detailed deficit profile with instructional recommendations for that student's unique challenges. Studies have found that screeners that do not include instructional recommendations based on the student's deficit profile, do not lead to student improvement.

If the screening identifies risk factors and deficits for dyslexia, an official diagnosis is not necessary before beginning a dyslexia-specific intervention. In fact, waiting for further testing and diagnosis before starting an intervention is unwise. Like Chloe, a child can lose valuable time in this wait-to-fail process. Starting an intervention, as early as possible, is important because remediating reading failure is more difficult than preventing it. Although early screening and intervention is the ideal, since this is the best way to prevent reading failure, older struggling readers can also be screened for dyslexia. It is never too late for them to become better readers.

WHEN IS FURTHER TESTING NEEDED?

Every school should have a dyslexia screening program in place that begins in PreK or kindergarten. Intervention should be initiated immediately for those identified to be at risk.

More in-depth comprehensive testing by the school psychologist is normally not necessary unless the dyslexic student, after being identified in screening, fails to respond to a dyslexia-specific intervention. There may be other conditions interfering with the success of the intervention. For example, many students with dyslexia are also diagnosed with ADD or ADHD. Responding to reading instruction requires focus, and a diagnosis of either ADD or ADHD may explain why a student is not making adequate progress. This condition would need to be addressed to ensure that the intervention is successful.

Other learning disabilities can co-occur with dyslexia that may require additional interventions. A problem in grasping math concepts (dyscalculia) often co-occurs in dyslexia. This learning disability is usually evident without further testing, as the student will have already had difficulty in the PreK, kindergarten, and first grade classroom math activities. Even without dyscalculia, word problems in math will be harder for dyslexic students until their reading improves.

A handwriting problem called dysgraphia often co-occurs with dyslexia. It may impact all written expression, making it hard for the child to write his/her own name, copy sentences from the board, or generate an original sentence or paragraph. Dysgraphia is usually apparent as early as PreK and kindergarten because the handwriting itself may be difficult to read even after formal handwriting instruction. Although it may not require additional testing, dysgraphia should be addressed as part of the dyslexia intervention or as a separate intervention.

Early dyslexia screening for all children is essential. The recently released results from the Nation's Report Card found that only 33% of fourth graders are reading at or above proficient level. Reading failure is traumatic for any student, both academically and emotionally. It can be prevented if at-risk students are identified as early as possible through screening. A dyslexia-specific intervention should always be initiated immediately.

To find out what dyslexia looks like at each grade level, see the September 2022 issue of Exceptional Parent Magazine in Archives, What Dyslexia Looks Like by Grade Level, epmagazine.com/archive or visit earlyliteracysolutions.com•

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Georgie Normand

Georgie Normand, M.A. holds a Master's degree in Reading Education and has spent many years working with students with dyslexia. She is the founder of Early Literacy Solutions and the author of the Orton-Gillingham-based Fluency Builders Dyslexia Program (earlylitera- cysolutions.com). Designed for parents, tutors, and teachers, the Fluency Builders program utilizes the latest neuroscience in dyslexia. These new studies found that dyslexia is not a one-size-fits-all learning disability. Georgie has also developed the Certified Dyslexia Practitioner Program, a professional learning program that trains teachers and tutors to identify and succeed with multiple dyslexia profiles. Contact her at georgienormand@earlyliteracysolutions.com

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