Language Literacy Evaluation and Consultation
Do you have a child who is struggling with reading, writing, or spelling?
You can get a dyslexia evaluation from the comfort of your home with
one of our expert therapists.
Looking to better understand your
child’s learning challenges?
If you are looking for a comprehensive analysis of your child’s educational needs, we encourage you to consider our Language Literacy Evaluation and Consultation. One of our highly qualified clinicians will guide you through the process, explain your results, and produce a diagnostic report that can be shared with schools to potentially help your child get accommodations*. Unlike most services, this can all be done from the comfort of your own home. Read below to gain better insight into our research-based approach:
Online Meeting
Your Lexercise expert therapist will meet you and your child via a secure video chat, to work through a series of reading and literacy tasks. The entire evaluation takes about 90 minutes.
Report and Diagnosis
This 8-10 page report includes evaluation results, a diagnosis and treatment recommendations. The report also includes recommendations for school accommodations such as extra time and the use of assistive technologies.*
Follow-up and Action Plan
Your Lexercise educational therapist will discuss results and answer your questions in a 30-minute follow-up consultation. Recommendations will be made for what to do next and possible treatment options.
Ready to get your struggling reader the help they need?
Interested in what a diagnostic report entails?
Check out these samples:
*Every school has its own procedures for granting exceptional children’s services (i.e., an IEP: an individual education plan) or accommodations., it’s advisable to take this Lexercise sample report to your school to ensure it fits their individual procedures.
Lexercise uses a testing protocol based on research funded by the National Institutes of Health. This language-processing evaluation focuses on the neuro-linguistic skills that are known to be the underpinning of skilled reading and writing. Our evaluations are carried out by clinical educators whose training is consistent with the International Dyslexia Association’s Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading. Our professionals are qualified to make an official diagnosis when indicated. If the results are consistent with a reading and/or writing disability you can use it to request public school services or a 504 Plan for accommodations.
Our evaluation is personalized, convenient, and costs less than other evaluations at $945 for children or adults.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this a credible evaluation?
Lexercise uses a testing protocol based on research funded by the National Institutes of Health. This language-processing evaluation focuses on the neuro-linguistic skills that are known to be the underpinning of skilled reading and writing. Our evaluations are carried out by educational therapists whose training is consistent with the International Dyslexia Association’s Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading. Our professionals are qualified to make an official diagnosis when indicated. If the Lexercise evaluation indicates a disability diagnosis, it will qualify your child under the federal law, The Americans with Disabilities Act. If the results are consistent with a reading and/or writing disability, you can use your report to request public school services or a 504 Plan for academic accommodations.1
1 Every school has its own procedures for granting accommodations. Therefore, it’s advisable to take the Lexercise sample report found on this page to your school to ensure it fits their individual procedures.
How is the Language Literacy Evaluation and Consultation different from Lexercise’s Free Dyslexia Screener?
The free screener is a fast, preliminary tool to identify if there may be a heightened risk of dyslexia for a child, but it does not produce a definitive diagnosis. On the other hand, the Language Literacy Evaluation and Consultation can give a formal diagnosis. The evaluation is conducted by a professional educational therapist with vast experience working with individuals who have language processing differences. The findings are later detailed in a 8-10 page report.
What makes a Lexercise evaluation different from others?
- You can do it from home! Lexercise is the first organization to offer a systematic language-literacy evaluation online, so time is not wasted driving to and from clinics.
- Unlike testing designed only to determine a child’s eligibility for public school Exceptional Children’s Services, Lexercise’s evaluation goes beyond this to pinpoint your child’s processing problem(s) and determine where to begin therapy.
- Our evaluation diagnoses the root cause(s) of your child’s spelling, reading and/or writing problems and providing a clear path for getting help.
- You can usually get scheduled within days, normally no more than two weeks.
- You are encouraged to be involved in the evaluation, not waiting in a reception room.
How can I learn more about the professionals at Lexercise?
To learn more about the Lexercise team of expert therapists, visit the Meet Our Therapists page.
What technology do I need?
- A computer with broadband Internet access.
- A microphone (your computer probably already has one built in)
- A webcam (your computer probably already has one built in)
When and how do I pay for the evaluation?
Payment is made with credit/debit card at the time we schedule your appointment. You can also use a health savings account or Flex card.
How do I schedule an evaluation?
To schedule an evaluation, simply signup online.
Why can’t I get this evaluation done in the schools?
Many parents expect public schools to provide their dyslexic children with timely evaluation and therapy, and these parents often delay getting their kids the help they need until the school acts. Unfortunately, this “wait and hope” approach is rarely effective and has a costly impact on children:
- Navigating the public school bureaucracy to secure special attention often takes months or years. Meanwhile, children are falling further behind during the critical early-education period.
- Most schools are under-staffed and ill-equipped to administer a complete language processing evaluation.
- Even if you are able to get your child designated for special education, he or she will typically be taught in a group of children with widely ranging learning challenges, making targeted and specific treatment for dyslexia unlikely.
- Federal guidelines allow for schools to wait 90 days from request for testing until action is taken. That’s almost a third of a school year–a long time to wait while the child is feeling like a failure and experiencing shame.
Who is qualified to make a diagnosis of dyslexia?
Lexercise educational therapists are qualified to officially diagnose reading problems including dyslexia. We follow the guidelines of the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) on the diagnosis of dyslexia and disability determination. The NCLD has provided the following guidance about who may diagnose dyslexia:
“Professionals with expertise in several fields are best qualified to make a diagnosis of dyslexia. The testing may be done by a single individual or by a team of specialists. A knowledge and background in psychology, reading, language and education is necessary. The tester must have a thorough working knowledge of how individuals learn to read and why some people have trouble learning to read. They must also understand how to administer and interpret evaluation data and how to plan appropriate reading interventions.”
What should be included in an evaluation for dyslexia and other language processing
disorders?
We follow the standards of the International Dyslexia Association:
- Background information should be included.
- Intelligence testing is no longer considered necessary. Instead, oral language abilities (listening and speaking) are more predictive.
- Oral language skills should be documented.
- Word recognition (word reading) should be tested.
- Decoding should be tested.
- Spelling should be tested.
- Phonological processing should be tested.
- Automaticity /fluency skills should be tested.
- Text Reading /comprehension should be tested.
- Vocabulary knowledge should be tested.
- Evaluation outcomes should provide the framework for the detailed evaluation of relative strengths and weaknesses across the various skill areas.
- Diagnosis should be made by a professional who is thoroughly familiar with the important characteristics of language-literacy disorders /dyslexia.
- Intervention planning recommendations should be included in the written report.
- Documentation should acknowledge that the “specific criteria, such as cutoff scores for eligibility [for special education] vary from state to state”
You can learn more about qualifications to diagnose dyslexia in this Lexercise Blog Post.