Salford Reading Test

[Mendeleev]

Good evening,
Does anyone have any thoughts/comments on the Salford Reading Test?
My son scored very low in his reading sats paper last summer - scaled scored of 65. He’s dyslexic and in year 6 now.
School have just done a Salford Reading test with him which is scoring a reading age of 8 and a half. Can anyone shed some light as to whether these results are consistent with each other?
Thanks.

Why did your son do a SATs paper last summer if he’s in year 6 now?

Oh, they were year 5 SATs to look at progress.

We use them in my KS1 class and all through the school.
They are part of the picture and often children in my class (age 6/7) have reading ages of over 10!
This doesn’t mean that their comprehension skills are good.
Do you read to your son/ does he read to you? Do you ask him comprehension questions after these sessions?

Thanks. Yes, I do. Typically, he is much better at comprehension when he is read to. In fact, when read to using the SRT format, his comprehension age was 10, his actual age.
His problem arises, when he has to visually process information himself.

Can you get him screened for dyslexia? Then he could have extra time?

He is dyslexic and already has extra time.

We paid for a private EP in year 3. He has a reader for everything other than reading.

My question was, I suppose, is the SRT a reliable indicator? It doesn’t seem to tally with a year 5 SATs scaled score of just 65.

All the reading age tests are very different. A reading age of 8:6 when he is 10 is very bad.

Don’t get hung up on the scaled score. He’s doing badly. You know he’s doing badly. School know he’s doing badly.

If he did another 3 reading age tests he’d get 3 diff answers. That’s how it goes.
If you tell me his chronological age I can look up his scales score for you.

But the real answer is there is no such thing as reading age. None of the tests are accurate

Thanks for replying Blue. His age is 10 yrs 7

I know he’s doing badly. That’s a given. I am interested because I am fighting a battle with the school to apply for an ehcp. They are saying his reading is Year 4 level but I think it’s worse. If they say he has year 4 reading, he won’t meet the threshold.

It’s a scaled score of 83.

A different test will give a different answer. But the Salford test isn’t wrong it’s just different.

My advice is to not spend your energy fighting for an EHCP but instead spend your energy teaching him to read. An EHCP is a very poor solution to reading difficulties.

Thanks blue. The scaled score came from the reading SATs paper he did last summer. He got about 22% which equates to 65. I didn’t realise Salford also have scaled scores.
I still feel that an EHCP would be beneficial to get extra funding for interventions. I already read with him and he goes to a specialist tutor.
Thanks again though for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate your thoughts.

I speak from personal experience. An EHCP won’t teach him to read. Funding isn’t the problem.

You need to investigate every alternative therapy and idea you can find. These are the things school can’t do with him. And these are the things that have the best chance of helping him.

EHCPs aren’t really for interventions. They’re for TAs. And a TA won’t be able to teach him to read.

A scaled score on the SATs paper is different to a standardised score on the SSRT. The SATs 100 is an arbitrary expectation grade set by the gvt to say whether children are achieving ‘the expected standard’.

The SSRT standard score of 100 is the normative average score of a huge sample of children of the same age who took the test. Most children score between 90-110, so 80-90 is below average.

Scoring 65 in y5 can’t really be compared to the SSRT. He is a whole year younger than when they’re taken for a start. Whereas the SSRT gets progressively more difficult through the test so you reach a point where you stop after a certain amount wrong, the SATs reading is 3 texts which are all at the same level so any score is how well they did just on that and not any indication of the level they are working at. I hope that makes sense!

EHCPs in our LEA very rarely fund a TA nowadays. We have been told that very clearly by various professionals. The funding is to be used for interventions such as a specialist dyslexia teacher, self esteem building, etc. My son has already been through CAMHS for the emotional repercussions of having dyslexia.

The school apparently uses standardised tests which are age appropriate so I don’t have concerns about him being too young for the test.

I just wondered if the SRT age would have any relevance with regards to the fact that he scored so low in the year 5 summer tests.

I think they have done the Salford test to show his reading age is in line with the teacher judgement but I don’t trust the teacher judgement on account of the low scores.

I have a good idea of the assessment processes in schools because I am a teacher myself. However, I have never come across the Salford test. My school uses something different but it’s a secondary opposed to primary.

Sorry I thought you meant he’d done a past Y6 SAT paper. The 2 still really aren’t comparable though. 22% means he got 22% right.
The SSRT is very quick and as it’s sentences some words can be guessed from context. Having given this test many many times alongside lots of others it does sometimes seem quite generous with its scoring.
They could also do a single Word reading test to check his decoding skills and assess his phonological awareness.
When you paid for the private EP did they do a full dyslexia assessment? What was his standard score for reading then and what assessment did they use? I would pursue having a repeat assessment using the same test (ok to repeat with at least a year’s gap usually), potentially with the same EP if they were good and get up to date results you can help your case with.

Thank you Kar. That’s really helpful.

He was tested in year 3 with a full range of tests. I would have to look them up but he had a typical dyslexic spikey profile with unusually poor visual tracking. The assessment was at great cost. I’m not sure we can afford another assessment right now but you’re not the first person to suggest a reassessment so maybe we will have to find a way to get it done.

Oh, the school did a bunch of other screening tests at the same time with varied results.

Yes it’s very expensive. But a reassessment may just involve a repeat of some of the tests as an update rather than the full IQ etc. and their advice which would feed directly into the ECHP. I take it school haven’t been forthcoming in getting their EP involved? Good luck

Yes, lots of EP involvement but for CBT purposes to help (unsuccessfully) with his mental health.

Thanks again.

For very poor visual tracking I highly recommend Engaging Eyes.

dyslexiagold.co.uk/EngagingEyes

That site looks great! Thanks for the recommendation.

Have a look at toe to toe. The programme is meant to be very very good at improving the reading of dyslexic children.

Hi bigsmile. We’ve already done Toe by Toe...reluctantly! Thanks though.

If you think he will need an EHCP in secondary school, I would apply for one yourself.

Especially if he has mental health problems related to his disability. It will only get worse in secondary (speaks from bitter experience).