Comprehensive Diagnostic Testing for Dyslexia
Dyslexia Solutions Center offers dyslexia testing using a full battery of criterion-referenced and norm-referenced assessments to determine and document an individual’s strengths and weaknesses in reading, writing, spelling and math to diagnose a learning disability, including dyslexia, if indicated.
Results are presented in a detailed, analytical written report and discussed in a conference. Also included is attendance at a school meeting, usually an IEP meeting, to present testing results and to advocate on behalf of a student to obtain appropriate and effective services, specialized instruction and other learning supports.
Our reports have been used for special education eligibilty, IEP development, education planning and placement decisions and to support parents in due process hearings. Our reports have also been used to obtain accommodations on standardized tests including the AP exams, SAT, ACT, LSAT, MCAT and Bar exams.
Diagnotistc testing can be administered via telepractice following online test administration protocols provided by Pearson Clinical.
What is dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a language-processing disability.
Dyslexia involves deficits in phonological processing, which is at the sound level of processing language, though it is not a hearing deficit. Phonological processing is the ability to recognise the individual sounds in a spoken word.
Dyslexia creates difficulties associating the sounds that make up words with written symbols (letters), resulting in difficulties with reading (decoding) and spelling (encoding). Reading and writing are compelmentary processes. Though dyslexia is often thought of as only a reading disability, it is also a writing and spelling disability. It can also impact math, since math involves symbolic representation of numbers.
Dyslexia impacts reading fluency. Dyslexic students typically read slowly and inaccurately, because decoding is not automatized. Often, when dyslexic students try to increase speed, accuracy declines.
Dyslexia interferes with reading comprehension. When a student is focused on just trying to read a word, comprehension can suffer. Some dyslexic students are so bright with good memories that they memorize many whole words so it appears they are reading when they are not. These dyslexic students often have solid reading comprehension until about middle school when they are expected to read and understand multisyllabic words in an academic text with unfamiliar vocabulary. Then comprehension suffers because it is too difficult to memorize and recall multisyllabic words as a “whole” word. Some dyslexic students can identify words but do not understand their meaning because their processing effort is all on identification and they can’t focus on meaning simultaneously.
Who is qualified to make a dyslexia diagnosis?
The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) and the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) designate what professionals are qualified to administer a diagnostic testing to make a clinical diagnosis.
NCLD states:
Professionals with expertise in several fields are best qualified to make a diagnosis of dyslexia. The testing may be done by a single individual or by a team of specialists. A knowledge and background in psychology, reading, language and education are necessary. The tester must have a thorough working knowledge of how individuals learn to read and why some people have trouble learning to read. They must also understand how to administer and interpret evaluation data and how to plan appropriate reading interventions.
IDA states:
Professional clinicians who assess Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD)
and dyslexia may have M.A., M.S., M.Ed., Ed.D., or Ph.D. degrees in
Education, Reading, Speech Language Pathology, School Psychology, Psychology, or Neuropsychology. Evaluation by a medical doctor is not
required for assessment or identification of SLD or dyslexia.
M.Ed. in Reading Science & Dyslexia
from Mount Saint Joseph University, a Center for Effective Reading Instruction (CERI) certified Masters program, accredited by the International Dyslexia Association. Training included: diagnosis and remediation of reading and writing problems, foundations of reading and writing, advanced phonics and linguistics, school psychology, statistical analysis, standardized test administration and analysis, Orton Gillingham (OG) and OG-based approaches to reading and writing instruction. This degree program qualifies professionals for diagnosing dyslexia and providing reading and writing remediation.
See Credentials for more information
Lynn Dalton, M.Ed.
Lynn has the professional qualifications to administer and analyze criterion-and norm-referenced assessments. However, her evaluations offer more than the typical diagnostic professional, because she applies knowledge gleaned from her career as an educator, in particular as a Reading & Dyslexia Specialist teaching children to read and write for over 20 years, and also as a successful Special Education Advocate. This unique combination of training and successful experience provides her with a more comprephensive analytical ability to diagnose dyslexia, but also to make appropriate recommendations for individualized education planning and effective intervention programs.
Our diagnostic evaluation service
consists of three components:
1
DIAGNOSTIC STANDARDS-BASED EVALUTATIONS
The source of a child’s literacy challenges are determined via thorough and prescriptive testing.
* Criterion-referenced and norm- referenced assessments, which include testing of the foundational skills behind reading and writing as well as acutal skills in reading, writing, spelling (and in some cases, math)
* Specific tests chosen are based on a child’s age and grade level, developmental history, and tests already administered by the school district
2
COMPREHENSIVE WRITTEN REPORT of RESULTS
Testing results are presented in a detailed, analytical written report.
*Our detailed report summarizes and analyzes results, explains their significance, provides a diagnosis, if applicable, and recommendes school interventions and supports, typically provided under an IEP.
*The report can be used to support education needs, including: providing a foundation for special education eligibility and IEP development, serving as an Independent Evaluation (IEE), obtaining accommodations and modifications in school, and documenting the necessity for specialized reading and writing instruction.
3
INTERVENTION PLANNING AND ADVOCACY for your child
Evaluation results provide the foundation for intervention planning. Our evaluation service includes:
*Parent conference to discuss results, recommendations, applications, and planning
*Advocacy for your child at school meeting, which involves presentation of testing results and advocating for the district’s acceptance of recommendations. Recommendations would include classification for special education, if your child is not yet on an IEP, and support for specialized reading/writing instruction (Orton Gillingham when possible) in addition learning supports specificlly tailored for the dyslexic student.
Get two professionals for the price of one!
Federal law requires an IEP team to consider data from a variety of sources in making decisions, but does not require them to accept any one professionals diagnosis or data, including neurologists or neuropsychologists. It often requires the skill set of a special education advocate or attorney.
That’s why my evaluation services includes advocacy at an IEP meeting to present the diagnosis and recommendations for school support and specialized instruction!