Screening for Dyslexia

Preliminary tests

The Diagnosis of Dyslexia

Dyslexia and Visuospatial Disorders

Dyslexia Tests

Writing Composition Test
Preliminary Tests

Family history

Medical history

Academic history

The Motor-Free Visual Perception Test (MVPT).

The Photosensitivity Test

The Jordan Left-Right Reversal Test

The Swassing-Barbe Modality Index Symptom
Checklist

The Raven’s Progressive Matrices intelligence test is
better adapted to people with dyslexia.
The Diagnosis of Dyslexia

The are generally three methods for diagnosing
dyslexia:


Diagnosis by exclusion
Indirect diagnosis
Direct diagnosis

Diagnosis by exclusion

Method that diagnoses the presence of dyslexia by
excluding of all other factors that may be alternate causes
of the reading problems, such as, sensory and perceptual
dysfunction, lack of education, lower than average
intelligence, serious emotional problems, sociocultural
problems and attentional deficits. Once all these factors
are excluded, dyslexia is the only remaining explanation.
The Diagnosis of
Dyslexia (cont’d)

Indirect Diagnosis
Indirect diagnosis, brought forward by Lindgren in
1978, consists of diagnosing dyslexia based on
making the link between certain mild neurological
signs (for example, digital agnosia) and reading
failures. This method never came to prominence
due to many dyslexic people’s showing no “mild
neurological signs”.
The Diagnosis of
Dyslexia (cont’d)

Direct Diagnosis
The most current method of diagnosis is direct
diagnosis, which consists of the examination of the
characteristics of the learner in reading and spelling
with the aim of detecting a specific type of dyslexia
(Boder, 1973, 1982, et Griffin et Walton, 1981,
1985, 1987). The assumption underlying this
method is that dyslexia is not a homogeneous
disorder, but that there are different types of
dyslexia characterized by different reading
problems (Hynd et Hynd, 1984).
Dyslexia: Strengths and
Weaknesses

Differences between dyslexia and visuospatial disorders
Dyslexia
Strengths
Weaknesses
tactile perception
visual perception
mathematics
science
problem-solving*
visual memory
social competence*
semantics
auditory perception
sequential memory
mechanical arithmetic
decoding & spelling
auditory memory
verbal memory
phonology
verbal repetition
Visuospatial Disorders:
Strengths and Weaknesses

Differences between dyslexia and visuospatial disorders
Visuospatial disorders
Weaknesses
Strengths
tactile perception
visual perception
mathematics
science
problem-solving*
visual memory
social competence*
semantics
auditory perception
sequential memory
mechanical arithmetic
decoding & spelling
auditory memory
verbal memory
phonology
verbal repetition
Dyslexia Tests

The Dyslexia Determination Test (DDT) differentiates
between the dyslexic student and the person who is
behind on their reading, writing or spelling for reasons
other than those which characterise dyslexia, and which
are defined and evaluated by this test.

The Dyslexia Screening Test for Kindergarten (DSTK) is
specifically designed for children in kindergarten classes,
who have not yet learned to decode or encode most
words.

The Dyslexia Screening Test (DST) is a screener
designed to identify students at risk for Dyslexia.

The Bangor Dyslexia Test (from the UK) detects people
with dyslexia characteristics.
Writing Composition
Test

A writing composition test highlights any spelling
difficulties or nemkinesia.

This test can help confirm the presence of dyslexia.
DDT
 Test
example
Phonetic Equivalences















blanc
dix
pomme
six
fée
gâteau
tapis
nous
chant
éléphant
secret
chalet
repos
herbe
ciseaux
blan, blen
dis, dice, disse
pom, pome
sis, sice, sisse
fé (fai)
gato, gâto (gatau, gateau)
tapi
nou
chan, cham, chen, chem
éléfan, éléfen, éléfam, éléfem
secrè, (secrai)
chalè, (chalai)
repo, (repau, repeau)
èrb, èrbe, (airbe)
siso, sizo, cizo, (siseau, sisau, sizau, sizeau,
cizeau, cizau)