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The ultimate goal of reading, to understand what you read, depends on being able to read words "efficiently" (at a fast enough rate) combined with being able to understand spoken language. We can only read more efficiently if our eyes work well together (vision); if we learn common whole words found in books (sight words); and we learn about separate sounds, syllables and words (phonological awareness). Phonological awareness is more than phonics, which are alphabet letter names and sounds that go with each letter. Lack of phonological awareness (e.g. "What is the first sound in "put"? or "What word do the sounds "c-a-t" make?") is one of the most frequent causes of reading difficulties. Speech therapists do in-depth testing of phonological awareness, study sight word error patterns in missed sight words for possible visual and/or sound discrimination problems and refer for developmental vision testing by an optometrist if necessary.
If your child reads words efficiently, but does not seem to understand the meaning of the passage, then the building block skills for understanding language need to be checked. We can check single word vocabulary knowledge, language skills (re-telling a story, describing an event, etc.) and background knowledge (what your child already knows about a subject). We can also check memory skills, ability to focus attention on a book and willingness to read - which impact all the other building block skills.
It is important that children with reading problems are found early (kindergarten to first grade) as studies are beginning to show that up to 88% of children who were poor readers at the end of first grade were still reading poorly at the end of fourth grade (Juel, 1988). By fifth grade, good readers are learning thousands of new vocabulary words each year through the books they read.
For an evaluation, the Children's Speech & Reading Center uses all existing school testing information from the classroom teacher, an Individual Literacy Plan or an Individual Educational Plan to determine which building block skills need to be assessed, and then reports all findings back to the family and the school system. The length of an evaluation will vary depending on what previous test results are available, and what type of reading problem the child has (eg. Word reading and/or understanding or language delays). If you choose to have your child attend a program at the Center, individual goals are decided upon and parents are always involved in treatment to the extent they would like to be.
Juel, C. (1988) Learning to Read and Write: A Longitudinal Study from First to Fourth Grades. Journal of Psychology, 80, 437-447.
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