DYSLEXIA SCREENING IN SCHOOLS:SUPPORTING OUR TEACHERS BY DOING IT RIGHT!

Presenters:

Michael Hart, Ph.D. www.doctormichaelhart.com doctormichaelhart@gmail.com

Tie Hodack, Ed.S Director of Instructional Programming, Special Populations Tennessee Department of Education

TODAY’S ROADMAP○ Information to Implementation ○ Importance of universal

screening ● Teacher support and engagement

○ Top five measures being used ● What they are; what they measure ● Compare and contrast matrix ● Reality-based value

○ Moderated and live Q&A ● Implementation best practices ● Overcoming challenges

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WHY UNIVERSAL SCREENING FOR DYSLEXIA?

○ Catch them before they fall!

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SCREENING TOOLS: MAXIMIZING THE ACCURACY OF PREDICTION

○ Three distinguishing features: ● Predictive Validity ● Classification Accuracy ● Normative Scoring

WHY? ○ Important to remove emotion and habits from the selection

equation ○ The pragmatic challenges of implementation can be refined but you

must start with a screening process that measures what you want it to 4

PREDICTIVE ABILITY

“IF WE USE THIS SCREENER TO PREDICT HOW EVERY CHILD WILL PERFORM AT SOME POINT IN THE FUTURE,

HOW GOOD WOULD THOSE PREDICTIONS BE?”

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Is the point her to say...how accurate would those predictions be? What is the outcome of this slide?What we know is...districts can use this data to predict who will do well on end of year assessmnet. We should give a percentage here. I believe aimsweb clearly estalishes this, I think they post

CLASSIFICATION ACCURACY

“IF WE USED THIS SCREENER TO DIVIDE OUR STUDENTS INTO THOSE CONSIDERED AT RISK AND THOSE

CONSIDERED NOT TO BE AT RISK, HOW WELL WOULD WE DO BASED ON THE OUTCOME OF THEIR FUTURE

PERFORMANCE?”

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NORMATIVE SCORING

“WITHOUT NORMATIVE SCORING WE ONLY KNOW IF A CHILD SCORED ABOVE OR BELOW THE CUT SCORE FOR

BEING CONSIDERED AT RISK.”

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TOP FIVE COMMON DYSLEXIA SCREENING TOOLS

○ AIMSweb ○ Easy CBM—Easy Curriculum Based Measure ○ DIBELS (DIBELSNext)—Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacy

Skills ○ PAR—Predictive Assessment of Reading ○ RAN/RAS—Rapid Automatic Naming/Rapid Alternative Stimulus

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AIMSWEB

○ Universal screening, progress monitoring, and data management system that supports Response to Intervention (RTI) and tiered instruction. 

○ Uses brief, valid, and reliable measures of reading and math performance for grades K-12, which can reportedly be generalized to any curriculum.

○ No instructional materials or intervention strategies ○ Cost: $5 to $6 per student per year ○ Training recommended: Private, Open Workshops, Online ○ Training for the aimsweb programs can be arranged for additional

fees ranging from $2,500 per session (1-day on-site, up to 30 people) to $6,600 per session (3-day on-site, up to 30 people). Remote consultations cost $250 per hour.

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EASYCBM

○ easyCBM™ facilitates instruction and intervention at every tier of RTI through a district-level assessment system for Response to Intervention. This assessment and reporting suite includes a combination of benchmarking, progress monitoring, and comprehensive reporting. Developed at University or Oregon.

○ Available for grades K–8, Reading and Mathematics  ○ Item-level reporting ensures that you can pinpoint instructional

areas of concern and intervention for each student or group. ○ Cost: $4 per student per year ○ Touted as an intuitive system that does not require lengthy product

training sessions. However, a number of training options are available to educators (See link in resources)

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DIBELS (DIBELSNEXT)—DYNAMIC INDICATORS OF BASIC LITERACY SKILLS

○ DIBELS stands for Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills, and is comprised of six measures that function as indicators of the essential skills that every child must master to become a proficient reader.

○ The DIBELS® measures are brief (most take one minute to administer), and are used to regularly monitor the development of early literacy and early reading skills.

○ Need DIBELS Deep Diagnostic to identify specific instructional targets ○ Cost: Approx. $110 per classroom per year ○ Training Options…Face to Face training is available at $2500 per day.

The webinar option is available for $250 per hour. The self-paced online training, which you will have access to for one calendar year from date of purchase, is available at $199.95 per participant.

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PREDICTIVE ASSESSMENT OF READING (PAR)

○ Four sub-tests based on the skills every child needs in order to learn to read and keep growing as a reader. The PAR is appropriate for all children beginning with second semester Pre-K children transitioning to Kindergarten and for children in Kindergarten through 3rd grade

○ Administration of the assessment takes no more than 15 minutes per child  ○ Meets/exceeds top three statistical criteria and predicts performance

farther into the future than is reported for any other screener* ○ Uses a complex algorithm for predictions; assigns different weights to each

subscore and changes weights depending on age and level of reading development*

○ Uses same data to id most pressing deficits to guide intensity and duration of intervention

○ Cost: $7 per student per year12

PREDICTIVE ASSESSMENT OF READING (PAR) (CON’T)

*from Literate Nation White Paper re: Selecting Screening Instruments…Thanks to Steve Dykstra, Susan Smartt and Maryanne Wolf

○ OnlinePAR includes a Parent Guide that explains what the PAR is, the skills that PAR evaluates, and how to understand PAR scores and a description of activities families can do at home with their child to support their learning

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RAN/RAS

○ The tests consist of rapid automatized naming tests (Letters, Numbers, Colors, Objects) and two rapid alternating stimulus tests (2-Set Letters and Numbers, and 3-Set Letters, Numbers and Colors).

○ On all tests, the examinee is asked to name each stimulus item as quickly as possible without making any mistakes. Scores are based on the amount of time required to name all of the stimulus items on each test.

○ Highly predictive of future reading difficulties—fluency and comprehension

○ Norms: age 5 through 18 ○ Cost: Approximately $400

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TN DOE CBM MATRIX* *HTTP://WWW.INTENSIVEINTERVENTION.ORG/CHART/PROGRESS-MONITORING

Criteria Evidence in Assessment Tool AIMSweb EasyCBM DIBELS PAR RAN/RAS

Curriculum-Based Measure (CBM) (7 points)

Check box if present. Brief:  

         

Predictive:           

Sensitive to Change:  

         

Easy to administer and score:

         

Standardized:  

         

Valid and Reliable:

         

Available in multiple, equivalent forms:

         

     

       

 

 

       

     

     

      

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TN DOE SKILLS BASED MATRIX

Criteria Evidence in Assessment Tool AIMS web EasyCBM DIBELS PAR RAN/RAS

Skills Based (1 point)

Phonemic Awareness:   Phonics:   Fluency:   Vocabulary: Reading Comprehension:   Early Numeracy:   Math Calculation:   Math Problem Solving:   Writing:  

         

Data management (1 point)

           

Generalizability (1 point)

       

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FROM INFORMATION TO IMPLEMENTATION

○ Moderated Q&A with Tie Hodack, Dept. of Ed., State of TN

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SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF DYSLEXIA

Alphabetic Principle ● Difficulty identifying letters quickly (screener: Identify letters within 1

minute)

Phonological Awareness ● Difficulty identifying or generating rhyme words

Phonemic Awareness ● Difficulty with individual sounds that make up words (not letters) (Phoneme

Segmentation probe)

Phonics ● Difficulty with letter/sound correspondence (CBM)

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CHARACTERISTICS CONT…

○ Spelling errors ○ Strong listening comprehension and strong listening vocabulary ○ Strong thinking skills ○ Difficulty with word retrieval

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HOW DO SCHOOLS PUT ALL THE PIECES OF AN EFFECTIVE FRAMEWORK IN PLACE?

Universal

Screening

Reading

Math

Writing

Data Teams SLA/

Diagnostic

Scheduled Time

Aligned Intervention Progress

Monitoring

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HOW DO SCHOOLS MOVE FROM RESEARCH ONLY TO PRACTICE: MTSS/RTI OR RTI²?

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THE PURPOSE OF RTI/MTSS/RTI²

○ Focused on prevention and early intervention for struggling students.

○ Intervention provided earlier rather than later ○ Schools moving away from a “wait to fail model” or a diagnosis only

for intervention. ○ Target is to Improve outcomes for all students and increase post

secondary opportunities.

Ex. If student is a struggling reader or has the characteristics of a student with Dyslexia, it is no longer required to wait for a diagnosis before providing intervention. 22

HOW DO SCHOOLS PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER?

○ Schools MUST universally screen

○ One of the requirements of an RTI/MTSS framework includes universally screening ALL students in order to identify those with reading, math and/or writing deficits. ● CBMs as discussed earlier (AIMSweb, EasyCBM, DIBELS etc.) are

effective in screening students at-risk for reading/math/writing deficits as well as characteristics of dyslexia

Universal Screening

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HOW DO SCHOOLS PUT THE PIECES TOGETHER?

○ It is important that multiple learning experts are looking at data to determine which students require intervention

○ Recommended members of the team: ● The grade level teacher(s) ● Administrator ● Interventionist ● Counselor ● School Psychologist ● Speech & Language Pathologist

Data Teams

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DO SCREENERS DIAGNOSE THE PROBLEM?NO!! SCREENING IS JUST A TEMPERATURE CHECK

School Model Medical Model

Universal screening for all students Basic check up (screen reading, math & writing)

Wellness visit for all patients Typical checkup (temperature check, blood pressure, listen to breathing and history/questions) Signs of struggle or concerns, decide to

go assess further. A universal screener does not diagnose the problem, it is the symptom or outcome of the underlying

Signs of temperature or struggle, decide to assess further. Temperature check does not tell you why you have the problem. It is a symptom of the Order more diagnostic or Survey Level

Assessments (depending on the symptoms)

Order more diagnostic, such as blood test/MRI etc..(depending on symptoms)

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SURVEY LEVEL ASSESSMENT/DIAGNOSTIC

○ It is important that teams use the screening data as well as other sources of data such as survey level assessments/diagnostic screeners to determine need for interventions and appropriate intensity of interventions.

○ Important to note: Diagnostic can be done by using existing screeners. It requires drilling down to find level of mastery, specifically if few errors occur in reading but the student reads slowly.

Diagnostic/ Survey Level Assessment

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DIAGNOSTIC EXAMPLES:

Reading Skill Assessment

Phonemic Awareness-quickly isolate and segment phonemes in the word. Ex. Tell me the word /c/ /a/ /t/

Say Cat-tell me the sounds in cat /c/ /a/ /t/. Now tell me the word without saying /c/

DIBELS/AIMSweb/EasyCBM; Really Great Reading.com; Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation

Phonics-letter/sound correspondence Identify the primary sound of each letter in the alphabet,

Phonics and word reading surveys Primary and elementary survey Inventory AIMSweb DIBELs Easy CBM Really Great Reading.com

Decoding Fluency-accurately and quickly decode unknown words

Phonics and reading survey DIBELS next 27

WHEN DOES A STUDENT GET INTERVENTION?

○ You MUST change your schedule ○ Must be outside of core instruction

● Intervention is in addition to core instruction ● Tier II-30 minutes a day ● Tier III-45-60 minutes a day

○ Should not be missing a preferred activity such as P.E; otherwise, seen as a punishment

Schedule it!!

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HOW DO I ALIGN THE INTERVENTIONS?

○ Diagnostic/survey level assessments indicate area of need so align intervention to the deficit area ● No thank you! Not more of the same! This is not meant to be the same

lesson that happened in core instruction. ○ Must have someone trained on the intervention (Reg ed Teachers!) ○ Must have available interventions/resources to provide during the

intervention

Aligned Intervention

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HOW DO I PROGRESS MONITOR?

○ Your progress monitoring tool is the same as your universal screening tool

○ You are progress monitoring the area in which the student is receiving intervention.

Ex. Student is receiving intervention in phonics due to decoding deficits. The student may be progress monitored using AIMSweb, DIBELS or EasyCBM because the tools measure error rate and fluency of decoding. ○ Progress monitoring should be done weekly or bi-weekly to monitor the

effectiveness of the intervention

Progress Monitor

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HOW DO I MAKE DATA BASED DECISIONS?

Universally Screen/

Benchmark

Survey Level Assess/

Diagnostic

Align Intervention

s and Provide

Intervention

Progress Monitor/assess

student learning

Make Changes or continue: Is

it working or not?

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HOW DO WE INCLUDE DYSLEXIA IN THE SYSTEMATIC APPROACH?

○ We screen all students for reading, math and writing deficits ○ We survey level assess or give diagnostic screeners to students

falling below the 25th %ile ○ We continue to inform schools that it is ok to say Dyslexia ○ We continue to inform on the characteristics of dyslexia ○ We continue to inform schools about effective tools used to screen

and monitor all at-risk students ○ We continue to professionally develop on how to align all the pieces

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LIVE AUDIENCE Q&A

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RESOURCES

○ Literate Nation White Paper: Selecting Screening Instruments ● https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/dyslexiawhitepaper/102513-Literate+Nation

+re+screening+instruments.pdf ○ Review of K-12 Literacy and Math Progress Monitoring Tools

● http://www.hanoverresearch.com/media/Review-of-K-12-Literacy-and-Math-Progress-Monitoring-Tools.pdf

○ aimsweb FAQs ● http://www.aimsweb.com/about/faqs ● http://lhric.org/files/filesystem/Migration%20FAQ_3_2014Update.pdf

○ easyCBM ● http://riversidepublishing.com/products/easycbm/overview.html ● Scope and Sequence: http://riversidepublishing.com/products/easycbm/scope.html

○ DIBELSNext--Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacy Skills ● http://dibels.org/dibels.html ● DIBELS MATH: https://dibels.org/ann_dibelsmath.html 34

RESOURCES (CON’T)

○ DIBELS (CON’T) ● DIBELS Deep Comprehension, Fluency, Oral Language (CFOL) Early

Release https://dibels.org/dibelsdeep.html ○ PAR: Predictive Assessment of Reading

● Research: http://onlinepar.net/research/ ● Quick reference guide to PAR codes for guiding targeted instruction: http://

onlinepar.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/QuickReferenceSheet_5.pdf ○ RAN/RAS: Rapid Automatic Naming/Rapid Alternating Stimulus

● Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) and Reading Fluency: Implications for Understanding and Treatment of Reading Disabilities http://ase.tufts.edu/crlr/documents/2012arop-rapidautomatizednaming.pdf

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DYSLEXIA SCREENING IN SCHOOLS: SUPPORTING TEACHERS BY DOING IT RIGHT

Thank you very much for your time and consideration today!

And a special thank you to Tie Hodack, Ed.S for joining us!

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www.drmichaelhart.com for discounts, bonus materials and information about upcoming events

Feel free to contact me at doctormichaelhart@gmail.com36