Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment reading issues- diagnosis

My child scores inconsistently on reading and writing assessments.
The tester said that he is not dyslexic and interventions for dyslexic kids would not help because his strengths are in areas that are typically weak for dyslexic kids. She recommended that he read more, but gave few other concrete suggestions. I was hoping that someone on the board might have suggestions on how to help this 2E kid.

Note: I plan to edit later to delete test scores for privacy reasons.

So looking at the CTOPP results, it may be that he is not classically dyslexic, in that he does not appear to have a deficit in phonological awareness, which research finds to be the core deficit in most dyslexics. OTOH, he displays relative weaknesses in phonological memory, which is important to decoding new words, and rapid naming, which is important to both decoding new words and reading fluency. (I would also ask whether the Alternate Phonological Awareness cluster was administered--blending nonwords and segmenting nonwords--and if the additional phoneme reversal subtest was administered. In some high-functioning dyslexics, these continue to stand out as relative weaknesses, even if the standard PA battery does not.)

My point: it is possible that he actually is dyslexic, but is presenting with a high-cognitive compensated dyslexic profile. I have one whose history is of high PA, but low APA, who also reads very slowly, with good comprehension, and spells poorly. Also still did not have totally automatic letter/number formation well into the middle elementary years.

The disconnect for this kind of reading disability is that they haven't achieved automaticity for what's called orthographic mapping (it has a few other names in the literature, too), so they have to think about the decoding process, instead of having the graphemes directly and unconsciously convert to phonemes.

The simplest and most accessible intervention for reading fluency really is reading more, especially aloud, as it helps to strengthen the connection between sound and symbol. It may help for him to read aloud while pointing to the words. Read to your child while he points to the words. Do choral or duet reading, where a fluent reader reads at a normal pace, together with the target student. Pick a short paragraph that is at a reading level that he can almost read at an age-appropriate pace, and read it together until he can read accurately at a good speed. Repeat with different selections of comparable level until he can do so consistently, then move to a slightly harder level.

This pdf lists a number of fluency interventions that have some research basis:

http://www.interventioncentral.org/..._intv_planner_academics_rdng_fluency.pdf

If you're interested, google Linnea Ehri on reading.

Aeh--you are awesome! This is very helpful.