This is neither here nor there but the teachers told us that testing of nonsense words is a screener for reading disabilities such as dyslexia. And that you don't have to be taught to read them.
The whole point of this test is that you can't guess the word or recognize it based on visual memory. You have to "sound it out" so you need to know phonics. As mon stated, it is one type of screener for dyslexia.
Your daughter sounds a lot like my DD and her scores are somewhat similar to DD's. DD has high IQ scores, middling language arts achievement scores and rock bottom spelling scores. Unlike your child, my DD also has significant issues with writing. Our educational tester diagnosed DD as HG with dyslexia and dysgraphia. She recommended testing through Lindamood Bell and an evaluation by a pediatric optometrist.
We asked the school to evaluate her for dyslexia. Their results were inconclusive. They said that she was not appropriate for Orton-Gillingham reading instruction because her decoding skills were strong. Since we didn't trust the school completely, we had her tested through LMB and they used a similar testing battery to Langsford. When we reviewed the results, the salesperson from LMB questioned whether their program was appropriate for us. At most, she recommended one of their short sessions (a few weeks) to tighten up her phonemic skills.
I took DD to my optometrist first because I knew that she wasn't going to try to sell me something that I didn't need, i.e. expensive vision therapy for DD. She found that DD had significant tracking and convergence problems that the school never noted. She referred us to a vision therapist.
We opted to pay for VT and address phonemic awareness at home. I know that some people question the validity of VT. For my daughter, it significantly helped her tracking issues and decreased her headaches which she never realized she had until they were gone. VT decreased her reluctance to read but DD still had/has issues with her reading.
At home, we also did a lot of guided oral reading (check out the Sally Shaywitz book Overcoming Dyslexia for a detailed description). After a very intense summer, when DD tested at school, she read with 100% accuracy but slightly below average for speed. Her teacher thought she was slowing down too much to maintain her high accuracy.
A few years later, DD reads at least two years above grade level but not at the level one would predict based on IQ. She reads without protest but is not a voracious reader like her siblings. She still has many characteristics of a "stealth dyslexic."
I don't know whether Langsford is the magic key for your DD. It sounds like she may benefit from tightening up her phonemic skills. You may want to get her eyes checked too. You also may want to read the Eides' books Misdiagnosed child or Dyslexic Advantage if this rings a bell with you.
