DYSLEXIA:Identification

By: Rachel Smith

Information for Parents Smart Kids Learning Disabilities

Is this your child?• 5-year-old Jamie has difficulty rhyming, repeating words with more than one

syllable, and remembering the names of the letters of the alphabet.• 7-year-old Kristen has difficulty applying the sound-symbol associations to

decode (sound out) words.• 10-year-old Sarah has wonderful comprehension when she’s read to but can’t

understand what she reads herself because she’s struggling to identify words.• 11-year-old Juan is extremely articulate but he has trouble organizing his

thoughts when he writes and expressing himself on paper.• 12-year-old Michael is a decent reader, but he’ll only read if forced to and his

spelling is terrible.• 13-year-old Ahmed also reads well enough, but for years he has struggled in

math.

Word RecognitionWhat it measures• Sight word vocabulary at a given grade level.Examples of assessment questions• Ask a child to read from a list of words.Age or grade typically mastered• Students should be expected to master age-

appropriate material.When should it be assessed?• Word recognition should be assessed three times

during the year for students in kindergarten through second grade to help guide instruction.

ASSESSMENTS

• Dolch High Frequency Words• Fry Instant Word List• Word Analysis Inventories• Silent Reading Comprehension Tests

Dolch High Frequency Words

• Dolch High Frequency words are included in a word list composed by Edward Dolch in 1948.

• The recognition of the words are needed to achieve high reading fluency.

• The words are subdivided into five levels pre primer, primer, 1st grade, 2nd grade and third grade. Additionally there is a separate nouns list.

Other Assessments

Word Analysis Inventories

and

Silent Reading Comprehension

Tests