New Course – Dyslexia: Identification & Assessment for Informing Instruction

New Course – Dyslexia: Identification & Assessment for Informing Instruction
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June 16, 2021

Resource: Blog Industry: Education, K12
Tags: K12 Education, Special Education, Staff Training

Dyslexia is considered a language-based reading difficulty impacting a student’s ability to accurately and automatically read single words. This word-level reading difficulty is rooted in deficits in phonological awareness and phonics. Individuals with dyslexia also have trouble connecting the print on the page to the speech sounds of language. Dyslexia occurs despite adequate student effort, opportunity to learn and instruction.

Characteristics of dyslexia change over time and vary in severity. However, there are indicators of risk for dyslexia that educators can look for across age and grade spans, so support can be provided as early as possible.

Evaluation and Identification

A Response to Intervention and Multi-tiered System of Support, or RTI/MTSS, is a framework used by many school systems across the nation to ensure successful education outcomes for all students.

With an established RTI/MTSS, students with indicators of risk for reading failure receive appropriate and timely interventions matched to student need. Within an RTI/MTSS, a comprehensive assessment system is used to gather and manage data for decision making. (And) It’s an essential component that enables educators to monitor student progress and make informed instructional decisions based on data. A comprehensive assessment system includes:

  • Outcome assessments
  • Interim or benchmark assessments
  • Universal screening
  • Diagnostic assessments
  • The continuum of formative assessments

Types of Comprehensive Assessments

  • Universal Screening. Designed as a first step in identifying children who may be at risk of reading failure and in need of additional reading instruction. Universal screeners are brief assessments of critical academic skills that are highly predictive of later success.
  • Progress Monitoring. Progress monitoring measures student growth over time and determines, through frequent measurement, if students are responding adequately to the intervention or need an intervention change to achieve grade-level reading outcomes. In other words, progress monitoring is feedback to the instructor.
  • Diagnostic Assessment/Surveys. When a student is not adequately responding to intervention, teams may need to identify why the student is not responding in order to intensify the intervention. Diagnostic surveys of foundational reading skills related to dyslexia are used to identify the most basic skills area deficit in order to design instruction on targeted skills and accurately monitor response to intervention.

For those students whose difficulties persist, a referral for a full and individual evaluation is made to determine if the child has a disability as defined under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (or IDEA).

Our new Dyslexia: Identification and Assessment for Informing Instruction course provides faculty and staff members with an overview of dyslexia identification and procedures for assessment. The course will:

  • Discuss how to define dyslexia.
  • Identify processes for evaluation and identification, such as universal screening and progress monitoring.
  • Review methods of evaluation for special education

For more information, request a demo above or contact us at 1-800-434-0154.

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