Diagnosis Defined

Diagnosis procedures begin with a study of the children’s instructional needs based on the
expectancies of their chronological age, mental age, and grade placement. The teacher
wishes to know the pupil’s general abilities and their reading development. In short, the
teacher needs to know the strengths and weaknesses of the pupils.

Educational diagnosis - relates to the techniques by which one discovers and evaluates
both strengths and weaknesses of the individual as a basis for more effective guidance
(Brueckner)

Diagnosis - logical process based on a consideration of all available data concerning a

particular individual or group of individuals.

PRINCIPLES OF DIAGNOSIS
1. A diagnosis is always directed toward formulating methods of improvement.
Diagnostic procedures should be conducted not for its own sake. It should go
hand-in-hand with remediation.

2. A diagnosis involves far more than appraisal of reading skills and abilities.
A good diagnosis involves not only the study of the pupils’ reading skills and abilities
but also go deeper into studying and analyzing the root causes of these disabilities
such as intellectual, emotional, social, and psychological causation.

3. A diagnosis must be efficient - going as far as and no further than necessary.

It should be conducted at the least cost in time and effort.

4. Only pertinent information should be collected and by the most efficient

means.
Focus only on the reading disabilities of the child and their root causes. The use of
best suited instruments and measures are suggested.

5. Whenever possible, standardized test procedures should be used.

The use of standardized testing and measuring instruments is highly suggested to
ensure reliable and valid results.

6. Informal procedures may be required when it is necessary to expand a

diagnosis.
If the use of teacher made achievement tests will give additional data and
information about the case being studied, then using informal procedures may be
done.

7. A diagnosis should be continuous.

If diagnosis is to provide information for the improvement of the learners, then it
should be done continuously.
The steps in diagnosis are:

1. Secure as much information as possible about the pupil and record them on a case
history bank. These may include health history, educational history, anecdotal record,
personality tests, intelligence tests, physiological tests such as visual and hearing acuity,
dominance and handedness, etc.

2. Obtain the most accurate measure possible of the level at which the child should be
able to read. If possible, only standardized reading tests should be used to ensure reliability
and validity of results.

3. Administer a standardized reading survey test. This refers to the use of standardized
reading tests to determine the level of reading abilities of the pupils.

4. Analyze the data to determine whether the child has a reading problem. The teacher
should have adequate knowledge of how to score, interpret, and analyze data from the test
results. These information are usually found in the manual of instruction of standardized
testing instruments.

5. A detailed analysis of the child's reading problem is made. In this stage, the teacher
is able to make an in depth analysis of the reading problem.

6. Collect all the data secured and interpret the results as accurately as possible. The
teacher refers to the manual of instructions for every test for accurate interpretation of
results.

7. An attempt is made to identify the factors which may be inhibiting reading

progress. Armed with the different test results, theteacher is now able to pinpoint the factors
that seem to inhibit reading progress.

8. Make appropriate recommendations for remedial therapy. The may discover that the
pupil may have physiological impairment such as visual defects or impaired hearing. In this
case, the teacher refers these problems to the parents so that they can refer their child to the
doctor or a therapist.

BEHAVIORAL CUES TO READING DISABILITY

Wheeler listed the behavioral clues to reading disability. He suggests that these can be used
as basis for remediation..

1. lacks interest in reading tasks

2. lacks independent study habits
3. learns more readily through discussion and listening than through silent reading
assignments
4. is unable to read materials that are on his grade level
5. achieves much better in nonreading than in language subjects
6. takes too long to complete reading tasks
7. complains that reading is too difficult
8. may be poor in spelling
9. shows symptoms of visual or hearing difficulties
10. has difficulty remembering what he has read
11. is unable to make practical applications of what he has read
12. shows emotional disturbances and nervous tensions when reading materials on his
normal grade level.

DiAGNOSING THE PUPIL'S READING DISABILITY

The following are some tips for diagnosing the pupils' reading difficulties suggested by
Villamin. 95

1. Word-By-Word Reading - pupil pauses after each word and does not allow the words to
flow as they would in a conversation.

Causes:

● failure to instantly recognize a number of

● sight words
● failure to comprehend
● overdependence on phonics
● bad habit

What to do:

Give the pupil something to read at a much lower reading level

● If she continues to read poorly, the problem may be assumed to be bad habit
● If she immediately improves, it can generally be considered either a problem with
comprehension or with word recognition
● Ask questions about the more material difficult
● If she can answer approximately 76% of thequestions correctly, then her problem lies
in the area of word recognition

2. Incorrect Phrasing - pupil fails to read in natural phrasing. He fails to breath at the proper
place and will often ignore punctuations, especially commas

Causes:

● insufficient word recognition

● insufficient comprehension
● poor reading habits

What to Do:

● Give the pupil an unorganized list of all the words from a passage that she will read
later. The passage should be at a reading level in which the pupil is experiencing
difficulty.
 ● If she does not know approximately 95% of the words in the list, the problem is
caused by insufficient word recognition.
● Let the pupil read the passage from which the words came and then answer at least
6 questions from that story.
● If the pupil continues to phrase incorrectly and fails to answer at least 75% of the
questions, and yet knows 95% or more of the words, the problem is caused by
insufficient comprehension.
● If the material is not too difficult in terms of vocabulary and comprehension (i. e. he
has instant recognition of 96% or more of the words and can answer at least 75% of
the questions), the problem is caused by poorreading habits or he does not
understand the meaning of the various punctuation marks.

3. Poor Pronunciation - The pupil fails to pronounce the word as it should be pronounced.

Mispronunciation of words is one of the most serious reading problems of disabled

readers.

Causes:

● weak in knowledge of phonics

● may possess, but not use, a knowledge of phonics
● hearing defects
● may not understand diacritical markings
● may be a careless reader
● may have some speech defect or accent

What to Do:

● Drill the child in phonics, emphasizing the sounds of letters

● Encourage the parents to refer the child to a doctor to cure whatever hearing defects
the child has.
● The teacher should teach the pupils the meaning of diacritical marks
● Encourage the pupils to read carefully and slowly at first, paying particular attention
to the correct pronunciation of sounds and words

4. Omissions - The pupil omits words, phrases or both. Sometimes, only a letter is omitted.

Causes:

● insufficient word recognition word recognition and word analysis skills;

● may have developed the habit of omitting certain words.

What to Do:

● Ask the pupil to pronounce a word omitted after reading a passage.

● Let the pupil read a passage at the level in which he is making omissions and note
the percentage of words omitted.
● Then give an easier passage. Note whether or not the omissions still occur.
● If the omissions continue with the same percent of occurrence, the problem is caused
by a bad habit.
● The teacher should observe the reading of each pupil and try to assess the type of
errors committed by them. Using his resourcefulness, he can devise ways and
means to correct the reading disabilities and errors of the children.