Intervention for Dyslexia - The British Dyslexia Association

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4.3 Screening tests 4.3.1 Scope Part of the remit of this review is to consider the range of dyslexia screening tools that are currently available and how these relate to different theoretical models of dyslexia. However, in addressing these issues, it is not proposed to evaluate the practicality, validity or accuracy of different dyslexia screening tests, nor to draw conclusions regarding whether some screening tests are ‘better’ than others. Indeed, it is unlikely that sufficient published evidence exists to carry out such an evaluation properly at the present time. Likewise, no attempt was made in Chapters 2 and 3 to evaluate the different phonologically-based intervention programmes in terms of their relative merits and efficacy. Rather, the approach in Chapters 2 and 3 has been to identify features common to different intervention programmes and teaching techniques for which there is evidence of particular effectiveness for dyslexic children. The same approach to screening and assessment methods will be taken here. 4.3.2 Types of screening test It is possible to assemble a battery of tests to use in screening for dyslexia, putting together tests of phonological awareness, verbal memory, word reading, pseudoword reading and spelling, for example, but to do so requires a considerable knowledge of dyslexia and of the suitability of various tests that are available. Furthermore, since these will all be attainment tests and not designed specifically for screening, a decision will have to be made regarding cut-off points for risk. A standard score of 85 (i.e. one standard deviation below the mean) is probably the most widely adopted risk threshold, but then the issue arises: On how many of the tests must the child score below standard score 85 to be considered to have dyslexia? All? Most? At least half the tests? It can be appreciated that while interpreting the outcome of such a procedure is probably within the capabilities of most experienced specialist dyslexia teachers, it is unlikely to be within the capabilities of most other teachers. A solution to this problem has been proposed by Turner (1997), who advocates a twostage strategic approach to identification: 1) Screening by use of group tests of spelling and non-verbal ability, combined with other information such as results of National Curriculum assessments and differences between literacy levels and capabilities in oral language; 2) Individual assessment of likely candidates indicated by the results of stage 1, using suitable standardised tests of general ability, diagnostic cognitive skills (memory, speed or processing, etc.), and achievement (literacy and numeracy). The average level of underachievement in literacy and numeracy (u), compared with scores predicted by the general ability level, is then calculated. The average difference between the general ability scores and the diagnostic cognitive skills scores is also calculated (d), and the formula (2u + d)/3 is used to obtain what Turner calls the ‘Dyslexia Index’, with the results being expressed in standard deviation units. Turner then suggests the following categorisation: Less than 0.0: no dyslexia signs Between 0.0 and 0.4: few dyslexia signs Between 0.5 and 0.9: mild dyslexia 84 Intervention for Dyslexia
Between 1.0 and 1.4: moderate dyslexia Between 1.5 and 1.9: severe dyslexia Above 2.0: very severe dyslexia. The Dyslexia Index is thus designed to be a systematic approach that can use data from a variety of standardised measures, and the weighting factor deliberately biases it in favour of underachievement as a key determinant of dyslexia (see Section 4.1.1 for a discussion of the discrepancy criterion in the identification of dyslexia). However, it is unclear at the present time how widely Turner’s Dyslexia Index is being used. Because construction and use of screening batteries is fraught with difficulties, especially for inexperienced teachers, screening tests specifically designed to identify children with dyslexia have become popular in schools in the past ten years or so. In the USA a number of such screening tests are available, of which DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills; Good & Kaminski, 2002) is a popular one. DIBELS provides measures of phonemic fluency, letter-naming fluency, phonemic segmentation, phonic skills, and oral reading, and has been predictively validated against several wellestablished measures of reading development (see Elliott, Huai & Roach, 2007). In general, these screening tests meet the requirements specified by Satz and Fletcher (1979) that “True screening is rapid and cost effective and does not require professional interpretation.” They mostly take around 30 minutes or less to administer and are relatively low cost. Administration is straightforward and does not require special training. Interpretation of conventional screening tests (i.e. those that are administered by the teacher) requires the addition of raw scores and following a conversion process to arrive at an index of risk or probability of dyslexia. In the case of computerised screening tests, the teacher does not even have to learn how to administer the test items because the computer delivers them, and the calculation of scores and interpretation is also automatic. Currently there are four screening tests that are widely used in UK schools for identifying dyslexia, two of which are conventional tests and the other two are computer-based. In addition, there are a further three computer-based assessment batteries that may be called dyslexia profiling systems. Although not designed specifically for screening (i.e. they are not primarily binary classification tests and do not generate an index of risk or probability of dyslexia), these dyslexia profiling systems are nevertheless widely used for screening in schools. These screening and profiling tests (especially the computer-based tests, which are less demanding of staff time) are sometimes used for general or routine screening, e.g. of a whole class or year group. However at the present time they are more commonly used to assess individual children who are struggling in reading or learning, as a preliminary stage in a process of identifying the nature of the child’s problems so that appropriate intervention can be given. 4.3.3 Conventional dyslexia screening tests The two screening tests in this category are the Dyslexia Early Screening Test [DEST] (Nicolson and Fawcett, 1996), which is designed for screening children aged 4 years 6 months to 6 years 5 months, and the Dyslexia Screening Test [DST] (Fawcett and Nicolson, 1996), which is designed for screening children aged 6 years 6 months to 16 years 6 months. The latter has recently been split into two forms, a junior form DST-J Intervention for Dyslexia 85
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Intervention for Dyslexia A review
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Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........
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4.3.4 Computer-based screening test
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presuppose any neurological link be
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(0.56 for reading accuracy, 0.91 fo
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instruction in phonics, it cannot b
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Acknowledgements I would like to ex
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The remit calls for conclusions to
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Co-occurring difficulties may be se
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Teacher Status (ATS). In general, c
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Table 1. Why use multisensory teach
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pupils are going to be identified a
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coloured overlay as the criterion f
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have reported standard scores; unfo
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2 Intervention studies in the US an
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progressing normally (36 boys and 2
Page 33 and 34: training in phonological awareness,
Page 35 and 36: subtest. All these children were in
Page 37 and 38: intervention identified by Vaughn a
Page 39 and 40: Vaughn & Linan-Thompson, 2003). Ove
Page 41 and 42: 1. Lindamood Auditory Discriminatio
Page 43 and 44: and writing. Students were taught i
Page 45 and 46: evised as the Lindamood Phoneme Seq
Page 47 and 48: 2.5.10 Torgesen et al. (2004) Torge
Page 49 and 50: period 1995-2003 were identified, a
Page 51 and 52: “The actual reading impairment a
Page 53 and 54: from multisyllabic words. Instructi
Page 55 and 56: 3 UK intervention studies 3.1 Stage
Page 57 and 58: and effect sizes of 0.55 for readin
Page 59 and 60: used Lexia for 10 weeks, after whic
Page 61 and 62: structured phonologically-based sec
Page 63 and 64: 3.3.9 SIDNEY Norgate and Bentote (2
Page 65 and 66: Table 6. Summary of results of UK i
Page 67 and 68: Table 6 (continued). Summary of res
Page 69 and 70: Table 6 (continued). Summary of res
Page 71 and 72: 3.4 Studies in UK specialist dyslex
Page 73 and 74: Rack and Walker (1994) presented an
Page 75 and 76: probably require some 1:1 teaching
Page 77 and 78: & Baker, 2008; Frost et al., 2005;
Page 79 and 80: Unlike traditional learning disabil
Page 81 and 82: According to Wolfendale and Bryans
Page 83: cases). Glascoe and Byrne (1993) ar
Page 87 and 88: provided by a study reported in Faw
Page 89 and 90: Against the many advantages of comp
Page 91 and 92: Peer, 1998). A high overall level o
Page 93 and 94: Recently Singleton and Henderson (2
Page 95 and 96: 5.1 Introduction 5.1.1 Scope 5 Read
Page 97 and 98: 5.1.4 Reading Recovery and the teac
Page 99 and 100: writing. To be able to work on word
Page 101 and 102: success of the programme appears to
Page 103 and 104: in a meta-analysis. However, the av
Page 105 and 106: 5.3.2 Every Child a Reader (ECaR) I
Page 107 and 108: phonological awareness compared wit
Page 109 and 110: (accuracy or comprehension or both)
Page 111 and 112: 5.5.2 Key Stage 1 results of Readin
Page 113 and 114: 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2
Page 115 and 116: ‘accelerated progress’ children
Page 117 and 118: It is not until Level 2b that child
Page 119 and 120: Reading Recovery specifically benef
Page 121 and 122: 6 Computer technology and support o
Page 123 and 124: 6.2.1 The advantages of computer as
Page 125 and 126: and Olson, 2000). Software designed
Page 127 and 128: new phonic principle was introduced
Page 129 and 130: impact on reading and spelling, par
Page 131 and 132: Berninger, V.W., & Hidi, S. (2006)
Page 133 and 134: Clay, M.M. (1993a) Observation Surv
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www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primary/p
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Frost, J. & Sørensen, P.M. (2007)
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Hatcher, P.J. (2003) Reading Interv
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Kuhn, M.R. & Stahl, S.A. (2003) Flu
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Marks, A. & Burden, B. (2005) How U
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Olofsson, Å (1992) Synthetic speec
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Reason, R. & Boote, R. (1994) Helpi
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Singleton, C.H. (1977) Dyslexia or
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Speece, D.L., Case, L.P. & Molloy,
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Torgesen, J.K., Alexander, A.W., Wa
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Vaughn, S. & Roberts, G. (2007) Sec
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Wilson, J. & Frederickson, N. (1995
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