Diagnosis

=How is Dyslexia diagnosed?= If a student’s learning does not accelerate enough with supplemental instruction to reach the established grade-level benchmarks, and other kinds of developmental disorders are ruled out, he or she may be identified as learning disabled in reading. The majority of students thus identified are likely to be dyslexic. Schools are encouraged to begin screening children in kindergarten to identify any child who exhibits the **early signs of** potential reading difficulties.

If children continue to experience difficulties, an evaluation to formally diagnose dyslexia is needed. Such an evaluation traditionally has included intellectual and academic achievement testing, as well as an assessment of the critical underlying language skills that are closely linked to dyslexia. These include receptive (listening) and expressive language skills, phonological skills including to phonemic awareness, and also a student’s ability to rapidly name letters and names. A student’s ability to read lists of words in isolation, as well as words in context, should also be assessed. If a profile emerges that is characteristic of dyslexic readers, an individualized intervention plan should be developed, which should include appropriate accommodations, such as extended time. In Australia this testing is usually done by [|Speech Therapists]and [|Psychologists] but every case is different so diagnosis can be quite difficult. Source: The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) [|http://www.interdys.org]

Dyslexia Index