Child Psychology and Psychiatry

Infancy and early childhood
ASSESSING LITERACY DISORDERS
Most children with literacy disorders are referred
for assessment in the middle school years.
However, there is increasing recognition of the
importance of early identification before the child
has fallen too far behind educationally and begins
to experience declining levels of motivation and
confidence. Since early screening batteries tend
to have low reliability, a recently commissioned
review for the UK government [11] recommended
the identification of ‘at-risk’ children via close
monitoring of their response to reading instruction
during the first 2 years at school. Children who fail
to progress sufficiently in response to mainstream,
differentiated and additional literacy support
require further assessment for likely dyslexia or
reading comprehension disorder (Figure 22.1).
A brief diagnostic assessment of dyslexia should
include tests of single word reading and spelling,
a test of phonological awareness, a test of short-
term verbal memory and an (optional) test of
arithmetic. In addition, using a short-form IQ test
makes it possible to determine whether the child
has a general learning difficulty or a more specific
developmental disorder [12].
In order to determine whether a child may have
a
complex
learning difficulty, a more comprehen-
sive evaluation is needed. Such an assessment
needs to recognize both the multiple components
of literacy assessment and the dimensional nature
of disorders; not all components of literacy skill
Check level of letter knowledge, phonological and
language skills 
Small group intervention (phonological awareness,
decoding and oral language)
Assess childs response to intervention 
Specialist teacher assessment & identification of
targets for teaching 
One-to-one intervention (using phonics methods or
language intervention as appropriate)
Monitor response to intervention 
Management Plan/Further referral
Quality mainstream teaching 
Diagnostic assessment by specialist teacher
or psychologist
Progress
good
Progress
good
Progress
good
R
e
t
u
r
n
t
o
M
a
i
n
s
t
r
e
a
m