Salford reading test - does anyone know?

[newlife4us]

We were told at beginning of this school year that DD (yr 3) had scored 7.8 in her reading test. Yesterday when in school helping with her class reading, i noticed in the reading folder that this was way behind the others in her class (average probably about 10 years reading age).

She is excellent at reading although is way behind in all other areas of the curriculum and has SEN. I have been listening to the children in her class read on a weekly basis for the past two school years and would put her in the top 25th percentile in her class for reading which would give her a comparative reading age in the high tens.

Does anyone know what this test involves and whether it is modified for cognitive skills?

Sorry - i'm not asking this for competitive reasons, DD has significant problems with maths and literacy and extremely poor cognitive skills.

Am just wondering that if it has been in some way modified why school hasn't picked up on high score in reading and cognitive skills way below her age.

Could just be test was done when she was post ictal (she has uncontrolled epilepsy).

Any advice on this gratefully received.

Do you think her reading maybe better when she is reading to you rather than reading to anyone else because she feels more confident?

I listen to children read and the comments made by their parents in their reading journal just doesn't match with their ability when reading to me.

I just think they read best with a parent.

I'm not suggesting this is what is happening with your dd, but it maybe one thing to consider.

When she's read to her teacher or to other mums who help with reading they've also commented on her excellent reading skills. She is shy so there may be a slight difference, but she knows that she is good at reading and takes confidence from this. She struggles with the rest of the curriculum so we're always trying to boost her self esteem by reminding her that she's so good t reading.

The Suffolk Reading Scale is a comprehension based test in which children are required to select an appropriate word (from 5 available) in order to complete a sentence. It is a written test so quite different from a teacher listening to a child read individually or in a group and has been designed to take account of the possibility that children may circle words entirely randomly or in some kind of pattern e.g. always the first word or go 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. throughout the test.

I would be inclined to put the results of the SRS to the back of your mind and continue to reassure your daughter that she is a good reader. If she is doing well in class and when she reads to adults then she is doing well at 'real' reading and a simple, snapshot research tool that requires a child to circle an appropriate word clearly won't give the same sort of feedback as personal interaction.

Sorry - i wasn't trying to justify that my DD should have been scored more highly in the test. At the time i was told (unaware of other scores i was quite happy). She is probably two to three years behind in other areas at school, but they're refusing to acknowledge that a problem exists. They presented her reading age to me and told me to "celebrate her success".

Was hoping that if there was a cognitive element to the test that i could use this as additional evidence i.e if her reading age was 10.5+ and her average of the two test was 7.8, her cognitive test would have been 5.1 (IYSWIM). Which is probably where she is in this respect. School has paed reports but ignoring them.

We're moving to new area and new school and about to request statutory assessment - just trying to get as much evidence as poss to support application.

I am happy with her reading and she loves to read, but her self esteem is rock bottom due to the signifiant issues she has with maths etc

the Salford reading test is a straight forward "word" reading test it doesn't require any understanding.

The child reads a series of sentences (start off very simple "Come and play ball" ) each error is marked and after a certain number of errors (think it is 5?) the number of sentences read is used to calculate the reading age.

Salford is very different from Suffolk and it's very likely different reading age results would be obtained if both were used. There is no written element to Salford just 1-1 reading aloud to an adult.

And if it was at the begining of the academic year (ie Spetember) then she would be less sure of the person she was reading to as still new in Y3 (IYSWIM) and so less confident reading with them. Find this a lot with children - especially those who are less confident on other areas. They are nervous at the start of the year so 'underperform' in their reading test. Have they done a more recent test on her - at our school we testin September in Feb/March and then at the end of June it shows their development over the year but can also highlight those who were not comfortable in September and therefore got a relatively low score.

BTW 7.8 is about where a child going into Y3 'should' be 'on average' with their reading as is comparable to their chronological age.

Thank you for clarifying this.

I'm not aware that they've done any further tests, but parents evening next month so they may do it before then.

I'm not unhappy with her score but just wanted to understand what the test entailed, so thank you.

We use Salford tests twice a year (Sept and June) as there are only two versions of the test (x or y sheets) using them more often means children will be repeating one of the tests within the school year.

We use these tests as a quick way of initially assessing childrens' reading more phonetically. They are also assessed in their comprehension skills usually each week in guided reading, then the Teacher can gain an overall picture of the child's reading ability.
Some children do not do well in these tests, but have great comprehension skills and visa versa.