulple choices, sorng, or marking.

Students with ne motor problems can be given extra space for wring answers on worksheets or can be

allowed to respond on individual chalkboards/whiteboards.

 Provide an outline of the lesson. An outline enables some students to follow the lesson successfully and

make appropriate notes. Moreover, an outline helps students to see the organizaon of the material and

ask mely quesons.

 Encourage use of graphic organizers. A graphic organizer involves organizing material into a visual format.

To develop a graphic organizer, the student can list the topic on the rst line, collect and divide informaon

into major headings, list all informaon relang to major headings on index cards, organize informaon

into major areas, place informaon under appropriate subheadings, and place informaon into the

organizer format.

 Place students close to the teacher. Students with aenon problems can be seated close to the teacher,

chalkboard/whiteboard, or work area and away from distracng sounds, materials, or objects.

 Encourage use of assignment books or calendars. Students can use calendars to record assignment due

dates, list school related acvies, record test dates, and schedule melines for schoolwork. Students

should set aside a special secon in an assignment book or calendar for recording homework assignments.

 Have students turn lined paper vercally for math. Lined paper can be turned vercally to help students

keep numbers in appropriate columns while compung math problems.

 Use cues to denote important items. Asterisks or bullets can denote quesons or acvies that count

heavily in evaluaon. This helps students spend me appropriately during tests or assignments.

 Design hierarchical worksheets. The teacher can design worksheets with problems arranged from easiest

to hardest. Early success helps students begin to work.

 Allow use of instruconal aids. Students can be provided with leer and number strips to help them write

correctly. Number lines, counters, calculators, and other assisve technology can help students compute

once they understand the mathemacal operaons.

 Display work samples. Samples of completed assignments can be displayed to help students realize

expectaons and plan accordingly.

 Use peer-mediated learning. The teacher can pair peers of dierent ability levels to review their notes,

study for a test, read aloud to each other, write stories, or conduct laboratory experiments. Also, a partner

can read math problems for students with reading problems to solve.

 Use exible work mes. Students who work slowly can be given addional me to complete wrien

assignments.

 Provide addional pracce. Students require dierent amounts of pracce to master skills or content.

Many students with learning problems need addional pracce to learn at a uency level.

 Use assignment substuons or adjustments. Students can be allowed to complete projects instead of

oral reports or vice versa. Also, tests can be given in oral or wrien format.

MULTISENSORY STRUCTURED LANGUAGE TEACHING

Early idencaon and treatment is the key to helping individuals with dyslexia achieve in school and in life. Most

people with dyslexia need help from a teacher, tutor, or therapist specially trained in using a mulsensory, structured

language approach. It is important for these individuals to be taught by a systemac and explicit method that involves

several senses (hearing, seeing, touching, moving) at the same me. Many individuals with dyslexia need one-on-one

help so that they can move forward at their own pace. In addion, students with dyslexia oen need a great deal of

structured pracce and immediate, correcve feedback to develop automac word recognion skills. For students with

dyslexia, it is helpful if their outside academic therapists work closely with classroom teachers.

What is Mulsensory Structured Language Teaching?

Eecve instrucon for students with dyslexia is explicit, direct, cumulave, intensive, and focused on the structure of

language. This is the idea of structured language instrucon.

Mulsensory learning involves the use of visual, auditory, and kinesthec-tacle pathways simultaneously to enhance

memory and learning of wrien language. Links are consistently made between the visual (language we see), auditory

(language we hear), and kinesthec-tacle (language symbols we feel) pathways in learning to read and spell. .

Margaret Byrd Rawson, a former President of the Internaonal Dyslexia Associaon (IDA), said it well:

“Dyslexic students need a dierent approach to learning language from that employed in most classrooms.

They need to be taught, slowly and thoroughly, the basic elements of their language—the sounds and the

leers which represent them—and how to put these together and take them apart. They have to have lots of

pracce in having their wring hands, eyes, ears, and voices working together for conscious organizaon and

retenon of their learning.”

Teachers who use this approach help students perceive the speech sounds in words (phonemes) by looking in the

mirror when they speak or exaggerang the movements of their mouths. Students learn to link speech sounds

(phonemes) to leers or leer paerns by saying sounds for leers they see, or wring leers for sounds they hear. As

students learn a new leer or paern (such as s or th), they may repeat ve to seven words that are dictated by the

teacher and contain the sound of the new leer or paern; the students discover the sound that is the same in all the

words. Next, they may look at the words wrien on a piece of paper or the chalkboard and discover the new leer or

paern. Finally, they carefully trace, copy, and write the leer(s) while saying the corresponding sound. The sound may

be dictated by the teacher, and the leer name(s) given by the student. Students then read and spell words, phrases,

and sentences using these paerns to build their reading uency. Teachers and their students rely on all three

pathways for learning rather than focusing on a “whole word memory method,” a “tracing method,” or a “phonec

method” alone.

The principle of combining movement with speech and reading is applied at other levels of language learning as well.

Students may learn hand gestures to help them memorize the denion of a noun. Students may manipulate word

cards to create sentences or classify the words in sentences by physically moving them into categories. They might

move sentences around to make paragraphs. The elements of a story may be taught with reference to a three-

dimensional, tacle aid. In all, the hand, body, and/or movement are used to support comprehension or producon of

language.

Is there solid evidence that mulsensory teaching is eecve for students with dyslexia?

Current research, much of it supported by the Naonal Instute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), has

demonstrated the value of explicit, structured language teaching for all students, especially those with dyslexia.

Programs that work dier in their techniques but have many principles in common. The mulsensory principle that is

so valued by experienced clinicians has not yet been isolated in controlled, comparison studies of reading instrucon,

but most programs that work do include mulsensory pracce for symbol learning.

SCREENING, EVALUATION, AND DIAGNOSIS

Early idencaon and intervenon with students who show the warning signs of dyslexia are crically important for

beer outcomes later on. Researchers have idened the specic skill weaknesses that predict later reading

dicules, making early tesng, idencaon, and remediaon possible. For most children, problems can be

remediated with programs at the kindergarten and rst-grade levels that take about 30-45 minutes per day.

Before second grade, it is more important to focus an evaluaon on the precursors of reading development. Measures

of language skills, phonological awareness, memory, and rapid naming are more suggesve of being at-risk for dyslexia

among young children than are measures of word reading, decoding, and spelling. Therefore, measures of phonological

awareness, memory, and rapid naming are typically included in Kindergarten and beginning rst grade screening tests

that can idenfy children who need targeted intervenon to improve these crical skills so these children can meet

grade- level benchmarks.

How is dyslexia diagnosed?

A comprehensive evaluaon typically includes intellectual and academic achievement tesng, as well as an assessment

of the crical underlying language skills that are closely linked to dyslexia. These include recepve (listening) and

expressive language skills, phonological skills including phonemic awareness, and also a student’s ability to rapidly

name leers and names. A student’s ability to read lists of words in isolaon, as well as words in context, should also

be assessed. If a prole emerges that is characterisc of readers with dyslexia, an individualized intervenon plan

should be developed, which should include appropriate accommodaons, such as extended me. The tesng can be

conducted by trained school or outside specialists.

Why is evaluaon important?

An evaluaon is the process of gathering informaon to idenfy the factors contribung to a student’s diculty with

learning to read and spell. First, informaon is gathered from parents and teachers to understand development and

the educaonal opportunies that have been provided. Then, tests are given to idenfy strengths and weaknesses that

lead to a diagnosis and a tentave road map for intervenon. Conclusions and recommendaons are developed and

reported.

When should a child be evaluated?

It is possible to idenfy potenal reading problems in young children even before the problems turn into reading

failure. Screenings should be used with all children in a school, beginning in kindergarten, to locate those students who

are “at risk” for reading diculty. Prevenve intervenon should begin immediately, even if dyslexia is suspected. How

the child responds to supplementary instrucon will help determine if special educaon services are jused and

necessary.

There are numerous types of screeners; one simple one we recommend is the Colorado Learning Disabilies

Quesonnaire – Reading Subscale (CLDQ-R) School Age Screener. If the risk factors are present, teachers should follow

the protocols set-up within their school’s policies to meet with parents regarding further evaluaon.

The Colorado Learning Disabilies Quesonnaire – Reading Subscale (CLDQ-R) is a screening tool designed to measure

risk of reading disability (i.e. dyslexia) in school-age children (Willcu et al., 2011). Normave scores for this

quesonnaire were developed based on parent-reports of their 6-to-18- year- old children, as well as actual reading

tesng of these children. Willcu, et al. (2011) found that the CLDQ-R is reliable and valid. It is important to note that

the CLDQ-R is only a screener and does not constute a formal evaluaon or diagnosis.

School Age Dyslexia Screener – CLDQ-R

Please read each statement and decide how well it describes the child. Mark your answer by circling the appropriate

number. Please do not leave any statement unmarked.

Scoring Instrucons:

Add up the circled numbers and record that as the Total Score _______________

The following cutos apply:

 Total Score <16 = Minimal Risk

 Total Score 16-21 = Moderate Risk

 Total Score >21 = Signicant Risk

See below for details for each Risk Group.

Minimal Risk: The score indicates that there is lile in the child’s developmental history to indicate that he/she is at

risk for a reading disability (dyslexia). However, if there are concerns about the child’s reading progress, an evaluaon

with the school or a licensed child psychologist is recommended to examine the nature of these dicules.

Never/

not at all

Rarely/

a lile

Somemes

Frequently/

quite a bit

Always/

a great deal

1. Has diculty with spelling 1 2 3 4 5

2. Has/had diculty learning leer names 1 2 3 4 5

Has/had diculty learning phonics

(sounding out words)

1 2 3 4 5

4. Reads slowly 1 2 3 4 5

5. Reads below grade level 1 2 3 4 5

Requires extra help in school because of

problems in reading and spelling

1 2 3 4 5

Moderate Risk: The score indicates that there are features of the child’s developmental history (e.g. diculty learning

leers, required extra reading help) that may be consistent with a reading disability (dyslexia). Reading disability

constutes a very common learning disability, aecng approximately 5% of the United States populaon. Reading

disability is characterized by slow or eorul reading, diculty sounding out new words, and problems with spelling. If

there are concerns about the child’s reading progress, an evaluaon with the school or a licensed child psychologist is

recommended to examine the nature of these dicules.

Signicant Risk: The score indicates that there are several features of your child’s developmental history (e.g. diculty

learning leers, required extra reading help) that are consistent with a reading disability (dyslexia). Reading disability

constutes a very common learning disability, aecng approximately 5-10% of the United States populaon. Reading

disability is characterized by slow or eorul reading, diculty sounding out new words, and problems with spelling.

The results of this quesonnaire indicate that your child may be experiencing some or all of those symptoms. A formal

evaluaon with the school or a licensed child psychologist is strongly recommended, so that your child can get the

reading support he/she needs, if appropriate.

There are a great many resources available for a deeper understanding of dyslexia, co-morbidies, treatments as well

as specic topics including neuroscience, comprehension, uency, other learning disabilies, response to intervenon

and much more.

We encourage you to go to our website, www.interdys.org, and explore a variety of informaon including:

 IDA Fact Sheets

 FAQ’s

 Intervenons & Instrucons

 IDA Provider Directory

 IDA Knowledge and Pracce Standards for Teachers of Reading

There are numerous publicaons and books available, including those listed in the Recommended Reading for Profes-

sionals Fact Sheet, but here are some incredible opons to get you started:

Moats, L., & Dakin, K. (2008). Basic facts about dyslexia and other reading problems. Balmore, MD: Interna-

onal Dyslexia Associaon.

Moats, L., Dakin, K., & Joshi. R. M. (2012). Expert perspecves on intervenons for reading. A collecon of best-

pracce arcles from the Internaonal Dyslexia Associaon. Balmore, MD: Internaonal Dyslexia Associaon.

Tridas, E. (2007). From ABC to ADHD: what parents should know about dyslexia and aenon problems. Bal-

more, MD: Internaonal Dyslexia Associaon.

Further, there are extraordinary workshops, conferences and trainings available all over the United States and Canada

hosted by IDA branches; conferences all over the world hosted by our Global Partners; and the Annual IDA Conference

hosted by IDA Headquarters. Please go to www.interdys.org to nd the next event near you!

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AND FURTHER INFORMATION

FAQ’s: is there a cure for dyslexia? (n.d.). Retrieved October 1, 2013, from IDA website, www.interdys.org.

FAQ’s: what are the signs of dyslexia? (n.d.). Retrieved October 1, 2013, from IDA website, www.interdys.org.

FAQ’s: are aenon– decit disorder (ADD) and aenon decit hyperacve disorder (ADHD) learning

disabilies? (n.d.). Retrieved October 1, 2013, from IDA website, www.interdys.org.

Mercer, C. (2004). Accommodang students with dyslexia in all classroom sengs.

Moats, L., & Dakin, K. (2008). Moats, L., & Dakin, K. (2008). Dyslexia basics, 1-3. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from IDA

website, www.interdys.org.

Moats, L., & Dakin, K. (2008). Basic facts about dyslexia and other reading problems. Balmore, MD: Internaonal

Dyslexia Associaon.

Ryan, M. (2004). Social and emotional problems related to dyslexia, 1-5. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from IDA website,

www.interdys.org.

School age dyslexia screener (2013, October) Retrieved October 1, 2013, from IDA website, hp:www.interdys.org

Shultz, J. (2013). The dyslexia-stress-anxiety connecon, 1-4. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from IDA website,

www.interdys.org.

REFERENCES