According to Lyon (2015), a leading impairment is characterized by a disorder in one or more fundamental psychological processes relating to the comprehension or use of language, whether written or spoken, which may manifest itself as erroneous reading, speaking, listening, spelling, or writing skills. The phrase "reading disability" refers to a number of conditions, including developmental aphasia, dyslexia, minimal brain dysfunction, and brain injury. (Lyon, 2015). According to Lyon (2015), children who have learning issues mainly because of hearing, vision, emotional disturbance, mental retardation, motor disabilities, or economic, cultural, and environmental disadvantages do not have a reading disability.On the other hand, the State University.com defines reading disability as unexpected underachievement described as a discrepancy between intellectual aptitude and achievement, despite an adequate learning opportunity in the absence of cultural deprivation or sensory difficulties. The operational definition of discrepancy however bases on the difference between intelligent quotient and scores achieved on a reading test. While some low-achieving learners who do not show the expected achievement-aptitude discrepancy may get additional reading instruction in dyslexia or compensatory education programs, they do not receive extra attention in most cases.
Q 2. Reading disabilities often co-occur with other learning disabilities. Explain how to assess and plan reading interventions for students with co-existing disabilities.
According to Flynn (2015), the assessment for students with co-existing disabilities begins with the collection of information from students through observation, interviews, and testing. The collected then gets analyzed and interpreted by professionals who are familiar with the various characteristics of co-occurring disabilities at different stages of the literacy skills’ development. The professionals involved in the assessment process should also have the knowledge regarding the influence of behavior and language development on literacy learning (Lyon, 2015).
The process of Planning reading interventions for students with co-existing disabilities starts with the identification of various instructional programs that seem to be most appropriate in achieving specific weaknesses and skill gaps identified during the assessment process (Flynn, 2015). It is therefore not always advisable for a child to get introduced to the starting lessons of a program (Flynn, 2015). However, there exist some programs with placement tests that assist the teachers in identifying where instructions need to start (Lyon, 2015). The recommended intervention strategies or plans have to be consistent with methods and content that have been research-proven to be effective for students with co-occurring disabilities (Lyon, 2015).
Q 3. Explain how reading assessments are used in the diagnosis of dyslexia.
According to the Regents of the University of Michigan (2017), the use of reading assessments in the diagnosis of dyslexia considers the two primary aspects of reading fluency and reading comprehension. Reading fluency refers to a combination of the speed at which one can read and the score of reading accuracy or a measure of the average number of correctly read words per minute. The fluency assessment may get conducted in children who can read longer reading passages or short paragraphs. Poor reading fluency is an indication of possible problems relating to decoding skills, vocabulary, phonemic awareness, or comprehension, and a student who reads accurately but lacks fluency qualifies to be dyslexic.
On the other hand, according to the Regents of the University of Michigan (2017), Reading comprehension refers to the understanding of the written word. The students with dyslexia, when reading short paragraphs, may understand enough content to score well on assessments based on comprehension. Reading comprehension, however, becomes more difficult as reading materials become longer. Therefore, while some individuals with dyslexia may have fluency in reading, they may still have difficulties in reading comprehension.
Questions that I Find Puzzling
What role do instructions and teaching play with regard to reading disability?
How can reading disability be detected early in students?
Is there a difference between reading disability and reading difficulty?
References
The Regents of the University of Michigan. (2017). Diagnosing dyslexia. http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/professionals/learn-about-dyslexia/diagnosing-dyslexia
Flynn, J. (2015). Reading disabilities. https://youtu.be/dhetF2q76Ls
Lyon, G. (2015). Learning disabilities. The Future of Children SPECIAL EDUCATION FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES, 6 (1). https://www.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/publications/docs/06_01_03.pdf
State University.com. Reading Disabilities – Historical Context, Types of Reading Disabilities, Validity of the Discrepancy Model, Changing Criteria for Reading Disability. http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2356/Reading-Disabilities.html
