SLD Academy 2.0

Houston Independent School District

Academy Goals

Review building blocks of readingUnderstand characteristics of a

reading disablityReview building blocks of

mathematicsAssess a functional limitation

Evaluation of Reading Skills3

Phonemic awareness Phonics Fluency Vocabulary Text comprehension

National Panel of Reading. Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks of Reading Instruction, 2003

© 2008 Statewide Leadership: Evaluation

Good readers have figured out that letters and letter patterns represent segmented units of sounds (phonemes).

Poor readers have difficulty making this connection.

Alphabetic Principle

Remember:

A deficit in phonemic awareness is the primary culprit.

© 2008 Statewide Leadership: Evaluation

Phonology versus Orthography

Phonology: the sounds of a language

Orthography: the marks of a writing system, including the spelling patterns of a language

Reading and spelling nonwords that adhere to English spelling rules requires both abilities.

© 2008 Statewide Leadership: Evaluation

Early Speech/Language Difficulties•Articulation errors•Mispronunciations of multisyllabic words

Characteristics of Phonological Reading Disabilities

Decoding/Encoding•Trouble remembering sound-symbol relationships•Confusion with similar-sounding sounds•Difficulty sequencing sounds in a word•Overreliance on whole-word, context, or visual clues•Trouble pronouncing phonically regular nonsense words•Difficulty using phonological analysis (omits or adds sounds or letters)

•Slow reading rate

© 2008 Statewide Leadership: Evaluation

Symbols/Decoding/Encoding/Calculating• Difficulty learning how to form symbols• Confusion of symbols similar in appearance (e.g., b for d, n for u)• Trouble with near- and far-point copying tasks• Tendency to reverse or transpose letters or numbers• Trouble remembering how words look• Trouble reading exception or irregular words• Trouble with accurate and rapid word recognition; slow

reading speed• Tendency to use different spellings for the same word • Tendency to omit word endings• Overreliance on phonological rather than visual features• Trouble learning and retaining basic math facts• Difficulty counting in a sequence (e.g., counting by 2)• Trouble with multistep math problems

Characteristics of Orthographic Reading Disabilities

© 2008 Statewide Leadership: Evaluation

• phonological deficits

• word recognition/decoding deficits

• vocabulary deficits & inadequate background knowledge

• lack of familiarity with semantic and syntactic structures

• lack of knowledge about different writing conventions

• lack of verbal reasoning ability

• limited ability to remember and/or recall verbal information

Reasons for Difficulties in Reading Comprehension

© 2008 Statewide Leadership: Evaluation

Determining the Presence of a Reading Disability

Oral Language

Listening Comprehension

Oral Vocabulary

Reading

Reading Comprehension

Reading Vocabulary

© 2008 Statewide Leadership: Evaluation

Basic Reading

Skills

Real words

Reading fluency

Reading Comprehension

Nonsense words

Fluency on other types of tasks (math, writing, cognitive)

Determining the Presence of a Reading Disability

© 2008 Statewide Leadership: Evaluation

Reading Disability: Yes, No, Maybe?

Reading Composite 93

Basic Reading Skills 74

Reading Comprehension 92Real Words 88Nonsense Words 70Reading Fluency 89

Reading Vocabulary 94

Oral Language 115

Listening Comprehension 110

Oral Vocabulary 112

Write down what you think.

Explain your thinking.

What other information do you need?

Note: 5th grade student

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Fourth-grade student Beginning of Year Benchmark: 4 out of 5

reading comprehension objectives below 60%. Overall Score 64%

Fluency Running Record: 100 WPM, 50th percentile

Define the referral question

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Second-grade student Beginning of Year Benchmark: 5 out of 5

reading comprehension objectives below 40%. Overall Score 54%

Running Record Fluency: 21 WPM, 10th percentile

TPRI: (Still developing) 9 out 10 objectives below grade level expectations

Define the referral question

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Evaluation of Math Skills

Numeracy Correspondence Sign to Operation Computation Fact fluency/Automaticity with facts Problem Solving Reasoning

Functional Limitation

Examiners must gather academic achievement data to confirm or reject the referral question to determine if a functional limitation exists.

Most of the academic achievement data should be present within the referral, however, if the needed data is not within the referral this does not release the Evaluation Specialists from the responsibility of finding the data!

Functional Limitation? Academic Achievement?

Cognitive?

Functional Limitation (cont.)

Obtain academic achievement data from three different categories. • Academic Achievement Data (inter-

comparison). Defines the level of learning.

• Performance or Progress Monitoring Data (intra-comparison). Defines the rate of learning.

• Observational Data (inter-comparison)

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Academic Achievement Data

Answers the question, “How does the student compare relative to same-aged peers over time?”• Compares the student to a criterion or a level over

time, the criterion or level is often “70” or “pass/fail.”

• Academic Achievement includes TAKS (Vertical) scores

• Teacher tests

• Daily assignments

• Benchmark assessments

• Individual student work

Performance or Progress Monitoring Data Answers the question, “Has the student demonstrated

individual progress relative to him/herself?”• Compares the student to him/herself overtime.

• Running records

• Math timed fact quizzes

• TPRI

• Eearly literacy probes

• Early mathematics probes (i.e. counting)

• Objective tracking

• TAKS (vertical scale)

• TAKS growth estimates (Campus Online)

• WJ-III Achievement (RPI)

Observational Data

Answers the question, “Does the student demonstrate qualitative behavioral characteristics consistent with the reason for referral?”• Includes teacher/examiner observations of the student

to detail student behaviors in comparison to same aged peers in the specific areas of academic concern. • Reading comprehension concerns = observations

during tasks requiring reading comprehension

• Math problem solving concerns = observation during tasks requiring math problem solving  

HISD SLD Identification

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Year

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AA SE

H SE

AA Pop

H Pop

Review the brief case study

Are the three levels of data present? Where would you add to this

interpretation of a functional limitation?

Four Levels of Report Writing

Informal Academic Achievement Progress Norm Referenced

Report Review Form