Dyslexia Identification and Intervention

Dyslexia Identification and Intervention

Research demonstrates that early identification and intervention is critical because struggling readers tend to fall further behind their peers as they move through elementary school.  Third grade reading proficiency, for example, is a predictor of success in school and is strongly correlated with graduation from high school (Annie E. Casey Foundation).   

Students can be screened for dyslexia even before they learn to read.   “Deficits in phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, verbal working memory and letter knowledge have been shown to be robust precursors of dyslexia in children as young as age three” (Gaab, 2017).

Screening vs Evaluation

A screener is NOT used to diagnose dyslexia.  Rather, it is an indicator that a student may be at risk for dyslexia.  A formal clinical evaluation is necessary to determine a diagnosis of dyslexia if the student continues to struggle with literacy skills.  A full evaluation should include the following: a measure of verbal and nonverbal intelligence, working memory, and processing speed, phonological awareness, phonological or language-based memory, rapid automatic naming, expressive and receptive language skills, phonics skills, decoding/encoding real and pseudo-words, oral reading fluency, writing at the sentence and paragraph level. Evaluations are completed by school psychologists, neuro-psychologists, or educational diagnosticians.  

Click here for more information about the difference between screening and evaluation for dyslexia.