http://www.letsgolearn.com/faqs/ en aekwilliams@LetsGoLearn.com Copyright 2007 2007-11-15T12:23:00-08:00 http://www.letsgolearn.com/faqs/why_might_dora_spelling_scores_not_reflect_classroom_spelling_test_achievem/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/site/why_might_dora_spelling_scores_not_reflect_classroom_spelling_test_achievem/#When:12:23:00Z Spelling is the most challenging sub-test on DORA as the answers are completely student generated as opposed to multiple-choice. If students are performing well on classroom spelling tests, consider the difference in the task. I am concerned that some fourth graders are scoring at the 1st grade level in spelling on DORA, while on the other hand they are able to do well on an advanced spelling list in the classroom.  I am not sure how to address this with parents in a conference.  What are some possibilities that could be affecting their spelling scores on DORA?Spelling is the most challenging sub-test on DORA as the answers are completely student generated as opposed to multiple-choice. If students are performing well on classroom spelling tests, consider the difference in the task. If on Monday they are given a list of 10-25 words (depending on the teacher), they spend the entire week memorizing those words:  writing, re-writing, creating flash cards, drilling themselves, drilling their peers, having sample tests in class and at home over breakfast, etc. The students are given many opportunities to memorize those words and most will do well on the Friday spelling test.  Now they come in to take DORA. They are seeing words that they have not just spent a week practicing and they only get one chance to spell the word right. It is a sample of how the student is spelling, in general, without any practice.  Do you administer a spelling pre-test at the beginning of the week? Do your students get the same score on Monday as they do on Friday? Probably not, but I would look at the Monday score as an indicator of how the child really spells. So, you can tell the parents not to worry; with practice their children are learning to memorize and spell words. If they continue to work hard on the classroom spelling lists, they will improve their diagnostic spelling scores. Assessment FAQs, Spelling FAQs 2007-11-15T12:23:00-08:00 http://www.letsgolearn.com/faqs/i_have_an_advanced_preschooler_and_a_struggling_kindergartener_how_can_i_he/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/site/i_have_an_advanced_preschooler_and_a_struggling_kindergartener_how_can_i_he/#When:16:45:00Z It sounds like you have two children with different approaches to reading. Whether or not you'd call it, 'formal,' it sounds like you've already exposed your son to reading fundamentals.I have been wondering if I should start ‘formal’ reading instruction for my son. He is only 2 1/2, but he already knows all of his letters by sight and sound. He will excitedly go to the fridge, pull off a random letter, call out its name, then say its sound (w/o adding an "ugh" if it’s a T or P or even W). Just this evening, he overheard me working with my 6 yrold daughter on her writing and said "P...(p), (p), pop." He also will sit down with a book and sound out letters in succession, pointing to each one, and then proceed to tell the story word for word correctly if it’s one we’ve read before. He often stops me from reading to try and read the words himself. What are your thoughts on this? My daughter, on the other hand, is having extreme difficulty learning to read. Like others mentioned in the FAQs, she will sound out the correct sounds, but then say a completely different word. She will also substitute ‘chair’ when the word is ‘seat’, or ‘boat’ for ‘ship’. Also, words she read fine in one sentence are completely foreign a couple of sentences later. She can spell almost any 3 or 4 letter word orally when I ask, but not be able to read it in print. Do you know why this happens? I pulled her out of her K classbecause she was driven to tears every night with all the writing homework they were required to do and am now homeschooling her. Thank you so much for any information you can give me.It sounds like you have two children with different approaches to reading.  Whether or not you’d call it, ‘formal,’ it sounds like you’ve already exposed your son to reading fundamentals. Many children in ‘formal’ preschool settings are still learning all of their letters and sounds and extending what they learn to authentic settings like reading signs or piecing together words in books.  I personally don’t see  harm in moving forward your sons’ reading/literacy development, but at his young age, I would make sure to follow his lead.  That is, employ activities that are engaging and that are useful to him.  Make sure he doesn’t get frustrated with the activities, as he might start associating reading as a punitive event.  The idea is to encourage his curiosity and excitement about reading.  I can’t say for sure why your daughter exhibits some of the reading behaviors you described, but for a kindergartener, it doesn’t seem out of the ordinary.  At that age, students are learning to negotiate and attend to the different visual, sound, context cues and strategies involved in reading.  The fact that some of her reading errors involve subtituting words that ‘make sense’ to what she’s reading (i.e., boat for ship, and chair, for seat) shows that she’s trying to understand the text as she attempts to orally read it.  That shows that she has a good purpose for reading!  However, it also sounds like she might ‘compartementalize’ different aspects of reading (i.e., sounding out words, making meaning, spelling, etc.) as separate events and perhaps doesn’t connect her memory for spelling words, with what she knows about letters and sounds and when she’s reading, doesn’t connect her errors (as sensible as they are) with what’s actually written on the page.  Manipulating, negotiating and attending to the different aspects of reading is a sophisticated process that takes more scaffolding for some young children.  You can help your daughter by validating the good the things that she does and making her aware of what doesn’t make sense.  For example, when she finished reading the sentence or the page of the book in which she said, ‘boat’ for ‘ship’ you could pause and say, "I noticed you said, boat here - that makes sense because....., Now let’s look for another word that makes and matches the letters in the book!"   If the word ‘ship’ is not in her vocabulary, then quickly sound out the word ‘ship’ and introduce what that word means.   The idea is to help your daughter make connections between what she sees, the sounds letters make, what she says, and what makes sense.  Early Reading FAQs 2007-08-31T16:45:00-08:00 http://www.letsgolearn.com/faqs/my_kindergartener_can_read_charlottes_web_will_dora_tell_me_her_true_readin/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/site/my_kindergartener_can_read_charlottes_web_will_dora_tell_me_her_true_readin/#When:18:30:00Z It's astounding that your daughter seems so advanced in reading for her age. If you know your daughter can comfortably read Charlotte's Web orally (i.e., generally misses less than 5-10 words on a page - varies depending on difficulty of the page), then you know that your daughter is able to decode a book with a reading level approximately between grades 4 to 6 (give or take a grade level depending on who you talk to). However, reading ability, whether it's measured by 'grade level' or some scaled score on standardized tests, is complicated...I have a 5 yr old who taught herself to read at age 2 1/2. She will start Kindergarten in a few weeks able to read a book like Charlotte’s Web on her own. Would your online DORA assessment be a good one for determining her exact reading level or would the discrepancy between her age and her reading ability cause the results to be less accurate? I would like to get a clear picture of her reading ability before she begins the school year and am wondering if this is the place to start.It’s astounding that your daughter seems so advanced in reading for her age.   If you know your daughter can comfortably read Charlotte’s Web orally  (i.e., generally misses less than 5-10 words on a page - varies depending on difficulty of the page), then you know that your daughter is able to decode a book with a reading level approximately between grades 4 to 6 (give or take a grade level depending on who you talk to).  However, reading ability, whether it’s measured by ‘grade level’ or some scaled score on standardized tests, is complicated.  Reading ability involves a number of skills like attention to spoken sounds, ability to match sounds to how we represent them in standard American English, recognizing words by sight, fluently reading phrases and sentences, employing different comprehension strategies, ability to understand different genres of text, motivation to read, etc.  If you want an assessment that can quantify (and qualify) your daughter’s reading skills before she goes into Kindergarten, DORA can do that.  Given her age, it’ll start off with simpler items, but would quickly progress to harders ones as she correctly answers each item.  You may find that she might recognize words correctly with great ease on subtests like the word recognition subtest, but you might also find that on the silent reading comprehension subtest, she might struggle to answers some of the questions as her background knowledge about might be less developed than what would be required for upper grade passages.  DORA will help give you a more complete profile of your daughter’s reading abilities than just her ability to fluently recognize words.  It will examine her phonemic awareness kills, ability to recognize frequently occuring words by sight and how well she can recognize words of increasing difficulty, phonic skills, spelling, vocabulary, and comprehension.  It will also take her performance on all these subtests and extrapolate the kinds of strategies she may or may not be using and the kinds of instructional stategies that might help her reading development move forward.  If you think that’s the kind of information you’d like before she enters Kindergarten, then I think that DORA is a good place to start.  Assessment FAQs, Early Reading FAQs 2007-08-24T18:30:00-08:00 http://www.letsgolearn.com/faqs/my_son_is_in_2nd_grade_and_can_read_ok_but_cant_spell_very_well_should_i_ha/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/site/my_son_is_in_2nd_grade_and_can_read_ok_but_cant_spell_very_well_should_i_ha/#When:22:39:00Z Yes. The processing abilities that are required to make a good speller are the some of the same processing abilities that make a good reader. Beginning readers who have trouble spelling often have trouble becoming efficient readers as well. In my experience, adults who consider themselves poor spellers are often phonetic spellers.Yes. The processing abilities that are required to make a good speller are the some of the same processing abilities that make a good reader. Beginning readers who have trouble spelling often have trouble becoming efficient readers as well. In my experience, adults who consider themselves poor spellers are often phonetic spellers. Take a look at the spelling mistakes that your son is making. Do his mistakes seem to spell out the sounds of the word? (kuk for cook, hoo for who, nite for nigh, joos for juice etc) This would indicate that he is trying to spell phonetically. If your son is making this kind of mistake, he is on the right track. He is putting the sounds of the words in order, a task some readers find very difficult. This kind of child may need a bit of support to learn the actual spelling of the words. Or does it seem that his spelling mistakes don’t follow the sounds of the word at all? (sgt for sight, chrp for truck, ement for equipment, cshus for curious etc) Your son may be making one or both of these types of mistakes.  Spelling FAQs 2007-07-25T22:39:00-08:00 http://www.letsgolearn.com/faqs/is_it_normal_for_a_2nd_grader_to_spell_words_with_many_missing_letters/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/site/is_it_normal_for_a_2nd_grader_to_spell_words_with_many_missing_letters/#When:22:39:00Z It depends on what type of letters is missing. By second grade, children should have good control of the sounds they hear in words and how they are represented by a letter or letter patterns. If the child's spelling attempts of words are "phonetically" correctly (i.e., all the letters appropriately match a specific sound) the child may still be learning the conventions of irregular words or words that she doesn't encounter often. These conventions are still working its way to her long-term memory. It's natural for second graders to still be learning these conventions. However, if the child is missing letters to many sounds that are in words, she may need intervention in accelerating her attention to the discrete sounds in words (or phonemes).It depends on what type of letters is missing. By second grade, children should have good control of the sounds they hear in words and how they are represented by a letter or letter patterns. If the child’s spelling attempts of words are "phonetically" correctly (i.e., all the letters appropriately match a specific sound) the child may still be learning the conventions of irregular words or words that she doesn’t encounter often. These conventions are still working its way to her long-term memory. It’s natural for second graders to still be learning these conventions. However, if the child is missing letters to many sounds that are in words, she may need intervention in accelerating her attention to the discrete sounds in words (or phonemes). Spelling FAQs 2007-07-25T22:39:00-08:00 http://www.letsgolearn.com/faqs/my_son_is_in_3rd_grade_and_does_not_like_reading_does_that_mean_he_is_not_a/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/site/my_son_is_in_3rd_grade_and_does_not_like_reading_does_that_mean_he_is_not_a/#When:22:38:00Z Not necessarily. If he is doing fine with reading and spelling in school, he may be fine. However, he may not like reading because it is hard for him. Most anyone likes doing things that come easily. Third grade is a particularly critical time where reading is concerned. Third grade is the first time a student is required to read independently. A lot of readers realize reading problems for the very first time in midyear of third grade. Monitor his progress closely to make sure that he continues to make appropriate progress. Identifying a reading issue early is one of the most important things your can do for your child's reading abilities. A child who is one year behind this year will likely by two years behind next year and so on.Not necessarily. If he is doing fine with reading and spelling in school, he may be fine. However, he may not like reading because it is hard for him. Most anyone likes doing things that come easily. Third grade is a particularly critical time where reading is concerned. Third grade is the first time a student is required to read independently. A lot of readers realize reading problems for the very first time in midyear of third grade. Monitor his progress closely to make sure that he continues to make appropriate progress. Identifying a reading issue early is one of the most important things your can do for your child’s reading abilities. A child who is one year behind this year will likely by two years behind next year and so on. Spelling FAQs 2007-07-25T22:38:00-08:00 http://www.letsgolearn.com/faqs/can_both_adults_and_children_be_assessed_for_spelling_and_reading_problems/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/site/can_both_adults_and_children_be_assessed_for_spelling_and_reading_problems/#When:22:38:00Z My daughter is in seventh grade and reading and spelling have always been hard for her. Reading and spelling were always hard for me too and I still don't like reading very much. Should she be assessed or can we both be assessed? My daughter is in seventh grade and reading and spelling have always been hard for her. Reading and spelling were always hard for me too and I still don’t like reading very much. Should she be assessed or can we both be assessed? Yes, she or both of you can be assessed. However, reading and spelling are not going to get easier for a seventh grader with out some intervention. (Instruction in reading is part of a school’s curriculum through the fourth grade in most states) The first step to intervention is assessment. It will be important to know what her reading strengths and weaknesses are. If she has coped thus far, she is probably strong in some areas and weak in others. As high school and then college approach, she will be expected to complete larger and larger quantities of reading and writing. She may be able to get by but she may feel like there is not enough time in the day to do all the work required. Getting help now will be more effective than later. As for you, adults from every walk of life have difficulty with reading. Studies show that 20-30% of the world’s population has weakness in the processing abilities necessary for reading. You may want to think about taking an online assessment; this can give you or anyone the dignity and privacy they may desire. Or you can go a different route and have your daughter and or yourself assessed by a local professional who can explain everything to you if you are not comfortable reading a report that would be generated by an online assessment. If you are interested in improving your own reading level, go for it by all means. I personally have worked with business men, construction workers, moms, grad students and even a few people in their seventies. It is never too late. Spelling FAQs 2007-07-25T22:38:00-08:00 http://www.letsgolearn.com/faqs/having_trouble_viewing_detailed_reports/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/site/having_trouble_viewing_detailed_reports/#When:22:36:00Z In order to view detailed reports, our system requires that you have free Acrobat Reader 4.05 (or later) as well as the Acrobat Reader PDF browser plug-in properly installed. For Microsoft XP operating system users, you must have Acrobat 5.05 or later. Check our Technical FAQs for more information. If you still cannot view your reports, e-mail us and we will e-mail you a version of the report as a stand alone PDF file which you will be able to open with Acrobat 3.0 or later. In order to view detailed reports, our system requires that you have free Acrobat Reader 4.05 (or later) as well as the Acrobat Reader PDF browser plug-in properly installed. For Microsoft XP operating system users, you must have Acrobat 5.05 or later. Check our Technical FAQs for more information. If you still cannot view your reports, e-mail us and we will e-mail you a version of the report as a stand alone PDF file which you will be able to open with Acrobat 3.0 or later.  Reports FAQs 2007-07-25T22:36:00-08:00 http://www.letsgolearn.com/faqs/how_do_i_get_assessment_results/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/site/how_do_i_get_assessment_results/#When:22:36:00Z When the user is done with the test, go to http://www.letsgolearn.com and login with your user name and password. Click on then . Under the column "Detailed Reports", select the type of report you would like to view, click on it, and then click on "Display Report." You will be able to view and print it out as a PDF document. You can login to print a report as many times as you wish. When the user is done with the test, go to www.letsgolearn.com and login with your user name and password. Click on then . Under the column "Detailed Reports", select the type of report you would like to view, click on it, and then click on "Display Report." You will be able to view and print it out as a PDF document. You can login to print a report as many times as you wish.  Reports FAQs 2007-07-25T22:36:00-08:00 http://www.letsgolearn.com/faqs/what_does_it_mean_if_my_student_misspells_a_word_several_different_ways/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/site/what_does_it_mean_if_my_student_misspells_a_word_several_different_ways/#When:22:36:00Z My daughter is in fourth grade. She is not a very good speller. The weird thing is, she seems to spell the words wrong differently every time. She spelled "straight" several different ways in the same paragraph. Why does she do that? My daughter is in fourth grade. She is not a very good speller. The weird thing is, she seems to spell the words wrong differently every time. She spelled "straight" several different ways in the same paragraph. Why does she do that? Sometimes these kinds of spelling mistakes are made because the speller has a hard time making a mental image of letters. This difficulty will make spelling very hard. Good spellers have the ability to picture a word in the mind’s eye. After the speller is exposed to the word a few times, the speller can hold onto the image. However, this task is very difficult for some people. It is some times called "symbol imagery weakness." This same weakness may make memorizing words for reading difficult too. But aside from all that, knowing your daughter’s specific strengths and weaknesses in this area will be important. The first step to any problem like this is assessment. Having your daughter assessed by a reading professional will be very helpful for you. Several of the same learning processes involved with spelling, are essential to reading. It sounds as if she has some strengths with spelling if she is able to think of several ways to spell words. Determining the gap between her strengths and weaknesses will help you to make the most informed decisions about instruction. Spelling FAQs 2007-07-25T22:36:00-08:00