CALT Formal and Informal Assessment for Dyslexia 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which standardized assessment is commonly used to evaluate phonological processing in students suspected of having dyslexia?
- Running records
- Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP-2) (Correct answer)
- Informal reading inventory
- Teacher rating scale
Correct answer: Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP-2)
The CTOPP-2 is a norm-referenced standardized assessment designed to measure phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rapid naming, which are core processing areas affected in dyslexia.
The CTOPP-2 is a widely used standardized norm-referenced battery measuring phonological awareness, phonological memory such as digit span and nonword repetition, and rapid automatized naming. These three domains are the core processing areas implicated in dyslexia. As a norm-referenced test, it provides standard scores allowing comparison to age-matched peers, which is essential for diagnosing dyslexia.
Question 2: Curriculum-based measurement in reading primarily tracks:
- A student's IQ growth over time
- A student's rate and accuracy on grade-level reading probes over time (Correct answer)
- The number of books a student reads per month
- A student's performance on state standardized tests
Correct answer: A student's rate and accuracy on grade-level reading probes over time
CBM provides frequent, brief measures of reading fluency to monitor progress and evaluate the effectiveness of intervention.
Curriculum-based measurement in reading involves brief, standardized oral reading fluency probes administered regularly to track a student's rate of growth in words correct per minute. CBM data are graphed over time to evaluate whether a student is responding adequately to intervention, allowing the therapist to make timely instructional adjustments.
Question 3: A CALT notices that a student's reading fluency score is significantly below average but their listening comprehension is age-appropriate. This pattern most suggests:
- Intellectual disability
- A language comprehension disorder
- A specific word-level reading deficit consistent with dyslexia (Correct answer)
- A hearing impairment
Correct answer: A specific word-level reading deficit consistent with dyslexia
A discrepancy between strong listening comprehension and poor reading fluency indicates the difficulty is specific to word-level decoding rather than general language or intellectual ability.
In the Simple View of Reading, when a student demonstrates strong oral comprehension but poor reading fluency and decoding, this pattern is the classic signature of dyslexia, a specific word-level reading deficit. General intellectual disability and language comprehension disorders would impair both listening and reading. This discrepancy profile is critical for differential diagnosis.
Question 4: An informal reading inventory can help a CALT determine a student's:
- IQ score
- Independent, instructional, and frustration reading levels (Correct answer)
- Neurological processing speed
- Phonological awareness standard score
Correct answer: Independent, instructional, and frustration reading levels
Informal reading inventories identify three reading levels to guide text selection in instruction.
An informal reading inventory uses graded passages to identify three functional reading levels: the independent level where the student reads with high accuracy and adequate comprehension, the instructional level which is the zone for supported learning, and the frustration level which is too difficult for productive learning. These levels guide the CALT in selecting appropriately leveled texts.
Question 5: When a CALT conducts a phoneme segmentation assessment, they are measuring the student's ability to:
- Name letters of the alphabet
- Break spoken words into their individual sounds (Correct answer)
- Read nonsense words aloud
- Identify rhyming word families
Correct answer: Break spoken words into their individual sounds
Phoneme segmentation requires the student to isolate and identify each individual phoneme in a spoken word.
Phoneme segmentation is the ability to identify and separate each individual phoneme in a spoken word. It is one of the most predictive phonological awareness skills for reading acquisition. It is assessed separately from letter naming, nonsense word reading, and rhyming, which measure different aspects of phonological and phonics knowledge.
Question 6: Rapid Automatized Naming tasks measure a student's ability to:
- Read a list of nonsense words quickly
- Quickly name a series of familiar visual symbols such as letters, numbers, colors, or objects (Correct answer)
- Spell words rapidly from dictation
- Complete arithmetic problems under timed conditions
Correct answer: Quickly name a series of familiar visual symbols such as letters, numbers, colors, or objects
RAN tasks assess the speed and automaticity of symbolic retrieval from long-term memory, a predictor of reading fluency independent of phonological awareness.
Rapid Automatized Naming measures how quickly and accurately a person can name a series of repeated familiar symbols including letters, numbers, colors, or pictured objects. RAN taps the efficiency of the retrieval pathway from visual symbols to their verbal labels in long-term memory, a process central to reading fluency. RAN deficits predict reading difficulties independently of phonological awareness.
CALT Formal and Informal Assessment for Dyslexia 2
Which standardized assessment is commonly used to evaluate phonological processing in students suspected of having dyslexia?