Key Learnings About Dyslexia

Ideas/Concepts

May be able to comprehend very well even though it is difficult to read accurately.

Types of Dyslexia Identification

Diagnosis of dyslexia provided by a clinical practitioner (aka a "medical" diagnosis). Would be called "Specific Learning Disorder" with Impairment in Reading (Code F81.0) aka Dyslexia.

Characteristics of dyslexia identified through screening and additional diagnostic assessment process (per 120B.12 and MDE guidance)

Student identified with a disability (SpEd comprehensive evaluation)

Would be called a specific learning disability rather than dyslexia though, at this point. Testing would be done by a school psychologist or the special education teacher. The special learning disability would then be called a "specific learning disability in reading".

Student either meets or doesn't meet criteria for having dyslexia. (a yes/no--black/white thing)

Categorized as: Mild, Moderate, Severe, or Profound (a continuum)

Students w/dyslexia struggle fundamentally w/automatic word recognition

Phonological Deficit: Difficulty in linking sound and letter.

This is because they are using their language skills to guess the words, and then answer the question. Ex: student can't read (aka can't decode) the word in front of them. Student looked away but was also able to figure out the word using language comprehension, content knowledge, context clues, etc. Thinking process might be something like: "I'm reading about caterpillars and I'm not reading that big long C word which is caterpillar. It's not caterpillar, we're reading about butterflies, I guess that word is 'cocoon'." In this example, the student was able to deduce what the word was.

Comprehension scores are not reliable.

Reading and Writing are taught through instruction.

Human brains are naturally hard-wired to acquire speech. Speech is developed. Reading and writing are instructed. Both skills benefit from practice and reinforce each other once developed.

Process for Screening and Id-ing Dyslexia

  1. Universal screener: Screen all students
  1. Collect additional data to verify characteristcs
  1. Interpret data to ID students w/characteristics of dyslexia and their needs

nonsense words are very useful in this screening process. Ex: If student can read dog but gets confused when the word "pog" is presented, they may simply by memorizing the word pattern "dog".

Collect things like A. skill inventory (oral language, phonemic awareness, phonics and spelling), Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN), a Teacher Checklist (observations of learning), B. Response to Instruction and other Services, C. Family Child and History.

ID gaps in skills and instructional needs

Differentiate core classroom instruction

Determine intervention

Id behavioral supports and other accommodations

Progress monitor and modify instruction as needed