Essentials of Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties

Essentials of Understanding and Assessing Reading Difficulties is a practical, accessible, in-depth guide to reading assessment and intervention. It provides a detailed discussion of the nature and causes of reading difficulties, which will help develop the knowledge and confidence needed to accurately assess why a student is struggling. Readers will learn a framework for organising testing results from current assessment batteries such as the WJ-IV, KTEA-3, and CTOPP-2. Case studies illustrate each of the concepts covered. A thorough discussion is provided on the assessment of phonics skills, phonological awareness, word recognition, reading fluency, and reading comprehension. Formatted for easy reading as well as quick reference, the text includes bullet points, icons, callout boxes, and other design elements to call attention to important information.

Although a substantial amount of research has shown that most reading difficulties can be prevented or corrected, standard reading remediation efforts have proven largely ineffective. School psychologists are routinely called upon to evaluate students with reading difficulties and to make recommendations to address such difficulties. This book provides an overview of the best assessment and intervention techniques, backed by the most current research findings.

• Bridge the gap between research and practice
• Accurately assess the reason(s) why a student struggles in reading
• Improve reading skills using the most highly effective evidence-based techniques

Reading may well be the most important thing students are taught during their school careers. It is a skill they will use every day of their lives; one that will dictate, in part, later life success. Struggling students need help now, and Essentials of Understanding and Assessing Reading Difficulties shows how to get these students on track.

Table of Contents

Series Preface xv

Preface xvii

Acknowledgments xxi

One Introduction 1

• The Unfair Race 1
• The Importance of Reading 2
• The Gap Between Reading Research and Classroom Practice 4
• The Unfortunate Reality About Reading Research: Nobody Knows About It! 4
• Why Is There a Gap Between Research and Classroom Practice? 6
• The Powerful Research Results We Have Been Missing 11
• Acknowledging and Responding to the Gap Between Research and Practice 14
• Summary 20

Two How We Teach Reading and Why It Does Not Work With Struggling Readers 23

• A Very Brief History of Reading Instruction 24
• Why Our Current Approaches to Reading Instruction Are Ineffective With Struggling Readers 26
• The Visual Memory Hypothesis of Word Reading 30
• The Three Cueing Systems Model of Reading 35
• The Phonics Approach to Reading 41
• Summary 42

Three A Practical Framework for Understanding and Assessing Reading Skills 46

• The Simple View of Reading 46
• Types of Reading Difficulties/Disabilities 54
• The Components of Reading 58
• The Components of Word-Level Reading 60
• The Components of Linguistic Comprehension 73
• Summary 77

Four Understanding Word Recognition Difficulties 80

• The Importance of This Chapter 80
• Introducing Orthographic Mapping 81
• How Skilled Word Reading Develops 83
• The Early Stages of the Reading Process 91
• Learning to Read Irregular Words 104
• The Research on Orthographic Mapping 109
• How the Phonological-Core Deficit Hinders Reading Development 114
• Word-Reading Fluency and Orthographic Mapping 121
• Students Whose Native Language Is Not English 125
• Answers to the Questions Posed About Reading Difficulties 127
• Summary 129

Five Understanding Reading Comprehension Difficulties 133

• Specific Reading Comprehension Impairment 134
• What Is Required for Skilled Reading Comprehension? 135
• Reader Abilities 136
• Text Factors 143
• Task Factors 144
• Students Whose First Language Is Not English 144
• Summary 145

Six Assessing Phonological Processing Skills 149

• An Introduction to Intervention-Oriented Assessment of Reading 149
• Issues in Assessing Phonological Skills 154
• Phonological Awareness Assessment 165
• Phonological Blending Assessment 170
• The Rationale for Assessing Rapid Automatized Naming and Working Memory 172
• Summary 179

Seven Assessing Phonics Skills 182

• Orthographic Knowledge 183
• Assessing Phonics Skills 187
• Summary 196

Eight Assessing Word Identification and Reading Fluency 199

• The Assessment of Word-Reading Skills 199
• Untangling the Confound Between Word Recognition and Word Identification 202
• Word Identification Subtests 208
• The Assessment of Word-Reading Fluency 212
• Types of Fluency Tasks 214
• Summary 219

Nine Assessing Reading Comprehension and Related Skills 222

• Reading Comprehension Assessment 223
• Tests of Reading Comprehension 231
• Tests of Listening Comprehension 233
• Assessment of Skills That Contribute to Reading Comprehension and Listening Comprehension 235
• Summary 244

Ten Effective Approaches for Preventing Reading Difficulties 247

• Prevention: Removing the Hurdles Before the Race Begins 247
• Experimental Support for Phonological Awareness Instruction 253
• Experimental Support for Explicit and Systematic Letter-Sound Instruction 265
• Practical Considerations Regarding Teaching Letter-Sound Skills and Phonics 269
• The Centrality of Phonology in Word Reading 275
• Phonological Awareness Training Programs 276
• Preventing Literacy-Related Language Difficulties 280
• Summary 283

Eleven Effective Approaches for Overcoming or Minimizing Reading Difficulties 286

• Intervention with Word-Level Reading Difficulties 289
• Popular Reading Interventions With Modest or Minimal Results 293
• Reading Intervention Research With Minimal to Modest Results 301
• The Phonological Awareness Intervention Continuum 302
• Reading Intervention Studies with Highly Successful Results 304
• Specific Programs Used in Highly Successful Outcome Studies 318
• Addressing Comprehension Difficulties 322
• Making It Work: Practical Intervention Issues 326
• Summary 329

Twelve Case Illustrations 332

• Mild Dyslexic Pattern 333
• Severe Dyslexic Pattern 334
• ELL Student 336
• Compensator Pattern 337
• Mixed Type 340
• Hyperlexic Type 342
• Summary 343

Thirteen Reading Difficulties and Learning Disability Identification 344

• Far Fewer Students with SLD? 345
• Characteristics That Suggest an Educational Disability—Part 1: SLD in Word-Level Reading 346
• Characteristics That Suggest an Educational Disability—Part 2: Reading Comprehension 348
• General Guidelines for Identifying a Reading Disability 349
• Summary 357

Afterword 359

Glossary 361

Further Reading 367

References 369

About the Author 399

About the Online Resources 400

Index 401

"Th[is is] literally the best book ever written in our field."
- Dr. Maria Murray, Associate Professor of Literacy, State University of NY at Oswego

"David Kilpatrick's book, one of Wiley's Essentials of Psychological Assessment series, is much more than a synthesis of test reviews, summaries of intervention research, illustrative case studies, and recommendations for reading and literacy interventions. While such content is pro forma in a guide for school psychologists, reading specialists, and educators, this book offers provocative new insights into the nature of reading development, reading difficulties, and effective instruction that deserve wide discussion and application in the field...[This book] represents one of the most potent linkages between science and educational practice available to us now."
- Dr. Louisa Moats, EdD, review from International Dyslexia Association’s Perspectives on Language and Literacy, Summer 2016, p. 51-52.

"[Kilpatrick's] book is highly recommended for all school psychologist practitioners. It provides a comprehensive foundation in the research on the development of reading skills as well as an in-depth analysis of how to approach assessment and intervention. Understanding what the research says about how and what to instruct is crucial for school psychologists who are working in a multitiered system of support in order to be able to support teachers in choosing effective instruction at the classroom level and beyond."
- Lynne O. Thies, PhD, NCSP, review from Communiqué he Newsletter of the National Association of School Psychologists, Vol, 45, Issue 2, 2016.