Assessing and Differentiating Reading & Writing Disorders ─ Multidimensional Model

Lombardino (speech-language pathology, U. of Florida) presents practitioners in speech-language pathology, special education, school and clinical psychology, and early childhood studies with a clinical and educational framework, the Multidimensional Model for Assessing Reading and Writing, for differentiating for various types of reading and writing disorders. She identifies the cognitive and language-based skill domains that support the acquisition of skilled reading and argues that knowledge about the cognitive processes that underlie reading and its component skills must be understood to make a differential diagnosis of disorders and that individual profiles of struggling readers' strengths and weaknesses are necessary for determining the skills to be targeted in intervention. The model is meant to aid in the use of differentiated assessments to identify weaknesses underlying reading difficulties, provide diagnoses that have scientific validity, and recommend intervention and accommodation plans. She explains issues related to the components of reading, connections between oral and written language, and a historical perspective on the classifications of reading difficulties, followed by the model and its 10 modules, scientific basis, and developmental and graphical schemes for understanding how skills develop and interact to support reading and writing development. Subsequent chapters address its application through standardized tests and other data gathering procedures, data interpretation, and developing intervention goals; ways to identify and classify children at risk for reading deficits and school-age learners with disorders; and tools and tips of diagnostic counseling, factors for consideration when transitioning to treatment, areas to address in treatment planning, and sample treatment plans. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)