If you are concerned that your child has been struggling with reading, you may need to consider a learning disability assessment. In Springfield, NJ, Dr. Shifrin offers to test for disabilities like dyslexia, which can help identify exactly what your child is struggling with. Here’s what you need to know about the assessment for dyslexia.
What Skills Are Tested
In this test, there are four main skills that are assessed:
- Decoding, which means the child’s ability to recognize familiar words quickly
- Phonological awareness, which mans the child’s ability to isolate the sounds in each part of a word
- Reading comprehension, which means the ability to comprehend the meaning of the words that the child is reading
- Rapid naming, which is another way of saying reading fluency
What Happens During the Test
During a learning disability assessment for dyslexia, the evaluator will go through several tests with your child. They will start with decoding, in which the child will read a list of words. Some will be real, and some will be fake. The child will be asked to recognize the fake words.
The next test is for phonological awareness. The presenter may ask the child things like “What sound is left in the word “dog” if we take away the first sound?”. They may also do things like say “Ba….na” and ask the child to fill in the middle sound while showing them a photo of a banana.
The next test is for reading comprehension. In this test, children as asked to read a passage of text out loud, and then a few open-ended questions are asked about the content of the text. Some tests also include multiple-choice questions.
Finally, rapid naming tests will involve being shown cards with things like letters and numbers on them. The child is asked to name the letter or number as quickly as they can as the evaluator shuffles through the cards.
What’s Next?
After these tests are performed, the evaluator will consider how well the child performed, and based on that, can diagnose the child with dyslexia if they are struggling in these areas. By pinpointing which of these areas the child struggles in the most, the evaluator can suggest actions to take to help the child develop their skills. If you are interested in a learning disability assessment in Springfield, NJ for your child, contact Dr. Joshua Shifrin at 123-966-0309. You can pay a visit to Facebook page for more information.
