English Learners’ Performance on a Measure of Dyslexia Risk

Abstract

Many schools now screen students for dyslexia in early grades. However, there are valid concerns that these screeners may be biased or ineffective at screening students who are not yet proficient in English (i.e., English Learners; ELs). The present study examined the performance of 54 first graders on a dyslexia screener. Results showed that students who were ELs performed similarly to their peers who were proficient in English on many literacy subskills. Additionally, we found that EL students were not significantly more likely to be “flagged” as at risk for dyslexia. These findings have practical implications for using universal screeners to identify students, including students who are designated ELs, as being at risk for learning disabilities, including dyslexia.

Differences in Reading Screening Accuracy by Percentile Cutoff and English Proficiency: Feature Selection and Group-wise Prediction Evaluation

“…There is evidence suggesting that English-language measures of alphabet and orthographic knowledge, as well as phonological awareness can be used to accurately predict multilingual students' English word reading (Ford et al, 2014;Rhinehart & Gotlieb, 2023). The relatively large importance of the blending and deletion tasks in oneand two-year predictions, respectively, for ELs in kindergarten corroborates these earlier findings and suggest utility of these tasks for screening multilingual students.…”

“…The authors go as far as concluding that "comprehensive early literacy measures administered in English to Spanish-speaking ELL students with only minimal English proficiency have predictive validity" (Ford et al, 2014, p. 282). Rhinehart and Gotlieb (2023) also conclude that ELs were no more likely to be identified as at risk of developmental dyslexia than their EO peers when screened using a battery of tasks assessing English pre-reading skills. Ford et al (2014) do, however, caution that minimal English proficiency (i.e., sufficient English proficiency to comprehend instructions and interact with proctors) is required.…”

“…This need not mean that no intervention is necessary, but these students benefit from structured English language exposure and instruction, not necessarily educational interventions assuming a difficulty with developing literacy. More importantly, given the evidence that screening is feasible (findings presented here, as well as, e.g., Ford et al, 2014;Páez & Rinaldi, 2006;Rhinehart & Gotlieb, 2023), it is imperative not to systematically exclude ELs from screening, so as not to miss the crucial window for potentially needed intervention.…”