WRAT4 & Dyslexia

[Grovemum]

My child who is 11 was recently tested by the school using WRAT4. Percentiles were 99 for word reading, 84 for sentence comprehension, 77 for spelling, 96 for maths computation with a reading composite of 98. She was originally diagnosed with dyslexia at age 7 but had specialist teaching and caught up. I would like to know if the WRAT indicates she is very able as the school suggest and secondly if she would benefit from any specialist help. Is the WRAT reliable? She seems to lack confidence and thinks everyone else is cleverer than her.

The WRAT4 test is pretty reliable for the USA subjects on which it was normed. It's probably not too far off for the UK population, but who knows?

It's not a test of ability, but of reading and spelling skills. (I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole for Maths, because it excludes so many of the skills in the national numeracy strategy.)

It sounds as if you are concerned about your daughter, and apart from her lack of self esteem, could you say whether there are other issues? Is she in a selective school? you don't say whether she is in primary or secondary, by the way.

What the WRAT4 doesn't test is the speed of reading or writing. With kids who have been late in acquiring literacy skills, it's quite common that they never become fully "automatic" and that there are residual problems of this nature.

Ask the school to test reading and writing speed.

Thanks for that. My daughter was unable to read and couldn't write fluently until she began specialist teaching for dyslexia at the age of 7.5 years. She still has problems with writing, especially spelling and her grammar is not that great. She is in secondary, in a low-achieving comp but in the top band. I originally contacted the school because they didn't know she was dyslexic and she was upset at all the spelling corrections etc in her work.
I was a bit concerned about the reliability of the WRAT test because I don't think it reflects her difficulties. The SENCO also seems to think it is a test of ability rather than how well she has learnt so far. The school ask me how she can be supported but I really don't know. Her below average working memory and processing speed led to the dyslexia diagnosis in the first place but she is doing OK academically which seems to mask her difficulties. She thinks everyone else is cleverer and quicker than her. Her writing speed is a concern to me but the SENCO says it will improve with more practice.

Please ask the school to test her reading and writing speed. Of course speed improves with age and practice, but what are the levels now?

If they turn out to be low (below 16th percentile) then serious support needs to be given; if low-ish, say below 25th percentile, strategies need to be put in place.

Wrat 4 is only a part of the battery of tests that is used to identify dyslexia.
She should also have asssments of phonological abilities and processing, short term and working memory, reading and writing speed and processing speed.
Reading accuracy and comprehension using a text based assessment also gives much more information as long as it is not based purely on the standardised scores.
Many assessors also use verbal and Non-verbal intelligence tests.

Wrat4 did not pick up my son's dyslexic difficulties and he then had a full private screening. He now has help and exam concessions and is starting to thrive.

OP'S daughter has already been identified as "dyslexic", so that isn't the issue now.

The question is really whether or not she needs more (specialist) help or special accommodations within school.

The only practical things the school can do are to test her reading and writing speed, and her processing speed if they have a suitable test. Exam concessions have to be based on reading, writing or processing difficulties.

You can't expect the school to provide a full assessment, particularly for a child who has previously had such an assessment, unless there are serious concerns.

Good points camptown, I think we may work in the same area.

Yes, the school shouldnt be expected to provide the assessment. However, updating a profile would be beneficial since it has been four years since the previous assessment. Exam concessions are very important, but so is a full, updated profile of strengths and difficulties.

Hi,

I recognise so much of Grovemum's experiences.

My daughter was recently identified as dyslexic just before her 18th birthday. She passed her GCSEs OK (with some module re-sits) but her difficulties came to light more fully just before A Levels when, although very bright, she kept failing the written exams. The school also used WRAT4 and found her reading and writing to be in the upper part of 'average'. However PhAB tests (looking at phonic awareness and processing speed) picked up difficulties. The SENCO suggested we get a private assessment done as the school couldn't organise one in time.

The private full diagnostic assessment found her reading, writing and processing speeds and short term memory skills to be well below average (below 9th percentile). The school gave my daughter 25% extra time in exams based on their own assessment, but did not allow the specialist's recommended use of a laptop for exams as they said they they could not provide the exam board with 'historical evidence of 'normal way of working'. This was purely due to late diagnosis and I have since challenged the school on this (complaints procedure in progress).

I think your daughter could benefit greatly from practical support in the classroom, such as laptop use for note-taking etc if writing is difficult for her. Also, like my daughter, she may find copying from the board and taking notes and dictation to be difficult. The teacher should provide clear and concise handouts to support learning and maybe also allow your daughter to record lessons on a digital recorder so that she can listen back again (this helps with the short term memory problems). No amount of support will make up for short-term memory difficulties or speed of processing, so the school should take account of this in the teaching methods.

Also, your daughter should receive support and help in developing strategies to cope with the short term memory and processing problems and the effect these will inevitably have on her personal organisation (does she forget homework, deadlines, etc?).

Also, if your daughter's original diagnostic report does not make any specific recommendations on support, or it is very out of date, I would be inclined to have a new diagnostic assessment done so that the school can put the right support in place. You may have to pay for this yourself and they are not cheap, so I would first seek advice with your SENCO or local education authority (ask for department that deals with special needs) to see if they can organise one through the school for free.

It is also worth noting that schools have to comply with legal obligations to support special educational needs. Dyslexia is covered in the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) which has now been incorporated into the Equalities Act (2005). It specifies that 'reasonable adjustments' must be made to support dyslexic people. I believe also that schools are covered by SENDA (Special Educational Needs and Disability Act). I would ask the school to give you a copy of their SEN policy and make sure that they are sticking to it!

It might also be helpful to look at the British Dyslexia Association and Dyslexia Action websites - and also to see if there is a support group anywhere near to where you live. There isn't one in my area, but I am hoping to get one started soon with a few other parents.

I wish you and your daughter well and hope that you are able to find all the support you need.