Top dyslexia tests

Find out what are the five most commonly used dyslexia tests to make screening and diagnosis faster.

One in five people has some form of learning disability. Dyslexia is among the most common. It impacts a person’s ability to read and differentiate sounds and phonemes and causes a range of other reading difficulties.

Questionnaires, standardized tests, and other screening methods can help diagnose dyslexia. Here we share the top five types of action you should consider if you believe you or someone close to you may have this learning difficulty.

What issues does dyslexia cause?

Dyslexia is a learning disability known to cause numerous issues:

• Difficulty with word reading
• Reading comprehension challenges
• Late speech development
• Lack of phonological awareness
• Difficulty learning new words
• Not forming words correctly (reversing sounds, confusing similar-sounding words)
• Difficulty decoding and spelling
• Challenges in reading real words orally
• Not reaching desired reading fluency
• Difficulty remembering sight words
• Impaired reading skills
• Lower self-esteem
• Confusion

These signs of dyslexia can severely impact how a child behaves. The sooner this impairment is discovered, the fewer consequences it will have on the child’s ability to read written language.

It’s essential to take a dyslexia test to confirm the condition’s existence, especially if there is a family history.

The leading dyslexia tests

Below is an overview of the leading dyslexia tests used by professionals and teachers to test language skills and screen for dyslexia.

The Speechify dyslexia assessment

Speechify is a robust text to speech software that has proven beneficial for people with dyslexia and their reading difficulties. They also have a Dyslexia assessment service that matches you with trained professionals in the area.

They offer official test documentation, accommodations for tests and classes, a personalized plan for work and learning. While waiting for test results, you can explore Speechify’s free features used by special education professionals to help people with this reading disability.

The comprehensive test of phonological processing

This test helps assess the phonological awareness, memory, and processing abilities required to reach reading fluency. The test is available as a kit with a print and digital version.

The CTOPP uses subtests (isolation of phonemes, nonword or nonsense word repetition, blending words, elision subtests), age and grade level equivalents, and percentile ranks.

The overall benefits of this test are numerous:

• Help identify phonological (dis)abilities
• Determine the weaknesses and strengths in phonological processing skills
• Track progress in the phonological process
• Identify sound matching abilities
• Poor word recognition
• Gather data for research

This test identifies individuals from four to 24 years old, and it takes around 40 minutes to complete.

The Gray Oral Reading Test

Gray Oral Reading Test 5 (GORT-5) is among the most commonly used oral reading fluency measures. The benefits of this test include:

• Identifying students in need of explicit guidance in reading to make progress in the comprehension of the written text
• Diagnose reading problems and disabilities
• Track progress before and after testing
• Compare intra-individual skills (reading rate vs. comprehension) and adjust interventions

Psychologists, diagnosticians, and teachers can administer GORT-5. This test is suitable for young children from six up to 18 years. GORT is an objective measure of growth when it comes to oral reading. It’s very efficient at helping diagnose oral reading difficulties.

Woodcock-Johnson IV Test

The Woodcock-Johnson IV is the most comprehensive standardized test on the market. This test is suitable for any language pathologist, neuropsychologist, and other healthcare professionals who work in psychology-related fields.

This test is suitable for young children from the age of two, high school students, and adults up to 90 years old. It measures general intellectual ability, academic field-specific abilities, limited cognitive abilities, and much more.

Rapid Automatic Naming Tests

Rapid Automatic Naming Tests aim to assess the child’s ability to name aloud a range of familiar items quickly. These are some of the simplest and fastest tests for dyslexia.

The items on the test include colors, numbers, letters, and objects. Children with reading challenges usually read slower, which is why these tests are often included in any comprehensive reading evaluation.

The screener for dyslexia, for example, can use this test to verify whether a person has difficulty quickly naming things they see.

Speechify – the text to speech app for dyslexic children

Speechify is a text to speech software that helps those diagnosed with dyslexia, ADHD, and other learning disabilities. The text to speech technology allows any device (computer, mobile phone, tablet) to read a text presented on the screen.

There are many ways such software can help a person with dyslexia:

• Improve word recognition
• Boost the ability to pay attention
• Help acknowledge and correct errors in writing
• Better productivity

Some of the key features of Speechify include:

• Reading websites, PDFs, emails, and papers out loud in a human-like voice
• Tweak the reading speed to meet specific needs
• Note-taking features
• Content syncing across devices (computer, mobile phone, tablet)

If you’re interested in Speechify services and want to help someone with dyslexia be more productive by reading faster, you can try this software for free today.

FAQs

Does Ctopp diagnose dyslexia?

Diagnosis of dyslexia requires more than a single test. The results of the Ctopp test don’t necessarily diagnose dyslexia. A person can have a perfect score on a test and still be dyslexic. Further dyslexia screening is necessary before a diagnosis can be made.

What is the best age to test for dyslexia?

The sooner the screening for dyslexia is done, the better. The best time to diagnose this learning difficulty is in kindergarten and first grade. Parents and educators can do much more at this time to prevent dyslexia from causing complete reading failure.

Are online dyslexia tests accurate?

Online dyslexia tests aren’t 100% accurate. No dyslexia test is guaranteed to be accurate. The best way to diagnose this condition is by seeing a medical professional who can use other diagnostic tools.

What is the difference between a reading test and a dyslexia test?

A reading test is one of many test procedures performed by a dyslexia screener to diagnose this learning difficulty. Dyslexia tests focus on many aspects, and reading is just one of them.