Reading difficulties are the most common cause of academic failure and underachievement, and they occur in all countries. Many countries, including the United States, rely on the assessment process to determine eligibility for educational support services. To support our Global Partners and assessment services providers in the U.S. and around the world, the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) Global Partners (GPs) Committee formed a workgroup to develop guidelines for the assessment of dyslexia with recommendations for a consistent approach to evaluate students worldwide. Below we share the Assessment Guidelines for Dyslexia and Related Disorders, to be offered initially for professionals who perform dyslexia assessments for English speaking individuals, with plans to adapt the guidelines to different languages and make these resources available worldwide. The purpose of developing the guidelines was to define the structure and content of a dyslexia assessment which with the ultimate goal of testing to teach. To accomplish this the guidelines emphasize three main goals: (1) Describe the structure (2) Describe the content and (3) Develop an accreditation process.

Goal 1: Describe the Structure of the Assessment

This section explains how an assessment is conducted by focusing on four main areas: history; standardized testing; interpretation of findings, including diagnosis; and a plan for management. These steps are summarized below.

History: The history is the one of the most important elements of the evaluation. It allows the examiner to identify the domains where the student is experiencing impairment. These include academic, behavioral/emotional, social relationships, and health problems. In addition, the history provides a description of the

symptoms and a timetable of the impairment they cause over time. Typical sources of information for a history include the parents/caregivers, student, and teachers. The history should summarize the challenges experienced by the student. The examiner should document what informants observe rather than what they think it is. A thorough educational history will provide documentation of the onset of symptoms and the response to instruction beginning in the preschool years.

Another important component of the history is the documentation of common comorbidities, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, behavior disorders, or health and social/environmental concerns. This provides documentation of factors that can have a significant impact on the learning process, even though they may not be considered a specific symptom of dyslexia.

Testing: The administration of standardized tests is a critical element of the assessment of dyslexia and related disorders. It allows the examiner to quantify the problems described in the history. Standardized tests are intended to assess the elements that define dyslexia.

Another approach to supplement standardized tests is to perform a qualitative assessment of the student. Error analysis of the student’s work can provide valuable information about a student’s learning problems. This approach is vital when standardized tests are unavailable for a specific population’s language (e.g., indigenous populations, countries with regional dialects, etc.). By identifying the skills and functions to be tested, the guidelines provide the structure for the examiner to make observations that may help understand the student’s challenges in the absence of standardized tests. (continued)

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Interpretation and Explanation: This section allows the examiner to integrate the history and test results to identify the factors that contribute to the student’s learning challenges and explain why the student is experiencing problems. At the same time, it quantifies the severity of the problems. Furthermore, the formulation provides the data to support the different diagnoses identified in the assessment. A most important element of the interpretation section of a report is providing the necessary data for the schools to determine if the student meets eligibility criteria for special education services and/or accommodations.

An additional critical component of the interpretation of the report is providing feedback to the family, the student, and the teachers about the findings of the assessment. This process should be guided by five essential questions that should be addressed at the conclusion of each assessment:

• Does the child have a problem? (Is it more than simple developmental variation?)
• What is it called? (Diagnosis)
• What are the causes? (Etiology)
• What can be done about it? (Management)
• What can be expected for the future? (Prognosis)

Providing this feedback helps demystify the problem and focuses on the symptoms that cause impairment, rather than labeling the child. By describing the specific skills that are affected and the impact they have on the student’s learning, the evaluator can explain to the student why he or she is struggling. A diagnosis provides a name for the problem and allows the student and the family to gather more information on the subject. A diagnosis may also provide information required for a student to qualify for services.

Understanding what needs to be done to address the problem should be the ultimate goal of the assessment. That is, testing should guide teaching! Finally, providing the parents, student, and teachers with reasonable expectations can offer hope and allow the family to plan for a realistic future.

Plan: The goal of an assessment is to guide the instructional approach for the individual student. It gathers data to inform decisions regarding the plan of intervention. If the student is identified as having dyslexia, Structured Literacy is the educational intervention. If comorbidities are found as a result of the evaluation, they should be addressed as they can have a significant impact on student learning and self-regulation. The management plan for a child with learning and/or behavioral challenges focuses on four major areas of intervention:

• Educational—These would include educational remediation and accommodations.
• Psychological—Behavior modification and cognitive behavior therapy can be effective in addressing externalizing and internalizing disorders.
• Medical—Medications are often needed to address problems commonly associated with dyslexia, such as ADHD, anxiety, and depression. Similarly, there may be a need to address medical factors that affect learning, such as sleep problems and chronic health conditions.
• Environmental—Making physical facility adaptations can have a dramatic impact in a child’s learning. Preferential seating, testing in a separate room, providing small group instruction, or transferring to a school that specializes in teaching students with learning challenges are some examples of this type of intervention. (continued)

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Goal 2: Describe the Content of the Assessment

This section lists what functions and skills must be included as part of the assessment based on the definition of dyslexia and the Simple View of Reading. The Simple View of Reading explains reading using the formula Decoding x Linguistic Comprehension = Reading Comprehension. The definition of dyslexia and the Simple View of Reading are based on scientific research and offer a clear description of the functions and skills that must be included as part of the evaluation. The workgroup also used the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-5 Edition’s criteria for the diagnosis of a specific learning disorder with impairment in reading, which includes the assessment of common coexisting conditions.

At a minimum, an assessment should include the evaluation of cognitive abilities (e.g., language comprehension and skills, background knowledge, executive functions, visual-spatial abilities, and processing speed), single word decoding (e.g., phonological processing and accurate and fluent word recognition), and spelling abilities.

Goal 3: Develop an IDA Accreditation for the Assessment of Dyslexia

This goal is intended to provide a process for endorsement/accreditation by IDA based on the assessment guidelines and provide assistance to evaluators to align their dyslexia evaluations with best practices.

In order to develop an appropriate accreditation process and to continue enhancing the Assessment Guidelines for Dyslexia and Related Disorders, the workgroup plans to conduct additional pilot projects with several of IDA’s Global Partners. This will provide further opportunity to refine the data collection process, as well as establish the procedures needed to conduct an efficient and effective accreditation program for English speaking individuals. The plans are for the Global Partners to continue their collaboration with IDA, consult with dyslexia experts from various countries, and subsequently adapt the assessment guidelines in other languages. This will ultimately allow for the development of an evaluation and identification process for dyslexia from which a standard can ensue.
References (for a complete list of references, please click here.)

Eric Tridas, MD, FAAP practiced developmental and behavioral pediatrics in the Tampa Bay Area for 37 years. He is founder and Senior Partner of The Tridas Group, a developmental pediatrics consulting and software company. Dr. Tridas is a member of the Professional Advisory Board of the Learning Disability Association of America, Past President of the International Dyslexia Association, and an IDA representative on the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities. He is also the State Medical Director for Pediatric Health Choice for Florida-Prescribed Pediatric Extended Care Facilities (PPEC) and was a Clinical Associate Professor in Pediatrics at the University of South Florida, Morsani College of Medicine. Dr. Tridas is the recipient of the 2017 International Dyslexia Association Margaret Byrd Rawson Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the International Dyslexia Association Sylvia Richardson Hall of Fame. He also received the 2012 IMSLEC Innovator Award. Dr. Tridas edited and co-authored From ABC to ADHD: What Every Parent Should Know About Dyslexia and ADHD.