Reading Assessments • Assessing Reading Difficulties and Disabilities • Reading Skills • Tests That Measure Reading • Answers to Questions About Reading Tests • Assessing Reading: Special Factors In this chapter, you will learn about reading difficulties and disabilities, such as dyslexia, and how reading is assessed. You will learn about reading skills, tests that are used to measure reading skills, and answers to frequently asked questions about reading tests. Reading is the gateway skill to learning. In third grade, the focus of your child’s education changes from learning to read to reading to learn. Your child will use reading skills to learn history, science, geography, literature, math, and other subjects in the curriculum. All About Tests and Assessments If your child has not learned to read by the Assessing Reading Difficulties end of third grade, he will be in trouble. He and Disabilities will not be able to learn independently from A comprehensive reading assessment should books. He will not understand what the measure your child’s decoding and receptive teachers write on the board. He will not be language skills. able to write reports and essays. He will fall further behind his classmates. If he is like The decoding part of the evaluation should most children with reading problems, he include tests of: will not catch up unless he receives a well- • Alphabet designed, research-based intervention. • Word identification (word recognition) There are many reasons why children do not read fluently by third grade. If you suspect • Word attack (phonics) that your child has reading difficulties or a • Spelling reading disability, get an evaluation now. Do not delay. A reading assessment is the first • Fluency (rate and accuracy) step in identifying your child’s problems and • Passage comprehension developing solutions so he can improve his The receptive language portion should reading. include tests that measure listening comprehension and vocabulary. Listening comprehension tests measure how well your child understands language. These tests can Children Who Are Poor Readers in alert you to receptive language problems that 3rd Grade Do Not Catch Up affect reading comprehension. “75% of children who were poor Weaknesses in phonological processing skills readers in the 3rd grade remained are the leading cause of reading disabilities. poor readers in the 9th grade and A comprehensive reading assessment should could not read well when they include tests that measure: became adults.” • Phonological/phonemic awareness – Joseph Torgeson in Catch Them Before They Fall • Phonological memory www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/ • Rapid naming springsummer1998/torgesen.pdf If your child has a history of speech and language problems or you suspect that he has 2 Chapter 6. Reading Assessments a language problem, a comprehensive reading 4. Listening capacity or potential level: assessment should include a speech and The child understands material that is language assessment.1 read to him. Your child’s hearing and vision should be An informal reading inventory may not be checked. It is important to rule out problems used to determine if a child is eligible for with visual acuity. Most reading difficulties special education or in other high-stakes are not caused by vision problems and cannot education decisions. be corrected by vision-related therapies. The school wants to do a screening The school wants to do an informal test of my child’s reading. What is a reading assessment on my child. What screening test? is an informal reading assessment? A screening test is a brief assessment that An informal reading assessment may be a is intended to identify children who are at teacher-made test or an informal reading risk for educational or learning problems. inventory (IRI). It can also be the end of the Screening tests are limited and may not unit test from the reading program that is identify a child’s problems that need to be used with all the students. evaluated. Screening tests should never be used in place of a comprehensive evaluation.2 Teacher-made tests are based on the curriculum and prepared by teachers. Who can evaluate my child’s Teachers use scores to measure their students’ reading skills? progress. Reading specialists, learning disability Informal reading inventories include specialists, special educators, speech and graded word lists, graded passages, and language pathologists, clinical psychologists, comprehension questions for the passages. and school psychologists evaluate reading Informal reading inventories usually classify skills. four levels of reading skill: Can you test a child for dyslexia? 1. Independent level: The child reads without assistance. Yes. Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that affects language. 2. Instructional level: The child finds the material challenging, not too hard or A child with dyslexia will have difficulty too easy. reading accurately and fluently. Spelling will be poor. Most children with dyslexia have 3. Frustration level: The child is weaknesses in phonological processing. 3 frustrated when trying to understand Many also have weaknesses in rapid naming. what he reads. 3 All About Tests and Assessments Most standardized, norm-referenced tests that are used to test for learning disabilities sounds. The ability to perceive and are also used to evaluate children for dyslexia. manipulate individual sounds is most important. Did You Know? Rapid Automatic Naming (RAN): Dyslexia is listed as a specific Child names colors, objects, letters, or learning disability in IDEA. numbers in series. Letter naming is the Dyslexia is listed as a most important skill for reading. specific learning disability in the Individuals with Letter &Word Identification (L/W ID): Disabilities Education Act and Child recognizes regular and irregular implementing regulations. words in a list. Younger children and See the definition of “specific poor readers recognize letters. learning disability” in the Word Attack (WA): Child recognizes federal law and special nonsense words. Nonsense words are education regulations.4 made-up words that assess skill with phonics. Reading Skills Reading Vocabulary (RV): Child provides antonyms, synonyms, or No test measures all reading skills. Different complete analogies in response to tests measure different skills. Reading skills written words. include: Reading Comprehension (RC): Child Letters (LTRS): Child identifies letters answers open-ended or multiple-choice names and sounds, or points to letters in questions, points to pictures, or fills in response to letter names or sounds. missing words. Different methods for Phonological Awareness (PA): assessing comprehension may result in Phonemic awareness is an umbrella term different scores, depending on the child’s that refers to the awareness of individual profile. sounds in words. It includes skills at the Fluency and Automaticity (FL/AU): word, syllable, and individual sound Child reads passages aloud while level. This skill serves as the foundation being timed. Tests of automaticity and for learning to read. accuracy require the child to read real In tests of phonological awareness the words and/or nonsense words while child rhymes words, segments sounds being timed. in words, blends sounds, and identifies 4 Chapter 6. Reading Assessments Listening Comprehension (LC): The KTEA-II is under revision. You will find Child answers questions based on additional information and updates at www. passages that are read to him. LC can pearsonassessments.com. provide important information about The Wechsler Individual Achievement Test, comprehension difficulties. Third Edition (WIAT-III) measures the reading skills checked in Table 6-1. The Tests That Measure Reading WIAT-III oral language subtest results should Your child’s reading should be assessed by be interpreted with caution. They are not a tests that measure specific skills. Achievement substitute for a comprehensive evaluation of tests can assess multiple subjects or a single receptive and expressive language skills. subject. Frequently used multiple-subject The WIAT-III has an unusual way of scoring achievement tests used to assess reading skills the reading comprehension test for children include: who read significantly below grade level. If • Kaufman Test of Educational your child is a poor reader but his score on Achievement, Second Edition (KTEA-II) the WIAT-III reading comprehension test is high, ask the evaluator whether he was • Wechsler Individual Achievement Test, dropped back to below grade-level passages. Third Edition (WIAT-III) Sometimes children earn high scores because • Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of they are not actually reading grade-level text. Achievement (WJ III ACH) The WIAT-III may be scored by computer or The Kaufman Test of Educational by hand. Achievement, Second Edition (KTEA- Many evaluators use the WIAT-III together II) provides valuable information about with the Wechsler tests of intelligence so they phonological awareness, oral fluency, and can compare ability and achievement. See reading fluency. The oral language subtests Chapter 4 for information about the Wechsler are not a substitute for a speech and language and other tests of intelligence. Additional evaluation. Check Table 6-1 for the reading information about the Wechsler tests is skills measured by the KTEA-II. available at www.psychcorp.come In addition to composite and subtest scores, The Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of the KTEA-II provides an error analysis Achievement (WJ III