Children face a lot of hardships and problems the moment they step in school. It can be a both fun and exhilarating experience being enrolled to school while at the same time bring to the table a lot of difficulties and challenges. This is often the time parents are able to find out about the personality and behavior of their child which tends to develop and become visibly clear. The same however, can also be said with regards to disabilities. One of them in particular is dyslexia. How is a dyslexia test conducted?
Dslexia is described as a defect in the brain’s processing of graphic symbols which results to a reading disability. In a way it alters the brain processes written material making it a learning disability. As a result, people who have dyslexia often have difficulties word recognition, spelling and decoding. This is why it is important for parents to check for behavioral symptoms to help provide their kids with timely and effectively solutions in an effort to help their problems.
It should be noted that no definitive tests for dyslexia exists just yet. Parents however, can seek a brief assessment to a full psychoeducational battery of tests. For instance, an IQ test can be administered to help determine if there is a gap between what the child is capable of and what he is actually achieving. The Stanford-Binet Fifth Edition (SBV) as well as the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV) is included in these tests. Parents however should not feel any worries about these tests as they don’t necessarily require the child to be reading but instead test their reasoning skills and problem-solving abilities.
Once the tests are over and find out that there is indeed a gap between achievement and IQ, administering further tests regarding specific components of reading, spelling, and language will be administered by the tester to determine why such gap exist. General Language and Oral Language Skills, Phonemic Awareness and Alphabetic Knowledge, Reading Skills, Spelling and Composition Skills, and Handwriting are among the areas being tested.
However, before you decide to submit your child to such tests, it is important to discuss with them the issue with your evaluator while at the same time figure out why you want to have it done or what you want to accomplish. This in turn will help the evaluator come up with appropriate testing that is best for your child. A reading tutor or language therapist can help you run a brief screening test or assessment. Usually it takes one to two hours for an assessment to be completed plus additional time if you require the evaluator to provide you with a written report of the findings.
It should be noted even with the latest technologies, a cure for dyslexia still does not exists yet. Dyslexia however is not considered to be a lost cause especially since a huge number of children were able to find success in school with the help of tutoring or a specialized education program.