Reexamining Reading Diagnosis: New Trends and Procedures

REEXAMINING READING DIAGNOSIS NEW TRENDS AND PROCEDURES This book is a revelation to one who has been active in the field of diagnosis and remediation of reading disabilities for more than thirty years. The contributors suggest dozens of informal steps of observation techniques, schemes for charting and outlining, sampling recall or retelling, and other ways of analyzing children's reading. Each analytic effort is matched with appropriate remedial instruction steps. Even the familiar clinical or psychometric approach is represented. No educational level is omitted in the continuum of informal diagnostic efforts. These approaches to understanding children's reading behaviors are in effect naturalistic assessments in multiple settings. They are a sharp contrast to the common practice of using commercial tests. Teachers function as observers, recorders, providers of outlines or charts, and frequently as interactants while students demonstrate their knowledge of text structure, pursue a think aloud protocol, or complete a structural or graphic organizer. In their description of these techniques and the relevant instructional practices, the contributors to Reexamining Reading Diagnosis: New Trends and Procedures have provided a model that both teachers and teacher training institutions should incorporate in their efforts.