Funded by

Building an Identification Toolkit

Funded by

Silver Level: Identification of Dyslexia and other SpLDSchool Commitment• Commitment to identification, including early identification

CPD & Awareness of Dyslexia and other SpLD

Pupil and Parent Voice• Questionnaire for children included with Checklist• School ‘at risk’ identification process includes liaison with parentsIdentification• Building an Identification Toolkit training session• Lead person appointed to co-ordinate and oversee screening processes.• Appropriate identification tools selected.

Support and Intervention

2

Funded by

Session aims and outcomesBy the end of this session you will:• be familiar with the stages involved in a graduated response

to identification;• understand the purposes and outcomes of an effective

identification process;• be familiar with issues involved in selecting suitable

screening/identification tools for your school;• have a basic understanding of what standardised tests tell us;• be more confident in reading and responding to a full

diagnostic report;• know when and how to signpost for further advice.

Funded by

Early IdentificationThe SEND Code of Practice

All schools should have a clear approach to identifying and responding to SEN. The benefits of early identification are widely recognised – identifying need at the earliest point and then making effective provision improves long-term outcomes for the child or young person.

4

Funded by

Session overview• The case for early identification• What is assessment• The characteristics of SpLD and Dyslexia• First steps in a graduated response• Intervention Placement Tests (criterion referenced)• Levels of assessment• Checklists and Screeners• Choosing individual identification tools • Assessing EAL• What do (norm referenced) tests tell us• Diagnostic Reports: Structure and Use• Choosing and Planning Interventions• Monitoring Progress• Where can you find out more?

5

Funded by

Early years: identifying children ‘at risk’• Research clearly indicates some characteristics are closely

correlated with later difficulty.• False positives and negatives are unavoidable• Areas of concern in Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS):

• Receptive and expressive language development• Vocabulary development• Alphabet knowledge• Phonology• Memory• Attention• Motor-coordination• Family history of dyslexia and SpLD

• Main carer concerns6

Funded by

Why assess?

• Understand how things are and why• Develop a complete picture of the individual• Gather information to make a decision• Derive individual education plan (IEP)

Funded by

What is Assessment?

• Different types of assessment– Criterion referenced – to a fixed benchmark – Norm referenced – to peers– Ipsative – to self over time: monitoring progress

8

Funded by

The nature of SpLD and DyslexiaWhat might we want to investigate?

9

Funded by

The nature of SpLD and Dyslexia• What might we want to investigate?

• Verbal Working Memory• Phonological Awareness• Verbal Processing Speed• Visual Perception• Motor skills• Visual memory

• What else might be useful?• Receptive and expressive language• Literacy attainment • Maths Attainment

• Other?10

Funded by

Screening/Assessment: a graduated response

• Observation and Background Information• Intervention placement tests• Checklists• Commercial screeners• Assessment of individual difficulties• Diagnostic Assessment

11

Funded by

Graduated response: first steps

• Identifying children ‘at risk’ of future failure• Class teacher observations• Child view• Parent view– Family history– Medical issues

• Examining response to appropriate adaptations to teaching and intervention

12

Funded by

Placement Tests

• Criterion referenced – what a child does and does not know, regardless of age

• Tailors the intervention precisely to the child• Where to start – slightly below level better

than slightly above• Placement test can be re-administered to

evaluate progress and impact of the intervention

13

Funded by

ActivityLevels of Assessment

With a partner, complete the grid by identifying which description belongs to each level of assessment: Checklist, Screener, Assessment of individual difficulties, or Diagnostic Assessment

14

Funded by

Checklists and Screeners

• Checklist is a basic type of screener• Help identify patterns of difficulties• Checklists and screeners do not diagnose• High percentage of false positives/negatives• Judgement and caution need to be exercised• Format may disadvantage some • Screener information can inform direction of

further assessment

15

Funded by

Case study: Tim

Haunted ca

ve

Mobile

Funny w

ords

Word chopping

S-W re

ading

Sentence

read

ing

Spellin

g

Reasoning

0102030405060708090

2214

517

2

2011

87

Centile scores

With thanks to Lucid research

Funded by

Activity Evaluating screener reports• In a group, compare the reports from some

well known screeners•How are scores reported?•What additional information – if any –

would you like them to include?

17

Funded by

Assessment for individual difficulties• When is more formal assessment

needed?• What is the purpose of testing?– To identify/confirm a specific difficulty– To measure the extent of a difficulty– To observe a difficulty under test conditions– To monitor progress – check retest intervals

18

Funded by

The purpose of identification is to work out what action the school

needs to take, not to fit a pupil into a category…..The support provided to an individual should always be based on a full understanding of

their particular strengths and needs and seek to address them all

using well-evidenced intervention targeted at their areas of difficulty

and where necessary specialist equipment or software.

SEND Code of Practice

19

Funded by

Considerations for choosing assessment tools

• Is it reliable? Is it valid? Is it well standardised?• How old is the test? Are norms out of date?• Age range of test. Extremes are not as reliable as

those in the middle.• Check item difficulty. Are the earliest items

accessible? Are there sufficient items?• UK or US norms. US children start school later and so

exaggerate the abilities of young UK• The impact of EAL• Administration and scoring instructions. Are they

clear?20

Funded by

Action• Choose current tests that have been

standardised on a large representative sample• Check that it comprehensively tests the

particular skills you want to investigate• Check the reliability coefficient• Check that the individual is well within the age

range and can access the lowest items• Check administration instructions and do not

deviate from them in any way

21

Funded by

‘Characteristic features of dyslexia are difficulties in phonological awareness, verbal memory and verbal processing

speed.’Rose Review 2009

22

Funded by

Verbal Short Term and Working Memory• A key area for learning and beyond• Verbal short term memory is often tested using the repetition of

increasing sequences of number/letter/word strings• Verbal working memory is tested via the manipulation of the

above strings• Always ask what strategies were used. Visual strategies would

invalidate result as a test of verbal working memory• Observations can also be made in other areas of testing which

load on the working memory, e.g. comprehension and composition

• Tests of visual memory may be useful. May indicate a strength or a double deficit

23

Funded by

Phonological Awareness 1• Core difficulty of dyslexia• Need to identify where a child is developmentally• Typical development:– Syllables– Onset/rime awareness (alliteration and rhyme)– Consonant blends/individual phonemes– Final blends and unstressed sounds (e.g. m/n)

• Need to use tests with sufficient detail and challenge• Test items must be unseen by the child (auditory input

only)• Degree of accuracy and efficiency (speed)

24

Funded by

Phonological Awareness 2

• Ask about strategies, e.g. are they using spelling knowledge rather than phonological awareness?

• Areas tested– Syllable awareness– Segmentation skills– Phonemic awareness– Blending sounds– Manipulating sequences – spoonerisms

• Also include observations of spoken language and background information, e.g.– Late to talk and/or history of SaLT– Mispronunciations and malapropisms

25

Funded by

Verbal Processing Speed

• The ability to bring well known information to mind quickly is needed for reading and writing

• Well correlated in younger learners for later reading success

• Often tested through Rapid Naming of letters/numbers/objects/colours

• Can also be indirectly investigated through timed literacy tests

26

Funded by

Co-occurring factors

• Visual memory• Visual processing speed• Motor co-ordination • Visual motor-integration and visual perception• Maths– Dyslexic type difficulties with maths– Specific difficulties with maths (dyscalculia)– Maths anxiety

• Concentration and attention• Strengths• Visual stress (Meares-Irlen syndrome)

27

Funded by

Impact on Literacy Attainment

• Basic knowledge and informal testing• Reading accuracy – untimed single

word/timed/text based• Reading comprehension– Level of text and comprehension– Reading aloud or silent– Able to refer back to the text or not– Compare with listening comprehension/silent reading

28

Funded by

Impact on Literacy Attainment

• Reading Speed• Spelling– Phonic and/or visual strategies– Sequencing– Automaticity

• Handwriting Speed• Composition– Skills when multi-tasking

29

Funded by

Underlying Abilities• Verbal abilities– Verbal reasoning

• Identifying links and relationships. Later items may require general knowledge

– Vocabulary Knowledge• Receptive/expressive language – defining words out loud

given out of context• Receptive language – matching a spoken word to a picture

• Non-verbal abilities– Visual reasoning

• Identifying visual relationships between pictures– Visual-spatial ability

• Construction problem solving using concrete shapes30

Funded by

EAL pupils• Check child has sufficient English to understand test questions and

instructions• If not fully fluent, administration may have to be adapted so test will

no longer be standard• Use observationally• Where possible, use tests which included EAL in the reference

sample• Be aware of cultural bias• Research sound structure of first language to assess impact on

phonological skills, reading and spelling• Research written structure of first language to assess impact on

writing31

Funded by

EAL additions• Receptive language test• Phonological awareness – use non-words• Consider administering the following informally

in the first language, then in English– Short term and working memory– Rapid Naming– Reading speed– Free writing

• Pay particular attention to comparisons, types of errors and strategies used

32

Funded by

SEND Code of Practice

Slow progress and low attainment do not necessarily mean that a child has SEN and should not automatically lead to a pupil being recorded as having SEN. Equally, it should not be assumed that attainment in line with chronological age means that there is no learning difficulty or disability.

33

Funded by

What do standardised tests tell us?

• Raw Score• Normal distribution• Standard Deviation• Standard Score• Scaled Scores• Percentile• Confidence intervals/ranges/bands• Score descriptors

34

Funded by

What has the process told us?

Comprehensive picture:• Current concerns (child’s/parent’s/teacher’s, etc.)• Response to previous intervention• Adaptations already in place• What the child knows• Gaps in learning• Learning strengths• Learning weaknesses• Need for further referral?

35

Funded by

Diagnostic Reports: Structure and Use• Interpreting and using reports• Usual format

• Summary• Background Information and test conditions• Literacy attainment test scores and observations• Cognitive test scores and observations

– Verbal, non-verbal, working memory, phonological awareness, processing speed• Other• Conclusions• Recommendations• Appendices summarising test scores, etc.• References detailing tests used

36

Funded by

Choosing and Planning interventions

• Identifying current need and minimising future risks (e.g. vocabulary development)

• What is achievable?• Child view?• Who will be involved?• Need for further staff CPD?• Role of assistive technology?• Greg Brooks guide

37

Funded by

Monitoring Progress• What would progress look like for this child?• Acquisition of literacy/maths skills (criterion

referenced)• Progress on standardised tests• If standardised scores do not increase is that

still progress? • Child view• Parent view

38

Funded by

A good indication of the severity and persistence of dyslexic difficulties can be gained by examining how the individual responds or has responded to well founded intervention.

Rose Review 2009

39

Funded by

Signposting for further investigation• Specialist teacher

• Dyslexic characteristics and initial investigation into other SpLD, depending on individual knowledge

• Educational Psychologist• Complex profiles, co-occurring difficulties beyond SpLD• Social, emotional and behavioural difficulties

• SaLT• Articulation issues, delayed language, social communication

issues• SLI characteristics

• Audiologist• Hearing or auditory processing issues

40

Funded by

Signposting for further investigation• Paediatrician/GP

• Medical issues, including sudden motor coordination deterioration

• ADHD or autistic spectrum characteristics• Developmental delay• Mental health

• OT/Physio• Motor co-ordination

• Behavioural Optometrist• Difficulties with visual acuity /visual perception / tracking /

squint / etc.41

Funded by

Further CPD

• www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk/postgraduate-programme

• www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/services/professional-accreditation

• https://www.patoss-dyslexia.org/SupportAdvice/TrainingforSpLDQualification

• http://framework.thedyslexia-spldtrust.org.uk 42

Funded by

Questions

43