Dyslexia Assessment

This lecture provides a general background about me; your Course Tutor and highlights both my work experience and qualifications as well as my international affiliations. It also lists some of my relevant publications in the field of dyslexia specially those related to dyslexia assessment. 

The first part of this lecture deals with the issue of Dyslexia Definition. In this part, I provide two examples of dyslexia definitions: An American and a British one. I utilize the definition proposed by the International Dyslexia Association in the US and the definition of the British Dyslexia Association in the UK. I also encourage course participants to join these two organizations to obtain accurate and relevant information regarding dyslexia assessment.

In this part, I explain the difference between Dyslexia and SpLDs and I also highlight the fact that dyslexia is indeed a disability that needs to be acknowledged and that students with dyslexia must be given access to help and support both at home and at school in order to overcome the barriers to their learning.   

This lecture explains the difference between developmental dyslexia and acquired dyslexia. I explain that dyslexia is congenital (occurs from birth) and its developmental nature. I also comment about the causes of dyslexia and explains the role of teaching, home and school support. Although Dyslexia is not your fault, it is your problem and I stress the need to manage this assessment and later on intervention of course. I also highlight the fact that dyslexia is not a disease and that there is no cure for it; it is rather a disorder that needs to be identified and helped.    

In this lecture I provide the various signs and symptoms of dyslexia according to the age of the individual. Both parents and teachers will find such information useful as it will highlight the need for seeking a professional help if you observe many of those signs in your child or student. A word of caution though, teachers and parents should not diagnose and only qualified professionals should do so. Those signs are there to help alert you for the need of a follow up or the need to start the next step.

This lecture explains the related problems that always accompany dyslexia such as poor verbal short term working memory, poor organizational skills and poor time table and time management skills. It also talks about co-morbid cases when some students have more than one presenting disorders such as dyslexia and ADHD for instance.

This lecture describes the Observation Process and highlights its importance and it also provides an example of an Observational Framework. Observation is the first port of call in the dyslexia assessment journey and is therefore extremely important and valuable. Observation can be taken from observed behaviour at home or at school but preferably from both settings.

This lecture deals with the important issue of screening tests. What are they? How do we screen for students with dyslexia? How long are they? Can they be pen and paper or only electronic? Do they replace assessment? What do we look for when we screen and why? 

This lecture explains the difference between screening and assessment (full psycho-educational evaluations). Examples are drawn from the IDA website and the BDA website which is very helpful to show the difference between dyslexia screening and dyslexia assessment.

This lecture provides a general background regarding assessment as an information gathering process. It explains what assessment is and what is the difference between assessment and testing. It also highlights the conditions of a good assessment and how the results of the assessment process are then converted into meaningful grades and numbers which are later used in an evaluative manner to help the child being assessed.

This lecture explains the various components of dyslexia assessment. It first highlights the various difficulties the assessor look for when carrying out the assessment  and then the discrepancies many students with dyslexia have in their various subjects and abilities. 

This final lecture deals with the various dyslexia assessment steps starting from the initial observation then the teacher or the parent referral or the school screening and finally leading up to the full psycho-educational evaluation. The steps are presented in a clear format and structure to enable the course participants deeper understanding of the whole process of dyslexia assessment.   

This segment tells the funny story of Sherlock Homes and his faithful friend Dr. Watson and uses humor to highlight the importance of observation both at school and at home to identify early students with dyslexia.