What is Dyslexia?
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Transcript What is Dyslexia?
MidYIS Reading Test:
Assessment of Phonological &
Phonic Abilities
2 Types, 2 interventions?
Bernardine King
Thanks to:
All pilot and pre-pilot schools.
Andrew Lyth
Summary
1.
2.
3.
4.
Dyslexia – what is it?
Theoretical rationale behind the test
sections.
Results from Pilot.
Applications & Limitations of test –
what can it be used for?
The Task
To produce a screener that is:
Accurate.
Short, making holistic statements.
Suggests definite courses of action.
Purpose of Test
Part of a new reading test for MidYIS intended to assess
various levels of literacy ability:
Phonological & phonic skills. Providing
information useful in deciding who may
need specialist assessment for dyslexia,
etc.
Vocabulary – picture and sound.
Comprehension - component skills, e.g.
inference making.
Advantages of the Test
Fits within a lesson.
Short sub-tests and partly adaptive,
designed to minimize stress.
Gives an overall estimate of the
likelihood of having a literacy difficulty
such as dyslexia. But does NOT
diagnose it!
Advantages of the Test, cont’d
Suggests the type of deficit, so can inform future strategies.
Synergies with the main MidYIS test – offers an holistic
picture of the student.
Rose Report, June 2009
What is Dyslexia?
The review’s working definition:
1.
A learning difficulty that primarily affects
the skills involved in accurate
and fluent word reading and spelling.
What is Dyslexia?
2. Characteristic difficulties in:
phonological awareness
verbal memory
verbal processing speed.
What is Dyslexia?
3. Occurs across the range of intellectual
abilities.
4. A continuum, not a distinct category.
5. No clear cut-off points.
Ehri’s phases of Reading
Development
Letter-sound links:
Consolidated
Full alphabetic
Partial alphabetic
Pre-alphabetic
All links including
exception spellings
All regular spellings
Some = ‘partial’
None, iconic reading:
eg
m in mcDonalds
Partial Alphabetic Phase
•Letter confusions, b/d, p/q/
•Nonword reading problems:
‘pib’
‘dalop’
•Salient letters of words attended
to, eg 1st & last letters
Rationale Behind the Test
Sections
Test phonological and phonic skills.
Phonology- word sounds.
Phonological processing deficit in
dyslexia.
Phonic problems – relating graphemes
(letters & letter groups) to the
corresponding sounds (phonemes).
Tests of Phonology Made-up word (nonword) reading,
adaptive test.
‘Sounds’ test – identifying sounds
in words.
Phonological Short Term Memoryforward & backward digit span.
Design of Sub Tests
‘Nonword reading’ and ‘Sounds’ –
adaptive, to:
match difficulty of items to student
ability;
Reduce assessment load and time.
Phonics
Nonword reading- relating graphemes
to phonemes.
‘Sounds’- sounds to letters, as in
spelling.
Pseudohomophone test- made-up
words (pseudowords) that sound like
real words, e.g. phocks = fox. Also, test
of phonology.
Pseudohomophone Test
Pseudo = made-up word
Homophone = sounds like
Requires many visual and auditory skills:
e.g. reading ‘phocks’
grapheme separation: ‘ph’ ‘o’ ‘ck’ ‘s’
grapheme-phoneme conversion:
‘ph’> /f/ ‘o’> /o/ ‘ck’ > /k/ ‘s’> /s/
Phoneme blending:
/f/ /o/ /k/ /s/
Then..
Pseudohomophone Test cont.
Match sound package of blended
phonemes with items in known sound
vocabulary.
/f/ + /o/ + /k/ + /s/ = ‘fox’
Added difficulty – word search format.
Visual search problems in dyslexia.
Choose 5 out of 16 on each of 5 screens.
Guessing
Nonword reading: 1 in 4 chance. Forced
choice multiple choice.
‘Sounds’: 1 in 4 chance. Forced choice
multiple choice.
Word Search (pseudohomophones): 5
in 16 chance. Can move on without
answering.
Design of Sub Tests
‘Lyrebird’ Test – an adaptation of a
spoken digit span test for computer.
Lack of visual distraction- black screen
with fixation spot.
Response entered on screen.
Max number of digits = 8, to reduce
assessment load and time.
Memory
Problems with phonological STM
common in dyslexia. Order problemse.g. telephone numbers.
Backward digit span –measure of
working memory.
Short backward digit span often found in
dyslexia.
The Pilot
Pre-pilot: 7 schools.
Schools who returned both test files and
validation data (n=808):
22 were Independent (all England)
2 were International (1 Vietnam, 1 Qatar)
6 were State schools (3 England, 3 Northern
Ireland).
Schools who only returned test files:
14 Independent (all England)
8 State (7 England, 1 Wales)
344
Results
Genetic program, ‘Eureqa’ (Schmidt &
Lipson, e2009).
Suggested 2 different cognitive profiles.
NVR-strong group, n= 66, distinct from
NVR-strong typicals by relationship
between nonword reading and Word
Search.
NVR-weak group, with phonologicsl
profile indistinct from NVR-weak
typicals.
Phonic Profiles
Phonics = relationship between
graphemes (letters/letter groups) and
phonemes (the sounds associated with
those graphemes).
Asynchrony hypothesis ( e.g. Breznitz,
2002; King, 2009; King, Wood &
Faulkner, 2008). Lack of auditory-visual
integration in dyslexia.
Vector reflecting relationship between
phonological and visual abilities /
speed of processing.
Specific strategies suggested
by Type from Test
Vocabulary stronger than NVR type:
Visuo-spatial memory or cognitive
manipulation problem?
Practising mental rotations and
reflections may help both the NVR and
reading skills?
Memory visualisations?
Strategies for NVR-Strong
Dyslexics
Poor reverse digit span cf NVR-type
typical students implies that training in
improving working memory may help.
BUT their memory skills are
commensurate with typical readers of
the strong vocabulary type!
Phonology? Subject choices- eg
languages.
What do Children with Dyslexia
think makes good teaching?
IDP: 118 (52 primary, 66 secondary) children
surveyed.
‘Show don’t just tell’.
Be enthusiastic.
Help if I get stuck.
Be brief, don’t ramble.
Write things clearly.
Encourage and reward attempts.
2. What do Children with
Dyslexia think makes good
teaching?
Don’t speak too fast.
Don’t rush me.
Have instructions on the board as a
reminder.
Don’t embarrass me in front of the class.
Tell me where to begin.
Give me time to think before I begin a task.
Uses & Limitations of the Test
Audit of phonological abilities of a
cohort.
Shows strengths & weaknesses.
Does not diagnose dyslexia.
Cannot identify ‘recovered’ dyslexic
readers.
Shows marked phonological / phonic
difficulties.