Warning Signs Checklist for Children Ages 8 and Up

Quiz:Warning Signs Checklist for Children Ages 8 and Up

our answers to these ten questions can indicate if your child has potential learning challenges. For
privacy, your answers are not saved or recorded.

1. Question 1 of 10
1.

Does your child struggle with reading quickly and understanding what he/she has read?
o Yes
o No

Question 2 of 10

2.

Does your child forget math facts?

 Yes
 No
Question 3 of 10

3.

Does your child get frustrated and spend an unreasonable amount of time on homework?
 Yes
 No
Question 4 of 10

4.

Is your child unaware of time?

 Yes
 No
Question 5 of 10

5.

Does your child have difficulty organizing personal space and time?
 Yes
 No
Question 6 of 10

6.

Does your child have difficulty focusing?

 Yes
 No
 Question 7 of 10

7.

Does your child have difficulty following three-step directions?

 Yes
 No
Question 8 of 10

8.

Does your child have difficulty writing legibly?

 Yes
 No
Question 9 of 10

9.

Does your child have difficulty spelling?

 Yes
 No
Question 10 of 10

10.

Does your child have difficulty solving problems?

 Yes
 No
Warning Signs: 10 / 10
If you answered YES to 3 or more of these questions,
your child may benefit from an educational assessment.

Types of Tests for Reading, Writing and Math

If your child has trouble with reading, writing or math, in-depth testing can help you understand why.
Testing can identify the areas where she needs targeted instruction and help. It can also help in
determining whether she can get special education services.

Typically, these kinds of tests are used as part of a comprehensive evaluation. Professionals like
psychologists, learning specialists or speech-language pathologists select the tests that will be given.
They decide based on their experience, professional judgment and your child’s individual needs.

Depending on the test given, the results could uncover many things. Some test results show your child’s
overall ability in a particular area such as reading or writing. Other tests measure a specific skill in an
area. For example, a result might show that your child doesn’t understand sounds in words, an essential
building block for literacy.

Scores for tests are generally reported on a “standard” scale. This means that raw scores are converted
to a common measure like a percentile, which allows for comparisons between your child’s results on
different tests.
A common measure also means results can be compared between students, classes and school districts.
Scores may be reported as grade or age levels (for example, “She reads at a 10th grade reading level”),
so the school can see how your child is doing compared to others. A standard scale also makes it easier
to track your child’s progress over time.

Here are just a few of the many tests that may be given.

Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI)

What it measures: Reading comprehension

How it works: This computer-based test asks your child to read fiction and nonfiction passages and then
answer questions about them. It’s “computer-adaptive.” This means that the test adjusts the difficulty of
questions based on what she’s getting right and wrong.

What the scores mean: The scores point to a grade level at which your child is ready to be taught.
Schools can then provide instruction and support accordingly.

Woodcock Reading Mastery Test (WRMT-III)

What it measures: Essential reading skills

How it works: Your child is given up to nine subtests that cover a range of skills. This test looks at skills
like phonological awareness, comprehension, word and letter identification, reading fluency and others.

What the scores mean: This test measures many important components of reading. Results can be
combined and compared to better understand your child’s reading challenges.

Gray Oral Reading Test (GORT-5)

What it measures: Spoken (oral) reading fluency and reading comprehension

How it works: Your child is asked to read passages aloud and then answer multiple-choice questions
about what she’s just read. A tester observes, follows along and takes notes. These observations are
used to analyze how and why your child is struggling.

What the scores mean: The results of this test show how quickly and accurately your child can read
aloud. They also show how well she understands what she reads.

Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing

What it measures: How well your child understands sounds in words

How it works: Your child is given up to a dozen subtests. Each subtest manipulates parts of words to see
if she understands how letters and groups of letters combine to make sound. For example, one subtest
may remove part of a word (“dresser”) to form another word (“dress”). Your child is then asked to say the
new word. Other sub tests may focus on rapid letter or object naming.

What the scores mean: This is a targeted test. A professional who gives this test will want to pinpoint
where your child has difficulty with understanding sounds in words. The results can help direct how she is
taught.

Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE-2)

What it measures: Ability to pronounce written words

How it works: Your child is asked to pronounce real and “nonsense” words. This test can be completed
in as little as five or 10 minutes.

What the scores mean: This is a relatively quick way to determine how well your child recognizes sight
words and decodes sounds in words. In grade school, results can help identify kids who need help with
reading skills. In older kids, the test can help identify features of specific learning issues like dyslexia.

Rapid Automatized Naming Tasks

What it measures: How easily and quickly your child can process printed information

How it works: For each subtest, your child is shown a paper with various items, such as letters, numbers,
colors or pictures of common objects. She’s tested on how quickly and accurately she can name them.

What the scores mean: Low scores on this test may not necessarily be a problem. Some children can
complete these tasks slowly but accurately. However, if your child is working too slowly or making
mistakes, it can mean there’s an underlying problem. Seeing how your child struggles with this task can
be useful in creating strategies to help her learn.

Test of Early Reading Ability (TERA-3)

What it measures: Reading skills of children from preschool through third grade

How it works: Your child is asked to identify letters of the alphabet and the meaning of words. She’s also
asked about how books work—for instance, where is the title page, what do pictures in a book mean, how
do you hold a book and in which direction do you read the text.

What the scores mean: The results of this test can show where your child is on the path to independent
reading. A child who doesn’t know the alphabet or how books work may need more than instruction on
basic skills.

Wide Range Achievement Test 4

What it measures: Basic academic skills in reading, spelling and math for ages 5 and up

How it works: Your child takes a written test in word reading, sentence comprehension, spelling,
counting and math. She writes her answers in a booklet. The same test is given regardless of a child’s
age, and items start easy and get increasingly difficult.

What the scores mean: Results can show where your child performs on grade-level work. They can also
point to where she needs help in various areas of academic performance.

KeyMath–3 Diagnostic Assessment

What it measures: Essential math concepts and skills

How it works: Your child is tested on math concepts that are appropriate for her age. These may include
addition and subtraction, percentages and interpreting numerical data.

What the scores mean: This test shows how well your child understands essential math concepts. The
results can show where she has strengths and weaknesses and can help schools give her targeted
instruction.
Test of Mathematical Abilities (TOMA-3)
What it measures: Math abilities in kids 8 and up

How it works: Your child is tested on math concepts like word problems, computation and math symbols.
There is also a subtest on using math in everyday life. Your child is also asked how she feels about math
and her math ability.

What the scores mean: This test offers a broad take on how your child is doing in math. The results help
identify students who are behind (or ahead of) their peers in math skills and knowledge. By asking about
attitudes, the test uncovers how your child feels herself as a math learner.

Wechsler Individual Achievement Test

What it measures: Reading, writing and oral language, as well as math skills (depending on which
subtests are used)

How it works: Your child takes a pencil and paper or online version of this test. It can be given to
students at all grade levels. Depending on the grade level and subtests used, the test can take from 45
minutes to two hours to complete.

What the scores mean: Results for this test, like other tests, give a sense of how your child is doing in
various academic areas.

It’s important to keep in mind these aren’t the only tests that your child may be given. There are dozens of
different tests for reading, writing and math.

If testing is part of a comprehensive evaluation, the school evaluation team will work with you and your
child. Team members will describe the tests to you, as well as the meaning of the results.

Some tests are given once as part of an evaluation. Others may be repeated during the year to help
monitor your child’s progress. Either way, the results will help you and others understand and address
your child’s challenges—and put everyone on track to finding solutions.

Successful Strategies for Teaching Students

with Learning Disabilities
 Research continues to confirm that we can teach
students with learning disabilities to “learn how to learn.” We can put them into a position to compete and
hold their own.

Some intervention practices that produce large outcomes are:

 direct instruction;
 learning strategy instruction; and
 using a sequential, simultaneous structured multi-sensory approach.

Teachers who apply those kinds of intervention:

 break learning into small steps;
 administer probes;
 supply regular, quality feedback;
 use diagrams, graphics and pictures to augment what they say in words;
 provide ample independent, well-designed intensive practice;
 model instructional practices that they want students to follow;
 provide prompts of strategies to use; and
 engage students in process type questions like “How is the strategy working? Where else might you apply it?”
Scaffolding is also something that seems to make a real difference. Start out with the teacher using heavily
mediated instruction, known as explicit instruction, then slowly begin to let the students acquire the skill, moving
towards the goal of student mediated instruction.

Success for the student with learning disabilities requires a focus on individual achievement, individual progress,
and individual learning. This requires specific, directed, individualized, intensive remedial instruction for students
who are struggling.

Whether the student is in the general education classroom or learning in a special class setting, focus the activities
on assessing individual students to monitor their progress through the curriculum. Concerns for the individual must
take precedence over concerns for the group or the curriculum or for the organization and management of the
general education classroom content.