A proper diagnosis and treatment are necessary for the child with learning difficulties. If you are concerned about any kind of learning difficulties in your child, then you are recommended to consult with an expert. Through the inputs from parents, teachers, and the review of academic performance, the child may be recommended to undergo a variety of tests to analyze the relevant types of disorders.

A team of professionals, including a psychologist, special education teacher, and an occupational therapist can help your child to subject to a series of tests and assessments to find out the learning disorders. Through this blog, I would like to make you familiar with some tests, which are conducted to identify the learning disabilities in a child.

Learning Disability Tests

According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the learning disability diagnosis cannot be made based on a single test [1]. However, in some cases, according to the evaluator’s preferences and the child’s needs, all tests are not necessary. Various types of tools and resources are used for screening and evaluating learning disabilities in a child.

Vision and Hearing tests

A child with vision and hearing disability may behave in a way to divert attention from their challenges in learning. Vision and hearing tests will help to identify any challenges related to a child’s ability to see things both near and far distance. The vision test with functional vision assessment can also capture challenges such as eye movement and night vision. A hearing test will help to know the child’s capacity to hear different tones at different frequencies. After finding any sort of vision and hearing disorders, the child will get glasses or hearing aids to improve his/her learning skills [2].

Language Test

In order to diagnose a learning disability, a child will undergo multiple subtests on general language skills. The tests to evaluate learning disability include tests such as the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (CELF) [3], Goldman Fristoe Test of Articulation [4],  and the Test of Language Development [5]. These tests evaluate your child’s ability to understand spoken and written language and their ability for verbal responses to questions. The tools for language tests include assessment tools for reading, writing, spelling, and speaking evaluation tools [6][7].

• Reading assessment: The child’s ability to read will be assessed in several ways with the help of different tools to understand whether they perform at the same level as their age group.
• Writing and spelling assessment: This tool is mainly used to evaluate the student’s ability to express their thoughts in writing, hindering factors in handwriting, and challenges in spelling.
• Speech and language assessment: This evaluation tool helps to understand the disabilities in expressive language (expressing ideas, feelings, and thoughts into words), and receptive language (understanding of oral communication) skills and to identify pronunciation difficulties [8].  

These tests will provide the basic information on the child’s language performance, and the diagnosis will help the teacher, trained language therapist and parents to take necessary measures for improving the child’s skill set. Furthermore, the language difficulties combined with difficulties in social skills may also consider as an indication of autism.

Intelligence Test (IQ Test)

The intelligence Quotient (IQ) test is considered as one of the important components in evaluating the learning disability in a child, which measures the discrepancy between academic achievement and the child’s intelligence. Intelligence test or IQ test is a set of standardized tests,  used to diagnose learning disability and overall performance of the child with the help of Intelligence Quotient [9][10].

• The commonly used IQ tests are the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WIPPSI) for preschool and primary class children, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) for secondary school children, and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) for adults [11][12][13].
• Additionally, there are other commonly used individual intelligence and cognitive tests such as the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test [14], Differential Abilities Scales (DAS) [15][16], the Kaufman Assessment Battery for children [17], the Woodcock-Johnson Test of Cognitive Abilities [18], and the Comprehensive Test of Nonverbal Intelligence (CTONI)[19] available to find one’s learning ability and performance level.

With the help of the findings from any of the tests mentioned above, a professional can identify the child’s strengths and weaknesses and can decide further educational options or special support for the child to improve learning.

Achievement Test

In addition to the intelligence test, the achievement test is also conducted for analyzing the developed skills and knowledge achieved in reading, writing, and arithmetic. Some of the commonly used achievement tests for diagnosing learning disability in a child are the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement (WJ) [20], the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT) [21], the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) [22], and the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement (K-TEA) [23]. These tests will help the experts to find out the child’s weak performance in a particular academic area.

Mathematics/Arithmetic Assessment Test

The evaluation of children for difficulties in mathematics is as important as evaluating the reading or writing difficulties of the children. Mathematics/arithmetic tests can reveal the child’s skills in understanding numbers and quantities and basic calculations [24].

Visual-Motor Integration (VMI) Test

In order to support the learning disability evaluation, VMI tests are used as additional tests. This evaluation is also necessary because the visual-motor skill challenges can also adversely affect the performance of children. This test analyzes the effectiveness and efficiency of communication between the eyes and the hands. Those who struggle to integrate and coordinate their visual systems and their motor systems may struggle in their learning. The lack of connecting visual cues to motor coordination will affect the child’s handwriting and drawing [25]. Common visual-motor integration tests such as the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test [26] and the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration [27] are used to analyze visual-motor coordination.

Functional behavior assessments (FBA)

FBA is not a very popular tool for analyzing learning disabilities. However, this test can help to analyze the child’s behavior that causes interference in learning with the help of a trained Functional Behavioral Assessment analyst. This assessment includes consultation with the teachers, families, and other people who are connected with the child who might provide insight into the child’s behavior. This test includes the analysis of the aspects of the behavior itself, the setting in which the behavior took place such as time and location, the antecedent (incidence happened directly before the particular behavior), the consequence after the behavior such as people’s response to the behavior [28][29]. 

Recommendations

In order to get additional support and treatment for the children with difficulties in reading, writing, and arithmetic, it is highly recommended to undergo learning disability diagnosis. Depending on the evaluator’s assessment and the needs of the child, a multistep evaluation process will be carried out with the help of a multidisciplinary team of expert evaluators. These tests also help to distinguish whether the child has learning disabilities or academically delayed performance due to language barriers or environmental factors. The test diagnosis can also help to provide advice for effective treatment options depending on the type of learning deficiency.

References

[1] https://sites.ed.gov/idea/statuteregulations/

[2] Harold J McGrady et al., Exceptional Children, 36, 1970, 581-589.

[3] Helen Lloyd et al., Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 22, 2006, 47-67.

[4] Charles L Madison et al., Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 13, 1982, 110-115.

[5]https://images.pearsonclinical.com/images/ca/catalogs/SpeechCatalog/files/assets/common/downloads/publication.pdf

[6] Szu-Yin Chu et al., A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 84, 2011, 244-248.

[7] Davis W A et al., Learning Disability Quarterly, 6, 1983, 128-138.

[8] Kathryn Byrd et al., Journal of Fluency Disorders, 14, 1989, 121-126.

[9] Saklofske Donald H et al., WISC-V Assessment and Interpretation, 2016, 237-268.

[10] David Giofre et al., Intelligence, 61, 2017, 140-145.

[11] David Wechsler, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. Psychological Corporation, 1949.

[12] Ida Sue Baron, A Journal on Normal and Abnormal Development in Childhood and Adolescence, 11, 2005, 471-475.

[13] David Wechsler, Contemporary Educational Psychology, 6, 1981, 82-85.

[14] Raid Gale H et al., Contemporary Intellectual Assessment: Theories, Tests, and Issues, The Guilford Press, 2012, 249-268.

[15] Brian J Stone, Journal of School Psychology, 30, 1992, 185-195.

[16] Andrew C Kercher et al., Journal of School Psychology, 29, 1991, 293-307.

[17] Bruce A Bracken, School Psychology Review, 14, 1985, 21-36.

[18] Mary G Rizza et al., Psychology in the Schools, 38, 2001, 447-455.

[19] Wiederholt J Lee et al., Journal of Child Neurology, 13, 1998, 224–228.

[20] Schrank Fredrick A et al., Contemporary Intellectual Assessment: Theories, Tests, and Issues, 2018, 383-451.

[21] Thomas G Burns, Journal of Applied Neuropsychology, 17, 2010, 234-236.

[22] Alisa J Snelbaker et al., Understanding Psychological Assessment. Perspectives on Individual Differences, 2001, 259-274.

[23] Nancy Gentry et al., Psychological Reports, 76, 1995, 607-610.

[24] Janet F McLean et al., Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 74, 1999, 240-260.

[25] Kulp Marjean Taylor et al., Optometry and Vision Science, 80, 2003, 312-315.

[26] Gary G Brannigan, The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2010.

[27] Deborah Marr et al., Perceptual and Motor Skills, 95, 2002, 661-669.

[28] Cynthia M Anderson et al., Journal of Behavioral Education, 24, 2015, 338-371.

[29] Mark D Shriver et al., School Psychology Review, 30, 2001, 180-192.