Dyslexia

TESTING FOR DYSLEXIA

 

Functional Academic and Learning Skills Evaluation

 

A comprehensive Functional Academic and Learning Skills Evaluation (Functional Evaluation, for short) was created at Stowell Learning Centers to screen for dyslexia and any other co-existing learning disability.

 

Dyslexia is a total thinking style, so in the Functional Evaluation, we screen for more than language and reading skills. Parent and student input regarding family history, strengths and challenges is very important along with formal and informal testing. We do a careful analysis of the types of errors the student makes, and observation of what reading and writing looks like for that particular student.

 

Here are key factors to evaluate in determining if a student is dyslexic and the best avenue for treatment:

• Is there a family history of dyslexia?
• What are the person’s talents or abilities?
• Are there retained or unintegrated reflexes that are interfering with visual skills, attention, and crossing the midline of the body?
• Auditory processing including discrimination of sounds, memory, auditory attention, stamina, and ear dominance for language
• Visual processing and memory for letters, sequences of symbols, and words
• Visual processing and visualization of non-symbolic information / 3D thinking
• Phonetic decoding, sight words, reading fluency
• Difficulty learning or writing the alphabet
• Reading comprehension versus listening comprehension
• How does the student approach unfamiliar words?
• Symptoms of disorientation or neuro timing deficits when reading or writing
• Omit, add, substitute, repeat, or switch sounds or words
• Spelling

 

 

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How Is Dyslexia Testing Different At Stowell Learning Centers?

Some eye doctors and vision therapists diagnose dyslexia and look at the reflexes and visual skills connected with reading.  School psychologists or educational psychologists may provide information about the thinking skills that make up intelligence as well as reading skills in order to determine a diagnosis.

What’s missing is a real understanding of how that student is approaching reading, what compensations they are using, what underdeveloped or underused processing skills are really at the root of the challenges, and what to do about it.

 

The dyslexic thinking style is more than reading difficulties. In fact, many people with dyslexia can read, though it may be slow and inefficient.  Dyslexic students tend to use their strengths to compensate, sometimes causing their dyslexia to get missed.

 

In order to truly address the underlying skills at the root of the challenges, a functional evaluation is needed to look at all different aspects of the dyslexic thinking style, what skills underneath reading are keeping the dyslexic brain from getting the information needed to read accurately and fluently.

 

The purpose of the functional evaluation is to understand the student’s particular dyslexic profile in order to create a targeted plan to address the weak underlying skills and the most effective programming for remediating the reading, writing, and spelling difficulties.

 

 

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What Are the Different Types of Dyslexia?

 

There are three primary types of dyslexia and four combination types:

1. Dysnemkinesia (difficulty remembering and writing  letter symbols without reversals)
2. Dysphonesia (difficulty connecting sound and  symbol in order to use phonics for reading and  spelling)
3. Dyseidesia (difficulty visually recognizing whole words for reading and recalling the visual image for  spelling)
4. Dysphoneidesia (difficulty connecting sound and symbol in order to use phonics for reading and spelling and  difficulty visually recognizing whole words for reading and recalling the visual image for spelling)
5. Dysnemkinphonesia (difficulty remembering and writing letter symbols without reversals and difficulty connecting sound and symbol in order to use phonics for reading and spelling)
6. Dysnemkineidesia (difficulty remembering and writing letter symbols without reversals and difficulty visually recognizing whole words for reading and recalling the visual image for spelling)
7. Dysnemkinphoneidesia (difficulty remembering and writing letter symbols without reversals,  difficulty connecting sound and symbol in order to use phonics for reading and spelling, and difficulty visually recognizing whole words for reading and recalling the visual image for spelling)

 

 

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Is Stowell Learning Center Able to Test for All Types of Dyslexia?

At Stowell Learning Center, we test for all seven types of dyslexia and explore the various aspects of reading, as well as the processing skills that are frequently associated with dyslexia:

• Auditory processing
• Visual processing
• Phonemic awareness
• Neuro timing
• Memory
• Attention
• Processing speed

 

 

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Do I Need an Official Diagnosis of Dyslexia, or Can Stowell Learning Center Provide One?

We do not need an official diagnosis in order to create a treatment plan. Many of our students come to us with undiagnosed learning disabilities.

 

While we can provide a diagnosis of dyslexia, our goal is not to diagnose or qualify students for special services, but rather to determine the root cause of the struggles with learning or attention parents are reporting to us.

The prevalence of dyslexia is about 1 in 5 people so many students may be unaware and undiagnosed. It is possible for someone with dyslexia to not pass dyslexia evaluations due to the way the testing is conducted, or how well a student’s coping mechanisms mask their dyslexia.

 

Regardless of an official diagnosis, our Functional Evaluation enables us to pinpoint weak underlying processing skills that can be strengthened to boost learning.

 

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