Tools for screening dyslexia/SpLD
(not assessing dyslexia)
Dyslexia Screener
Administration: Online – 30 minutes
Age range: 5–16+ years
The Dyslexia Screener is an assessment that identifies dyslexic tendencies in pupils and recommends
intervention strategies to help them achieve their potential. The 30-minute test is a tool for screening
an entire year group, or for screening those pupils showing some signs of difficulty. It can play an
important part in helping both specialist and non-specialist teachers distinguish between those
individuals who are having general difficulties in literacy and those whose difficulties are associated
with dyslexia. The assessment comprises six tests covering three areas, with two assessments for each:
• Ability
• Attainment
• Diagnostic
Dyslexia Portfolio
Administration: Individual – 30 minutes
Age range: 5–16+ years
The Dyslexia Portfolio is a follow-up assessment to the Dyslexia Screener for those pupils who may
have been screened as having dyslexic tendencies, or whose performance in literacy is causing
concern.
The individual diagnostic assessment provides a profile of strengths and weaknesses that can be
translated directly into an individual teaching plan, enabling specialist teachers to devise and
implement a relevant and sensitive, multi-sensory intervention programme.
Lucid Rapid
Administration: Online – 15 minutes
Age range: 4-15 Years
It is made up of three enjoyable and non-threatening tests that are sensitive cognitive indicators of
dyslexia. Each screening component has been individually standardised, to maximise accuracy in
detection of dyslexia and prevent dyslexic children 'slipping through the net'. Rapid is made up of four
sub-tests:
• Phonological processing (4 - 15 years)
• Working memory (4 - 15 Years)
• Phonic decoding skills (8 - 15 years)
• Visual-verbal integration memory (4 - 7 years)
Reports are available immediately, incorporating automatic expert interpretation and giving a clear
indication of the probability of dyslexia in every case. The results of Rapid can be automatically
integrated into more detailed dyslexia diagnostic programs and the accompanying manual gives
advice on next steps and interventions after screening.
Dyslexia Quest
Administration: Online – 20+ minutes
Age range: 5–16 years
The Dyslexia Quest screening tool provides a report of learning abilities associated with dyslexia.
Administered in as little as 20 minutes, its game-based format motivates students to perform at their
best, without even realising they are being assessed. Assessment breakdown:
• Assessment game 1: Visual Word Memory - Using commonly misspelled words, hold a visual
memory of a word and find the correct match.
• Assessment game 2: Auditory Sequential Memory - Listen to a series of instructions and follow
them in the correct sequence.
• Assessment game 3: Visual Sequential Memory - See a sequence of graphic symbols and find
the correct match.
• Assessment game 4: Processing Speed - Match a sequence of symbols to numbers.
• Assessment game 5: Phonological Awareness - Manipulate and sequence phonemes.
• Assessment game 6: Working Memory - Listen, then recall a sequence of numbers in reverse
order
Students climb the six levels of “Yeti Mountain”, each offering a different test of cognitive ability from
memory to processing speed to phonemic awareness. The resulting student profile allows teachers
and administrators to identify students at risk of dyslexia. There are 3 pathways up Yeti Mountain for
the child to work their way up, playing games that test 6 areas of learning and memory. Only one
pathway should be played at a time with at least a 2 month break between each turn – we recommend
once termly. This allows parents and teachers to compare results and monitor progress and response
to intervention.
Dyslexia+ Student Profiler
Administration: Online – 60 minutes
Age range: 16-18 years
Aimed at students about to start further education or higher education. It checks out the likelihood of
Dyslexia and traits of other related learning difficulties, such as Dyspraxia/DCD, ADHD and Autism
Spectrum Disorder. As a result of completing Dyslexia+ Student Profiler, you will have a personalised
and comprehensive report dependent on your responses given, with guidance and loads of practical
resources delivered in different ways to suit your learning style. Dyslexia+ Student Profiler finds out
about the student’s profile and provides personalised guidance relating to that in the context of
further and higher education. In Dyslexia+ Student Profiler, as with face-to-face assessments, all the
necessary modules need to be completed before the report can be accessed. Normally they would
take about an hour to complete. They do not need to be done all in one go and you may use several
sessions to complete them all.
What is included?
• Screening and assessment tools relating to Dyslexia including:
• Spelling
• New Word Spelling
• Working Memory
• Screening for other related learning difficulties such as:
• Dyspraxia/DCD
• ADHD
• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Dyslexia Student + also includes modules on:
o Study Skills
o Exploring Strengths
As a result of completing the tools, Profiler provides a picture of strengths and areas of
challenge, and provides practical guidance and links to many resources in different formats to suit
each learner.
Dyslexia Early Screening Test - Second Edition (DEST-2)
Administration: Individual - 30 minutes
Age Range: 4 years 6 months to 6 years 5 months
The Dyslexia Early Screening Test - Second Edition (DEST-2) battery contains screening tests of
attainment and ability. These determine whether a young child is experiencing difficulty in areas
known to be affected in dyslexia.
An 'at risk' score for dyslexia determines whether further in-depth testing should be undertaken. A
profile of skills provides valuable information that can be used to guide in-school support.
The DEST-2 consists of 12 subtests:
• Rapid naming
• Bead threading
• Phonological discrimination
• Postural stability
• Rhyme/Alliteration
• Forwards digit span
• Digit naming
• Letter naming
• Sound order
• Shape copying
• Corsi frog
• Vocabulary (group/individual)
Dyslexia Screening Test - Junior (DST-J)
Administration: Individual - 30 minutes
Age Range: 6 years 6 months to 11 years 5 months
The Dyslexia Screening Test covers primary and secondary school-aged children in two separate
assessments. The division of the DST into two tests, DST - Junior and DST - Secondary, include extra
subtests which are particularly relevant to the age group. The DST-J provides a profile of strengths and
weaknesses which can be used to guide the development of in-school support for the child. The DST-
J is designed for early identification of children who are at risk of reading failure so that they can be
given extra support at school. The DST-J consists of the following subtests:
• Rapid Naming
• Bead Threading
• One Minute Reading
• Postural Stability
• Phonemic Segmentation
• Two Minute Spelling
• Backwards Digit Span
• Nonsense Passage Reading
• One Minute Writing
• Verbal Fluency
• Rhyme NEW
• Vocabulary NEW
Dyslexia Screening Test - Secondary (DST-S)
Administration: Individual - 30 minutes
Age Range: 11 years 6 months to 16 years 5 months
The Dyslexia Screening Test covers primary and secondary school-aged children in two separate
assessments. The division of the DST into two tests, DST - Junior and DST - Secondary (DST-S), include
extra subtests which are particularly relevant to the age group. The DST-S provides a profile of
strengths and weaknesses which can be used to guide the development of in-school support for the
child. The DST-S is designed to identify those children who are still experiencing difficulties at
secondary school and provides data which can be used in support of requesting extra time concessions
in exams. The DST-S cosists of the following subtests:
• Rapid Naming
• Bead Threading
• One Minute Reading
• Postural Stability
• Phonemic Segmentation
• Two Minute Spelling
• Backwards Digit Span
• Nonsense Passage Reading
• One Minute Reading
• Verbal Fluency
• Semantic Fluency
• Spoonerisms
• Non-verbal Reasoning
