After The Assessment
After A Dyslexia Assessment: How To Read The Report
A dyslexia assessment report compares your child’s reading, spelling and language skills with other children the same age, using standard scores and percentile ranks. Read the summary and recommendations first, then use the scores to see how the clinician got there. This guide explains the numbers in plain words, works through an example, and sets out who to share the report with and when a psychologist is the next step.
What Is In A Dyslexia Assessment Report?
A dyslexia assessment report usually has five parts: your child’s background, what was assessed, a table of scores, what the clinician concluded, and recommendations. Reports differ between clinicians and professions. A speech pathologist’s report covers reading, spelling and the language skills underneath. A psychologist’s report adds cognitive testing and is the one that usually gives a formal diagnosis. Which professional does what is set out in who can diagnose dyslexia in Australia.
This page applies to any reading and spelling assessment report, whoever wrote it. If your child has not been assessed yet, the running order of an assessment with Dr Lauren Crumlish (PhD), Certified Practising Speech Pathologist, is in what happens on the day and the fees are in what the assessment costs.
What Does A Standard Score Mean?
A standard score shows how your child did compared with children the same age, on a scale where 100 is exactly average. It is not a mark out of 100. On most tests about two in three children score between 85 and 115, so a score of 92 is ordinary and a score of 78 is clearly behind.
What Does A Percentile Rank Mean?
A percentile rank says how many children out of 100, the same age, scored the same as or lower than your child. It is not the percentage of questions answered correctly. A child at the 16th percentile did as well as or better than 16 in 100 children the same age, and less well than the other 84.
| Standard score | Percentile rank | In plain words |
|---|---|---|
| 115 | 84th | Ahead of most children the same age |
| 100 | 50th | Exactly average |
| 90 | 25th | Within the usual range, on the lower side |
| 85 | 16th | The low edge of the usual range |
| 80 | 9th | Behind: about 9 in 100 children score here or lower |
| 70 | 2nd | Well behind: about 2 in 100 children score here or lower |
What Does “Below Average” Mean On A Report?
“Below average” is a label a test attaches to a band of scores, and each test sets its own bands. The same number can carry different labels in different reports. One test publisher’s scoring guide calls 86 to 114 “average” and 78 to 85 “marginal, borderline or mild”. So read the number and the percentile rank, then check the report’s own key for what its words mean.
Why Is There A Range Beside Each Score?
The range beside a score is a confidence interval. No test is exact, and a child tested on a different day would score a little higher or lower, so the report gives the band the true score is likely to sit in. A score of 84 with a range of 79 to 89 is best read as “somewhere between the high 70s and the high 80s”, not as exactly 84.
A Worked Example (An Illustration, Not A Real Child)
The profile below is an invented reading and spelling assessment, made to show how the parts of a report fit together. It is not a real child, and the scores are not from any family Dr Lauren has seen.
| Skill | Standard score | Percentile rank | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sound awareness | 78 | 7th | Hearing and working with the sounds inside words is hard |
| Rapid naming | 88 | 21st | Naming familiar things (colours, letters, objects) on sight happens at a usual speed |
| Reading accuracy | 76 | 5th | Many words are misread or guessed |
| Reading rate | 74 | 4th | Reading is slow and effortful |
| Reading comprehension | 86 | 18th | Understanding holds up better than the word reading does |
| Spelling | 77 | 6th | Sounds are missing or in the wrong order |
| Oral language | 102 | 55th | Understanding and using spoken language is average |
Read down the table, not across one line. Spoken language is average, so this child understands words and sentences as well as their classmates do. The low scores sit together in sound awareness, reading accuracy, reading rate and spelling. That pattern points to a difficulty at the level of sounds and words, not a difficulty with understanding.
The pattern matters more than any single number. It is also where the report stops and a decision begins: whether a profile like this is formally diagnosed as dyslexia is usually a psychologist’s call, made with cognitive testing and the child’s history.
Read The Words Before The Numbers
Scores do not say what will help. The summary and the recommendations do, because they are where the clinician explains what the scores mean together. Three questions are worth asking whoever wrote the report:
- Which one or two skills are holding reading back the most?
- What should change at school and at home because of this?
- Is there anything the assessment could not answer, and who should look at it?
Next Steps
Who To Share The Report With, And What Comes Next
The report is yours. Who sees it is your decision.
-
Start with the recommendations
Mark the two or three that matter most, so every conversation that follows starts from the same page.
-
Share it with the school
Give a copy to the class teacher or the learning support teacher and ask for a meeting. Ask what they will change in the classroom, and whether anything can be written into an individual learning plan.
-
Ask what evidence the school needs
The school and your state’s curriculum authority decide what evidence they accept for adjustments, including for exams, and some require a psychologist’s report. Ask early, and ask in writing.
-
Decide whether a psychologist is next
A family who needs a formal diagnosis will also need a psychologist’s assessment, at that provider’s fee. Take this report, school reports and any earlier assessments. The psychologist decides which earlier results they use and what further testing they do, so do not expect an earlier assessment to shorten theirs.
-
Keep it on file
Later assessors, new schools and new teachers will all ask what has been done before.
-
If you continue with Dr Lauren
Sessions are online and $193 each, which is one hour of service: 45 minutes with Dr Lauren and 15 minutes of preparation and notes. Continuing is your choice.
Questions
Dyslexia Assessment Report Questions
What does a dyslexia assessment report look like?
A dyslexia assessment report is a written document, usually several pages, with your child’s background, the skills assessed, a table of standard scores and percentile ranks, the clinician’s conclusions and a list of recommendations. A psychologist’s report also includes cognitive testing and states whether a diagnosis was made.
How do I read dyslexia test results?
Start with the summary and recommendations, then the scores. A standard score of 100 is average and most children score between 85 and 115. The percentile rank beside it shows how many children in 100, the same age, scored the same or lower. Look for the pattern across skills, not one number.
Does a low score mean my child has dyslexia?
Not on its own. A low score shows a skill is behind for your child’s age. Dyslexia is identified from a pattern across skills, the child’s history and how they have responded to teaching, and a formal diagnosis is usually made by a psychologist.
Will the school accept the report?
Whether a school accepts a dyslexia assessment report is the school’s decision. The school and your state’s curriculum authority decide what evidence they accept for adjustments, and some require a psychologist’s report. Ask the school what it needs before you arrange an assessment.
Do we need a psychologist after an assessment with Dr Lauren?
Only if your family needs a formal diagnosis. Dr Lauren assesses reading, spelling and the language skills underneath, and her assessment shows where reading is breaking down and what to work on. A formal diagnosis of dyslexia is usually made by a psychologist, at that provider’s fee.
Dyslexia Assessment With Dr Lauren
Apply Now
Dr Lauren works with a small number of families and has limited availability. Our team will review your application. A place cannot be guaranteed, and not every application receives an individual reply.
Apply Now- Online, Australia Wide
- Reading, Spelling And Language
- Children And Teenagers Up To 18
- $890 Or $1,290