ABSTRACT
Dyslexia’s effects are consequent to a core phonological processing deficit that is both specific and circumscribed, in the context of a learner’s array of resources and challenges. In reading assessment, the individual written-language profile is defined. No single measurement explains reading; administering selected norm- or criterion-referenced measures of component and outcome skills, the evaluator interprets the aggregated results, observing absolute and relative strengths or vulnerabilities and noting parities or discrepancies within the profile. In a sample case, a student was assessed in the second grade to determine his reading status. Reduced reading, spelling, and phonological processing levels and a special asset in listening comprehension suggested a specific and circumscribed phonological processing deficit. Dyslexia was diagnosed; two years of Orton–Gillingham treatment followed. In the fourth grade, the student was reevaluated; reading outcome skills were now in the average range for age. This positive response to intervention represented a retrospective confirmation of the dyslexia diagnosis; continued reduction in phonological processing and spelling performances reflected the persistent effect of the core deficit underlying dyslexia. Also characteristic was a continued contrast between modest decoding performance and an elevated listening comprehension level, again signaling the effect of dyslexia’s specific and circumscribed phonological processing challenge.
