Evaluation and Dyslexia Center™
provides full and individual evaluations
for struggling readers
Services include consultations with parents, comprehensive evaluations for specific learning disabilities, including but not limited to dyslexia, dysgraphia, and related disorders, and a full written report identifying a child’s strengths and weaknesses.
R.E.A.D.
Dyslexia is a hot topic with the recent legislation changes to the Dyslexia Handbook requiring referrals/requests for testing to go through special education. Public schools are required to respond to a parent request for an evaluation within 15 school days. If a school agrees to conduct an evaluation, they have 45 school days to test and an additional 30 calendar days to report on the evaluation. Early intervention is ESSENTIAL to remediating struggles with reading and the legal timelines can be frustrating to a parent just wanting answers to their child’s struggles. R.E.A.D. Evaluation and Dyslexia Center™ provides full evaluations and a written report within a reasonable time frame.
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is defined as an unexpected difficulty in learning to read.
“Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.”
Adopted by the IDA Board of Directors, Nov. 12, 2002.
What is Dyslexia?
Primary reading/spelling characteristics:
● Difficulty reading words in isolation
● Difficulty accurately decoding unfamiliar words
● Difficulty with oral reading (slow, inaccurate, labored, lacks prosody)
● Difficulty spelling
Most often associated with:
● Segmenting, blending, and manipulating sounds in words (phonemic awareness)
● Learning the names of letters and their associated sounds
● Holding information about sounds and words in memory (phonological memory)
● Rapidly recalling the names of familiar objects, colors, or letters of the alphabet (rapid naming)
Characteristics of Dyslexia:
Importance of Early Identification
● The earlier the intervention, the easier it is to remediate.
● If intervention is not provided before the age of 8, the probability of reading difficulties continuing into high school is 75%.
● The rapid growth of the brain and its responsiveness to instruction in the primary years make the time from birth to age 8 a critical period for literacy development.
● Characteristics associated with reading difficulties are connected to spoken language. Difficulties in young children can be assessed through screenings of phonemic awareness and other phonological skills.
● Increases the chances of sparing a child from the negative secondary consequences associated with reading failure, such as decline in self-confidence and depression.