This document provides information about identifying dyslexia in children. It gives examples of signs of dyslexia in children ages 5-13, such as difficulty with rhyming, syllables, letter names, decoding words, and written expression. It then discusses assessing word recognition through sight word vocabulary tests and recommends assessing this skill three times a year for kids in kindergarten through 2nd grade. Finally, it outlines specific assessments used, including the Dolch High Frequency Word list which divides words into five grade levels and a separate nouns list.

1. DYSLEXIA:
Identification
By: Rachel Smith

2. Information for Parents
Smart Kids Learning Disabilities
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Is this your child?
5-year-old Jamie has difficulty rhyming, repeating words with more
than one syllable, and remembering the names of the letters of the
alphabet.
7-year-old Kristen has difficulty applying the sound-symbol
associations to decode (sound out) words.
10-year-old Sarah has wonderful comprehension when she’s read to
but can’t understand what she reads herself because she’s struggling
to identify words.
11-year-old Juan is extremely articulate but he has trouble organizing
his thoughts when he writes and expressing himself on paper.
12-year-old Michael is a decent reader, but he’ll only read if forced to
and his spelling is terrible.
13-year-old Ahmed also reads well enough, but for years he has
struggled in math.

4. Word Recognition
What it measures
• Sight word vocabulary at a given grade level.
Examples of assessment questions
• Ask a child to read from a list of words.
Age or grade typically mastered
• Students should be expected to master ageappropriate material.
When should it be assessed?
• Word recognition should be assessed three times
during the year for students in kindergarten through
second grade to help guide instruction.

5. ASSESSMENTS
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Dolch High Frequency Words
Fry Instant Word List
Word Analysis Inventories
Silent Reading Comprehension Tests

6. Dolch High Frequency Words
• Dolch High Frequency words are included in a
word list composed by Edward Dolch in 1948.
• The recognition of the words are needed to
achieve high reading fluency.
• The words are subdivided into five levels pre
primer, primer, 1st grade, 2nd grade and third
grade. Additionally there is a separate nouns
list.

8. Other Assessments
Word Analysis
Inventories
and
Silent Reading
Comprehension
Tests