Language and Reading Evaluations in Pre-K and K

Sometimes, I am lucky enough to hear from parents with children in PK, K, or first grade who have reading concerns and are seeking help.  I'm always excited when I hear this.  I love to work with the PK, K, and 1st grade emergent readers.
 

Here's the bummer...When these parents call me, often they have been told a few things.

• It's too early to test their child for reading
• They had an evaluation and were told everything was fine, except the child isn't learning.  

Boy, that really makes me sad.  Here we have a family who has spotted something wrong and they are being told nothing can be done yet.  That stinks and how frustrating!

So let's address some of those things parents are told.

It's too early to test reading in PK or K.

This is something parents are often told and it is absolutely not true.  It is not too early to test your child.  Maybe your child is not getting formal literacy instruction yet.  There are still some areas we can examine that will help us determine if things are on the right track or not.  

Many children are in some form of preschool or pre-kindergarten and already being exposed to instruction in letters and sounds. Even if they are not enrolled in one of these programs, parents are often playing games and reading to children, providing important early experiences. Children are learning to play with rhyming words and sing their ABCs.  They are learning vocabulary and other language skills through read-alouds with parents or teachers.  All of these things are precursors to more formal reading instruction and all of these areas can be tested in your young child.

Reading is language.  If you suspect that your child is having trouble with early reading skills like learning letters, chances are good that there are some underlying language issues.  We most certainly can test language skills in PK, K, and 1st! Getting information about language skills coupled with information about early reading skills through an evaluation is a great way to find out how to help your child.

My child had an evaluation and we were told everything was fine, but it's not.

Sometimes a parent will have an evaluation done for her young child and be told everything looks great.  This happens sometimes when schools use a discrepancy method.  This means that the school is looking for a large gap between intellectual ability and academic progress. It is sometimes difficult be identified in schools at a young age when this is the model being used. Additionally, on some tests, young for children do not have to get very many items correct in order to fall in the average range.

It is imperative that you find someone familiar with the age group of your child, Pre-K through 1st grade.  In addition, I recommend that the person who does the testing is someone with an in-depth knowledge of language and how to treat language disorders for this age.  Because your child does not have many "reading" skills yet, it is important that the evaluation takes a very close look at foundational language skills.  And I don't mean just giving a test.  The person who evaluates must understand how to analyze the results and what they mean, not just quote you a test score number.  

Speech-Language Pathologists are experts in language. Reading is built on a foundation of language skills.  If you suspect that your young child is struggling with early reading, it is important to seek the help of an SLP who is interested in doing an in-depth assessment of language AND early reading, including more than one broad test tool.

You need more than a printout of test scores.

Here's what you don't want to have happen.  You don't want to spend a lot of time and resources on an evaluation and all you walk away with is a computer generated score sheet. When all you get are score numbers, you often don't receive the following information

• Which letters of the alphabet your child knows and does not know?  
• Whether your child can identify the first and last sounds in words?  
• If your child was able to write their name and any other words?
• The ability of your child to tell a story that makes sense and what story elements he/she included such as characters, setting, plot, and an ending?  

A printout of scores may not answer any of the above questions.  This is because a percentage or standard score may indicate that there is a problem, but it often does not provide any prescriptive detail that explains why the child got the score.  What exactly did they miss?  What were the specific skills? Without this information, it is not feasible to develop an adequate treatment plan for your child.  

Why can't we just skip an evaluation and go straight to tutoring?  

An evaluation should be like a roadmap.  It should explain the specific skills your child knows and does not know.  A professional should be able to read it and find information about the specific skills that need support. 

If you skip over the evaluation that provides you the specific information needed to treat a child, then how do you know what to treat?  It is like calling the doctor and telling the doctor that your child is sick and asking for a prescription.  How would the doctor know what kind of treatment to prescribe if he/she does not know the specific symptoms or run the necessary tests?

There are many different reasons why a child may struggle with reading.  It is important to understand the specific reasons why your child is struggling with reading so that the right steps can be taken to best help your child.

How do I know if I am going to get the kind of evaluation I need for my child?

That is an excellent question!  As a parent it is difficult to navigate all the different information you may read.  Ask a lot of questions!

A young child in PK, K, or 1st will need an in-depth language and literacy assessment.  Here are some sample questions to consider 

• How many evaluations for children in PK-1st do you provide each year for concerns similar to the ones I have for my child?
• What kind of training have you received in normal and disordered language development?
• What is your understanding of how language is related to reading skills?
• Do you provide informal, dynamic assessments as part of the evaluation?
• Will I receive more than an automatic, computer-generated report?
• Will you provide an analysis of my child's narrative skills?
• Will you thoroughly explain how my child responded to specific skills tasks in the report?

These are only a few possible questions to ask.  It is important that you are comfortable with the professional you choose and that you find someone you trust to help identify the needs of your child. Your child can be tested in Pre-K and K for early reading difficulties.  Testing to identify these issues includes assessment of both language and reading skills.  

Summer Therapy or Summer Break?

Every year at about this time I hear the same question - "Should I keep coming to therapy during the summer or take a break?" I get it.  By the time we roll around to the end of the school year and are experiencing the end-of-year May activities, a break sounds really good.  Here are some things to think about.

• Do I need a break from everything, or just a break from the daily routine?  

While you take a break from school can you still continue to devote a few hours a week to language or reading therapy?  Chances are that your child isn't tired of learning.  They're more tired of the daily grind.  If you are taking a much needed break from the schooling routine, consider whether you can still squeeze in an hour or two of therapy.

• Can we take a small break and feel refreshed, or do we need the extended break?

If you want to take a break, consider taking two weeks off instead of the entire summer.  I know that by the end of the second week of winter break, my kids are already bored and ready to go back to school.  Consider taking just two weeks off when you end schooling and then possibly another week off before you start the schooling routine again.  

• Consider breaking up the regular routine

If your therapist is flexible you may be able to do some block therapy.  This might consist of two weeks of therapy followed by a week break, then two more weeks of therapy and a week break.  In this scenario it is much easier to schedule some of those one week summer camps and family vacations, but still keep moving forward with the learning.

• What if summer therapy is where the fun is at and you're missing out?

Summer can be extra fun because you can take the learning outside. During the regular school year we often find ourselves stuck inside due to the colder temperatures.  Now that the weather has warmed up, outdoor learning is something kids always enjoy.  In the summer kids can practice their writing with sidewalk chalk on the porch.  They can count syllables in words and blow bubbles for every syllable. They can fish for alphabet letters in a mini pool.  The summer can be so much more exciting for learning.  It's amazing how the fresh air can boost our learning motivation and enjoyment!  So before you decide to call a halt to therapy for the summer, think about your options.  It doesn't have to be all or nothing.  Talk with your child's therapist and see if you can change things up a bit in the summer without stopping the learning momentum.  

• What can you lose if you take a summer break?

It depends.  If you continue daily review of homework tasks you have been given and read with your child on a daily basis, then it is sometimes possible to maintain the progress you have made over the year.  However, if you abandon all learning tasks during the three month break it is very likely that you will lose a lot of the skills your child worked so hard to learn.  It is important to ask yourself if you can stick to a schedule of frequent and methodical review over the summer.  If not, it might be beneficial to find an option that allows you to continue therapy for reading and language during the summer months.  

Categorizing with Word Clouds

One of the important skills we teach children is categorization.  Many people don't realize how necessary categorization is to everyday life.  Think about when you go to the grocery store.  How do you know where to look for flour?  The thought process might go something like this:

What do we do with flour?
We use it for baking.
So, the flour might be located with other baking items.
Therefore, head to the aisle with all the cake mixes to find the flour.

Bet you didn't realize all that thinking went into grocery shopping!  Now what about when you get home to unpack those groceries?  You probably have a place where every item goes.  Maybe you store the poptarts next to the cereal in the cabinet because they both are breakfast items.  Or the apples and oranges you bought maybe go in the same refrigerator drawer with other fruit items.  You are more organized than you think because you are able to categorize, or sort items that go together.

Sometimes children who struggle with language concepts have difficulty learning to categorize.  Teaching them how to figure out where to find items in the grocery store is a great way to help them with this skill.  Then letting them help you unpack those items at home is extra practice!