I work at a hospital system. We serve a lot of rural communities that often don’t have access to the dyslexia programs offered in larger cities. I do not specialize in this area and have been searching for information about how to effectively screen for patients for whom a more lengthy and specialized assessment is necessary. Our clinic has received feedback from local neuropsychologists that we were sending too many patients over without appropriate screening measures. I cannot find screening measures other than what seem like informal checklists. Any recommendations?

As far as standardized screeners for dyslexia go, there are limited options. A few years ago, my colleague at my private clinical practice, Dr. Lauren Katz and I were contracted by a couple of school districts to research this very issue. At the time, we found the Predictive Assessment of Reading (PAR) to be the best on the market. It has good reliability and validity.

For deeper reading regarding diagnosis, I recommend David Kilpatrick’s Essentials of Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties.

I wish I had more options for you. Keep checking back to DyslexiaHelp. As more screeners for dyslexia become available, we will get them on the website.