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Tests & Assessments
Assessing Reading Difficulties and Disabilities

Question 10.

My child has an IQ of 75 (5th percentile). On reading tests, he earns scores in the 70s. His team says that is the best we can expect. Is this true?

Answer

No.

Learning to read is not primarily a function of intelligence.

Some children with low IQs learn to decode text easily. Others have great difficulty.

A National Institutes of Health funded study found that dyslexia is not tied to IQ.

The ease or difficulty of learning to decode text depends, for the most part, on phonological awareness.

If your child has an intellectual disability, a comprehensive reading assessment can identify his strengths, weaknesses, and what he needs in an effective reading instructional program. Whether they have high IQ scores or low IQ scores, children with great difficulty in learning to read stand to benefit from educational services to help them learn to read.

His progress may be slow.

He may need more direct, explicit instruction in vocabulary, verbal reasoning, and inferential thinking to understand what he reads.

Legal Resource

Wrightslaw: All About Tests and Assessments, 2nd Edition Chapter 6 - Reading Assessments

Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 2nd Edition

IDEA

20 U.S.C.§ 1401(30)

20 U.S.C.§ 1414

20 U.S.C.§ 1414(b)(6)

Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 2nd Edition

IDEA Regulations

34 C.F.R. §300.301

34 C.F.R. §300.307

34 C.F.R. §300.309(a)(1)

Additional Resources

CHART: Tests that Measure Reading Skills in Nonverbal Children

CHART: Reading Tests and the Skills They Measure

Reading Tests: What They Measure...and Don't Measure

NIH-funded study finds dyslexia not tied to IQ

The Root of the Problem? Rock-Bottom Reading Skills?

New! A Guide to Helping Your Child at Home: Developing Foundational Skills in Reading and Writing

4 Great Reading Definitions in NCLB

Reading at Wrightslaw

State Special Education Regulations and Guidelines. You will find your specific state regulations at your State Department of Education website. Use the Wrightslaw Yellow Pages for Kids with Disabilities to locate your state site.

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