Users Manual

Online Manual

About This Manual
Why Use Dyslexia Analysis?
Using Dyslexia Analysis
Applying the Checklists
Printing Reports

About This Manual

The Dyslexia Analysis online manual describes the Dyslexia Analysis program designed for use over the Internet.

Before using the Dyslexia Analysis program, it is best if you completely read this manual. Although Dyslexia Analysis is extremely easy to use, as far as computer programs go, the correct operation may not be intuitively obvious to the non-computer user. If you have a question regarding the program, please read the appropriate section of the manual.

To better understand Dyslexia Analysis, the first step is to read the section "Why Use Dyslexia Analysis?" This section gives insight into the reasoning behind applying Dyslexia Analysis.

After reading "Why Use Dyslexia Analysis" and the other sections, you should then run through the program several times. These trial runs will give you the confidence sometimes required to work with such a program.

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Why Use Dyslexia Analysis

Dyslexia Analysis is designed to help teachers and homeschool parents identify the characteristics of children with dyslexia. Since dyslexia is a physiological disability, only a physician can legally diagnose the disorder. However, teachers are usually the first to notice characteristics and to request additional testing. For example, a teacher has a student who is well cared for and seems to try hard in school. The child has many friends, and if you talk to him, he shares intelligent ideas. However, he is not succeeding in reading, or in any class that requires reading or expressive writing.

Vision and hearing checkups reveal no problems. The child comes from an English speaking home in which no emotional trauma is evident. Notes from parent conferences indicate that his father struggled with a learning disability during his school years. This child is a perfect candidate for Dyslexia Analysis.

The obvious checklist to use in this case is the reading module. After responding to the checklist questions, the teacher realizes that the child uses context clues while totally ignoring phonics. In addition, the child verbalizes much better than he reads. At the end of the module, the conclusion suggests that this child may have a moderate reading problem and should be referred for in-depth testing. Using the checklist information, daily observations, and grades, the teacher now feels professionally secure in requesting medical and diagnostic testing.

Using Dyslexia Analysis enables the teacher to verify and discuss the learnerís areas of greatest need and to initiate communication with other professionals and the childís parents.

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Using Dyslexia Analysis

The initial window of Dyslexia Analysis is subdivided into three different sections. The top section displays the title and copyright date. On the left side, a navigational menu is seen. On the right, information is displayed according to user selections from the menu.

The navigational menu consists of 7 options. A left click on the mouse over any of these options causes the right section to display the selected information. Menu options include the following:

Introduction: briefly explains the nature of Dyslexia Analysis, its origin, and the benefits that it provides.

Cautions: suggests cases in which Dyslexia Analysis should not be used. For example, Dyslexia Analysis should not be used when the problem is caused by a physical disorder such as poor vision.

Definitions: lists some terms that the user will find helpful while working with Dyslexia Analysis.

Online Manual: displays directions within the application.

FAQ's: lists several questions and answers that are most likely to be asked.

Dyslexia Analysis: This option provides access to the checklists and displays a submenu on the main screen. This submenu consists of the five checklists developed by Barbara Frandsen and Sharon Smith including: Developmental Reading Disorder, Dysgraphia - handwriting disorder, Developmental Spelling Disorder, Dysphasia - receptive/expressive speech disorder, and Organization Disorder. A right click on one of these options will open a new and independent browserís window that will display a checklist for the associated module.

Comments: This module enables you to post any comments, feedback, or questions. This is a very important section for it enables you to tell Barbara what you believe will improve Dyslexia Analysis. You can also ask questions or leave any stories that you want to share. Stories will be kept confidential. Barbara will respond to questions.

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Applying the Checklist

Each of the question-and-answer screens is part of a checklist module. There are five modules or categories of questions to be answered for each learner.

Developmental Reading Disorder (10 questions)

Developmental Spelling Disorder (8 questions)

Dysgraphia (handwriting disorder) (8 questions)

Dysphasia (expressive/receptive language disorder) (8 questions)

Organizational Disorder (12 questions)

Choose any of the five modules listed on the Dyslexia Analysis submenu by right clicking the name of the appropriate checklist. A separate browser window will appear on your screen. In order to choose the right answer to a question, right click the pull down menu directly below each question. The pull down menu has a list of four choices.

Meanings of Answer Choices

The accuracy of Dyslexia Analysis depends in part on repeated observations of the child along with analysis of the child's work. Before using each checklist, read through the questions in that module so that you will be aware of behaviors to observe. For example, one question in the reading checklist asks how many times out of ten reading experiences the child reverses words or parts of words. One observation will not enable you to adequately assess the frequency. A question in the spelling checklist asks how often the child learns a word for a spelling test but is unable to apply the correct spelling in various writing assignments. You will need to take several days to observe and collect work samples before completing each checklist.

The words used in Dyslexia Analysis to define frequency include the following:

Frequent behavior (8-10 times out of ten)

Occasional behavior (4-7 times out of ten)

Rare behavior (1-3 times out of ten)

Behavior never seen (0-1 times out of ten)

It is extremely important that you carefully answer all of the questions. If you do not, the results of Dyslexia Analysis will not be accurate.

Once you have answered all the questions in the checklist you should click on the submit button at the bottom of each checklist. This action will cause Dyslexia Analysis to process the information you have entered and return the result to your screen.

Once you have completed the checklist module and received the result, close the browser window to return to the main screen for Dyslexia Analysis.

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Printing Reports

From the file menu, choose Print.
Choose Ok.

Important: Navigator and Explorer formats adjust content according to the size of the printed page, not the size of the onscreen window. Text is word-wrapped and graphics are repositioned to accommodate paper size.